- Your cell tower lease may not be as dependable as you think. Your rent can go away for many reasons, most of them completely out of your control. Consolidation in the industry, increases in data demand, and advancements in cellular technology can all play a role in a wireless carrier’s decision to relocate or decommission a cell tower, which may result in the termination of a cell tower lease.
- As wireless carriers look for ways to cut down operating expenses and gain market share in an industry that is demanding more and more bandwidth, mergers and partnerships between carriers may become increasingly likely. When carrier consolidations occur, landlords of redundant cell site locations are at risk of receiving a lease termination letter. While increased data demand would seem to mean better security for your cell tower, it doesn’t always work that way.
- The design of a wireless network is extremely complicated and constantly changing. Not only does new wireless technology allow for more cellular data to be transmitted over longer distances, new delivery methods also threaten to replace traditional cell tower or rooftop antennas. So while it is true that new cell towers are being built to handle more traffic, existing towers that no longer fit the network plan are also being taken down.
- Even for those who design the network, it is virtually impossible to predict which sites will be casualties of cell site terminations. To illustrate this point, although we perform due diligence to determine the long-term prospects of every cell site lease we acquire, we still lose sites every year.
