One of the most common questions we, at Vertical Consultants, are asked is “who owns the properties housing cell towers?”. Contrary to popular belief, individuals who have no affiliation with the telecom industry own the vast majority of land housing cell towers. Commonly, telecom companies and cell tower developers employ site acquisition professionals to locate properties across the U.S. where there is the most need for cell towers and telecom equipment.
Factors affecting how properties are chosen are signal strength and coverage, data usage capacity and call clarity and network speed. Regions weak in any of these areas are likely to be at the top of the site acquisition professionals’ lists, as are the property owners who own land in those regions. It is important that you know your rights if you are approached by someone asking to place telecom equipment on your land. When this occurs, you should know that you have something these telecom companies want: valuable land. It is important to have professionals on your side who will work for you, achieving the most monetarily beneficial cell tower lease agreement for you, the property owner.
