05-25-2005 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

AT &T Wireless has been sending letters to landowners requesting that they renegotiate their leases or face the possibility that their lease be terminated. The standard veiled threat goes something like this: We are evaluating all of our sites. Those sites with more expensive leases or shorter terms are more likely to be terminated when we evaluate duplicates. Please contact us to negotiate a lease that will be more likely to be kept. Unfortunately, this argument is misleading. It infers that AT &T and Cingular are going to weigh money and term more importantly than other factors. Simply put, the decision to terminate a site comes down first to coverage. If there are two sites that are considered duplicates, the first question will be which site provides us the best network coverage. If the answer is that either site provides good coverage, then the next issue of review will be term and cost of the cellular ground lease. So, before you renegotiate a cell tower lease with AT &T, Cingular, Nextel, or Sprint, please contact us to have us evaluate the risk that your lease may be terminated. While the answer may be that it is in your best interest to lower your lease rate or extend the term, more often than not, the site is a necessary site to the carrier and may be worth additional money. Please CONTACT US for more information.