Non-Cellular Companies That Lease Cell Towers

Or How to Sell a Cell Tower for $2,000,000

A tower owner client of ours asked us for help in documenting for their lender that cell towers are used by many companies, not just cellular companies. To assist, we established the list of non-cellular cell tower leasing companies. Most people understand that the typical cell tower is constructed and operated with a focus on leasing space on the tower to cellular providers. However, there are a number of other companies that provide telecommunication services to other companies or direct to consumers that actively lease space on towers. To determine these other types of companies, we examined our cell tower lease database for non-cellular tower leasing companies. Here is a list of other companies that use communication towers besides cellular service providers. The list below is non-exclusive and only includes some of the more frequent inclusions in our database- there are thousands of other companies that use cell towers besides these. Cell tower owners seeking to increase the revenue on their towers should actively market to all types of entities, not just the cellular providers. At Steel in the Air, Inc, we have sold a handful of towers over the years at prices nearing or exceeding $2,000,000 per tower. These towers all include a fairly broad mix of tenants types including many on the list below. In fact, one active tower buyer in the industry focuses primarily on buying towers that may not have much cellular lease opportunity, but do have significant upside. This particular buyer knows better than any other company how to lease up towers with tertiary tenants like those on the list below. As a result, they acquire towers that other tower companies might forego often finding towers at lower purchase prices than traditional cellular towers.

1. Agriculture Companies
   1. Farming/GPS Location
2. Aeronautical Services
   1. In-air internet
      1. Go-Go
      2. ViaSat
   2. FAA
3. Broadcasters
   1. FM Radio
      1. Full power FM
      2. Low power FM
   2. AM Radio
   3. TV
      1. Full power TV
      2. Low power TV
4. Educational Institutions
   1. Public school microwave connections
   2. Universities
5. Energy Companies
   1. Oil and Gas
6. Federal Agencies
   1. ATF
   2. Department of Justice
   3. FBI
   4. First Net
   5. Homeland Security
   6. INS
   7. National Weather Service
   8. US Armed Services
7. Health Care Institutions
8. Indian Tribes
9. Internet of Things
   1. Low latency low bandwidth networks (LPWAN)
      1. SIGFOX
      2. LoRa
      3. Ingenu
   2. Location Tracking Services
10. Medical
    1. Ambulance
    2. Hospitals
11. Microwave Providers
    1. Wireless backhaul providers
       1. Fibertower
       2. TTM
       3. Zayo
    2. High frequency trading microwave providers
12. Paging Companies
    1. USA Mobility
    2. American Messaging
13. Satellite
    1. Terrestrial Radio
       1. Sirius/XM
    2. Satellite TV
       1. DirecTV
14. State and Local Public Safety
    1. County Public Safety
    2. Fire Departments
    3. Sheriff/Police
    4. State Department of Transportation
15. Transportation Entities
    1. Land Mobile Radio Companies
    2. Railroad owners
    3. Turnpike Authorities and Transportation Authorities
16. Utility Companies
    1. Smart Metering
    2. Internal secure communications
       1. SouthernLINC
17. Wireless Internet Service Providers
    1. Agile Networks
    2. King Street Wireless
    3. Rise Broadband
    4. Skyriver Communications

If you see any cell tower leasing companies that we have missed, please let us know.