How long should the lease be for?

Our clients regularly ask us whether they have to agree to the typical 25 years being proposed by the wireless carrier or the 50-75 years being proposed by the tower company. Because of the capital investment required to build a cell site, and because other cell sites are built based upon their proximity to existing cell sites, the carriers need the assurance of a long term lease. Surprisingly, many of our clients think that a longer lease is more valuable. However because most leases contain termination rights only for the tenant/wireless carrier, it is less valuable than they might think as the longer term is a one way commitment. Twenty five years is typical and should be fine in most cases.