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Cell Site & Cell Tower Business 101

WWW.CELLTOWERHELP.COM 407.476.3838 Everyone wants to get paid what they’re worth. Whether it’s based on principle or pride, it irritates us when someone else gets a better deal, or we lose out to someone who undercuts our asking price. While we hold something’s worth as an absolute, we have often come to this determination by a subjective, mind’s eye calculation of what is commonly referred to as “the going rate.” For cell site landlords, the determination of worth goes something like this: “My uncle is making $1,650 a month on his cell site lease and my site is in a much better location than his so I should be getting $1,800.” Landlords are often angered when they are told that’s not the rate that the tenant wants to pay. They think they’re getting gypped. They don’t understand why this tenant is not honoring the going rate. And therein lies the problem: never confuse the “going rate” with the “market rate.” The last house to sell on my street almost a year ago ...
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Renegotiate On Your Terms

WWW.CELLTOWERHELP.COM 407.476.3838 So… The tower company has come to you and wants to drastically renegotiate your lease. They tell you that if you don’t agree to a 20% cut, they’ll vacate the site and end the lease. You panic. This income has been steady and you rely on it to cover your daughter’s college tuition or maybe it covers your utilities. You cannot afford to lose this valuable asset. Maybe, you’ll accept the rent reduction and barely make ends meet. You can figure it out. Wait. Why just settle? This is a renegotiation. This can go two ways. You get a say in this, too. So. You hit up the ever trusty google and start researching what your options are. Click and click again, every site and post and article is directed to how the carrier or tower company is justified in wanting to reduce costs. They have a bottom line and it doesn’t matter who they step on to get to it. What about your bottom line? Who’s out there advising the little guy? How come your bott...
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SBA Towers – Who They Are

WWW.CELLTOWERHELP.COM 407.476.3838 SBA Communications Corporation is an American company founded in 1989, and is based out of Boca Raton, Florida. SBA owns and operates wireless communications towers primarily in the United States, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panama, and currently is the third largest cell tower operator and developers in the United States. SBA presently operates over 15,000 tower sites in the United States, and over 2,500 additional tower sites abroad, mostly being concentrated in Latin America. SBA has been part of significant tower purchases. In 2012, SBA purchased over 2,300 cell towers and the rights associated therewith for Mobilite. The majority of these towers have T-Mobile as the primary or anchor tenant. SBA, also in 2012, purchased over 3,000 cell towers and the rights related to those sites from TowerCo. These sites are located throughout the United States and are anchored by Sprint as their primary tenant. ...
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Black Dot – Who Are They?

WWW.CELLTOWERHELP.COM 407.476.3838 Black Dot Wireless describes themselves as an internationally recognized leader in lease management (aka lease optimization), and as being the pioneers of the first expense reduction “lease optimization” program for wireless carriers across the United States and abroad. These programs have one goal, and it is to substantially reduce wireless carrier and tower company operations expense. Black Dot has, and continues to, work on behalf of companies like AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Sprint, with their primary focus these days being on behalf of AT&T. Black Dot primarily contacts property owners for the following: Lease Extension Requests: Black Dot will contact property owners who have leases with wireless carriers, and those leases have five (5) years or less remaining on the current lease term. Rent Reduction Requests: Black Dot will contact a property owner and request that they drastically reduce current ren...
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American Tower – Who They Are

WWW.CELLTOWERHELP.COM 407.476.3838 American Tower Corporation is a publicly held company that is a leading owner and operator of wireless and broadcast communications sites in North America, that is headquartered in the Boston, Massachusetts area. American Tower has local offices nationwide. The company was formed in 1995 as a unit of American Radio Systems, and was spun off from that company in 1998, when that company merged with CBS Corporation. Today, American Tower owns and operates over 34,000 sites in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, and India. On September 6, 2013, American Tower Corporation announced the acquisition of Global Tower Partners. The acquisition of Global Tower Partners adds approximately 5,400 towers in the US, along with over 9,000 rooftop sites. The towers acquired from Global Tower Partners average a little less than two (2) tenants per tower and, as result, have space for additional tenants to be located on those assets. American Tower gen...
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What Is a Cell Tower Lease Buyout?

WWW.CELLTOWERHELP.COM ALEX F. BLASSCYK - PRESIDENT & CEO 407.476.3838 When wireless carriers identify areas where they need to build new cellular towers, they are often located on private property. If a property owner agrees to let a wireless carrier install a tower, the carrier and property owner enter into a long-term ground lease agreement. Under the terms of the cell tower lease, the wireless carrier pays the property owner monthly rent for use of his or her land. The monthly payment for the cell tower lease is based on the type of tower installed, the location (urban, suburban, rural) and also how critical the location is to the carrier’s network. A cell tower lease buyout occurs when a property owner agrees to sell his or her lease to a ground lease acquisition company for a lump sum of cash. While the lump sum is often a significant amount of money, it is less than the cumulative value of the monthly rent over the life of the lease. Why do prope...
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1031 Exchange

WWW.CELLTOWERHELP.COM ALEX F. BLASSCYK - PRESIDENT & CEO 407.476.3838 1031 Exchange Helping our clients save money on their taxes is part of our job at Main Stream Telecom II, LLC. A 1031 exchange is one of the ways we achieve that goal. Instead of just selling your lease (referred to as a lease assignment), which will likely result in a capital gains tax bill for you, you can defer this tax by granting an easement around your cell tower site. But wait a minute. If a 1031 exchange is about selling one property and buying another, how can you participate by selling your cell tower lease? The answer is by placing an easement under the cell tower site (which can simply mirror the existing easement, if there is one), it turns your cell tower lease sale into a real property sale, generally making it eligible for a 1031 exchange. Having an easement generally does not affect your ownership of the land, including your ability to sell it. Section 1031 of the Internal R...
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