Our Wireless Forecasts For 2020

As we do every year around this time, we provide our predictions for what we expect to happen in the upcoming year. Some of our predictions are safe and some are not. Some end up being correct and some aren’t. 1. 5G Continues to Underwhelm Consumers (For Now) . Wireless service providers launched their commercial […]

T-Mobile Sprint Merger Backup Plan?

One of our municipal clients has a water tower with T-Mobile and Sprint on it. T-Mobile has proposed to add antennas and equipment with Band 41 (Clearwire 2500 MHz spectrum) to T-Mobile’s rad center. See the image below with the antennas that service B41. Because the lease the client has with T-Mobile prevents the addition […]

Lendlease’s New Renegotiation Efforts on Sprint Rooftop Sites

If you have followed our musings over the years, you know that we don’t like the lease renegotiation industry.  In the past we have observed some companies (not Lendlease, Tower Alliance, or Softbank/Sprint) use high-pressure tactics, sometimes outright misrepresentations, and downright aggressive salespeople to convince landowners to agree to terms that are not advantageous to […]

Sprint T-Mobile Merger? Who Wins and Who Loses

It looks like the Sprint/T-Mobile merger rumors may be serious this time. Reuters suggests that the parties are close to finalizing a merger. Obviously, we have been down this road before- Sprint and T-Mobile are the Sam and Diane of today’s wireless world. Everyone knows they will eventually try to get together, but their personalities are pretty […]

Research In Progress- Sprint vs. T-Mobile Site Overlap

We are currently working on a bespoke research project for a client where we examine the overlap between Sprint and T-Mobile cell sites.  The merger talks seem to have stalled while Softbank talks to Comcast, Charter, Warren Buffett, and anyone who will listen about merging or investing.   Nonetheless, there is still investor interest in […]

Sprint’s not-so-mini Mini-Macro Problem

Sprint’s partner, Mobilitie, allegedly building mini-macros without adequate regulatory approvals Tickers: S, AMT, CCI, SBAC Tags: Ken Schmidt, Wireless infrastructure Background: Sprint has dramatically underspent competitors over the past few years, arguing that its superior spectrum position, coupled with its densification efforts, allowed it to serve wireless customers at a fifth of the cost of […]

Sprint’s Really Odd Antenna Configuration Proposal

On one of our municipal client's towers, Sprint submitted a request to replace three existing antennas with new antennas that add 2.5GHz capability to their equipment.  The subject tower is in a difficult zoning jurisdiction and one where Sprint really doesn't have any other options.   Their collocation rent was on the higher side but not unreasonably […]

Sprint Enters the Lease Renegotiation Game Again

A landowner client of ours received this email from LCC, a company allegedly acting on behalf of Sprint where they claim that if the landowner doesn’t agree to concessions, that Lendlease will consider relocating the Sprint site. If you receive a similar request from Sprint, LCC, or Lendlease or another cell tower lease optimization company, […]