In a recent article on Motley Fool, Ven Iyer writes about different ways to take advantage of the 5G boom. He specifically writes about cell tower landlords and how their earnings and profits have risen in recent years. Iyer writes, “Between 2014 and 2019, American Tower’s operating revenues grew by approximately 80% to $7.4 billion.”
Yet, even as we see tower companies reporting record numbers in earnings and in profits, we are reminded daily of the struggle that property owners have in getting a fair deal for the right to use their property for these towers. Not only is there a scarcity of reliable information available regarding cell tower leases, there are the scare tactics that many companies employ to try to get property owners to accept less than they deserve in rent. And rent is only part of the story.
We know that the average cell tower lease is underpaid by around $850,000 over the life of the lease. What many people don’t know is that there are ways of structuring the lease agreement that can limit the property owner’s right to use their own land or limit their ability to collect additional revenue even when it seems obvious that they should be able to.
The Motley Fool article references the fact that cell tower landlords like American Tower, Crown Castle, and SBA Communications can leverage their towers to make even more money from carriers like Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. The 5G boom has presented a great opportunity for more cell tower lease income. You wouldn’t be wrong to think that a portion of that additional revenue should also go to the property owner where the tower sits. After all, without that property owner’s agreement, there is no tower, no network, and no revenue.
Unfortunately, what we’ve found time and time again is that property owners are not compensated even as the tower companies add new equipment and make additional revenue. We even heard countless stories of people who were never informed that more equipment was added to their tower. That new revenue was generated.
It is critical to have all of these scenarios spelled in your contract. If you negotiate a great contract on the front end, then you will not only get more money in the short-term, but also the long-term. When times like these happen and everyone from CNBC to Motley Fool are writing about the huge boom in tower revenue.
Before you sign anything, send us your offer. We will do a free review and a free consultation. If we can help you, we will tell you how. If not, we’ll tell you that as well.
Remember, the tower companies have experts on their side. Shouldn’t you?
