With big changes and increased traffic in the cell tower industry, property owners with a Crown Castle lease may be entitled to higher rental rates.

SBA Communications, American Tower, and Crown Castle have all pledged to increase activity levels in the U.S. cell tower market this coming year. With increases in coverage and capabilities announced by AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile, a large increase in cell tower sites can be expected.

In the next year, AT&T plans to build out their FirstNet system which will manage America’s first high-speed wireless broadband network dedicated solely to United States first responders. Those owners with a Crown Castle lease may be entitled to larger rent payments.

Sprint continues to push their 5G network effort, which includes the deployment of new services on 6,000 cell tower sites. T-Mobile also continues with their previous agenda by developing capabilities and recently purchased $8 billion in licenses for new changes.

With big changes being spearheaded by big powers in the cell tower market, it is important for property owners to understand their rights and how to optimize their lease agreements to compensate for new shared leases among cellular providers and cell tower companies. Large companies such as American Tower and Crown Castle have entered partnerships with wireless carriers such as Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile.

Deutsche Bank analysts have stated that Crown Castle leaseholders may be in for changes soon as the company looks towards land ownership as a business asset, according to FierceWireless.

“Longer term, CCI believes land will become an increasingly valuable addition to its asset mix, as companies look to process data closer to the network (ie. edge computing near tower sites),” the analysts wrote. “Today, CCI owns about one-third of the land under its towers, with the remaining two thirds under leases with an average term of 30 years or more”.

Renting land for cell phone towers takes up a considerable amount of a company’s annual budget. As the cellular industry grows and changes, cellular providers are looking for ways to cut down on operating costs and gain market share in a growing industry.

One way to ensure a profit is to share leases between wireless carriers and tower companies. In these partnerships, cellular providers and cellular tower owners share the usage of cellular towers in order to cut down on costs. As a result, cell tower land leases have been transferred from cellular providers to cell phone tower operators.

Despite this being a good move on the part of businesses, private landowners may be owed money under certain lease terms. Many leases, such as a Crown Castle lease, have terms and provisions which state that, under certain circumstances, cell tower companies have to pay more in rental rates and make additional payments. Tenants in partnerships with other cellular companies often breach these provisions and owe landlords hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent.

If you are a private landowner who holds a Crown Castle lease or another cell tower land lease, you may be entitled to additional lease payments from your tenants. Consulting a cell tower lease attorney could help you recover monetary damages.