As the FCC approves the Sprint and T-Mobile combination, the much-anticipated merger is looking rather unstoppable. The number third and fourth American mobile phone carriers are bringing change such as new cell towers…
The expected merger is bringing along with it some unexpected new cell towers and real estate opportunities.
Real Estate Cells
According to Forbes, “While cell towers only constitute a tiny portion of total real estate asset value in the United States, cell towers constitute disproportionately high importance in the market capitalization-weighted investible real estate indexes” with some of the largest cell tower companies. In the Real Estate Investment Trust or REIT, cell towers new or established only compromise about 10% of exchange-traded funds.
Some of the larger cell tower companies have control of macro-communications towers that allow for signal broadcasting from Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon. Whereas other companies such as Uniti Group and Crown Castle have diversified investment portfolios such as small cell networks and fiber. The real estate investment funds in cell towers alone are starting to have a high pay off.
New Cell Towers Payoff
Fierce Wireless has reported that American Tower is going to have a positive impact on earnings due to the Sprint and T-Mobile merger. They do anticipate some cell sites to be decommissioned, but they can expect more cell tower sites in addition to the ones kept with the merger. Even though the merger faces certain legal and monetary challenges, American Tower has already reported strong earnings this quarter.
American Tower is not the only one excited about the merger. Dish is set to acquire:
- 9 million of Sprint’s customers
- Out of 800 MHz Sprint Spectrum – 14 MHz
- Access to 20,000 T-Mobile decommissioned cell tower sites and
- A contract to build 15,000 cell towers
If Dish does not meet the new cell site-building requirement it could face billions in penalties. However, the payoffs overshadow the penalties.
New Breed of Cell Towers
Two other telecom companies have come together in the name of data! Ondas and Altaeros have reported successful testing of the wireless network with Altaeros’ aerial cell tower SuperTower and the FullMAX technology provided by Ondas Networks. Together the companies established an extremely high quality, long-range service across vast geographical areas allowing for more wireless network alternatives. These adapted cell sites reach four times the traditional cell towers. What is better than reaching this far distance across the ground? How about doing it in Space?
The launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has brought with it a device that could be the start of cell signal in space. The latest company to join the Space Race, UbiquitiLink has a different version of low orbiting satellites and cell towers, they want to make cell phones into satellite phones. In other words, they want to beam internet connections from space directly to phones with no other sites needed. They do not plan to completely replace grounded cell towers, just additional cell coverage.
As the future brings new technology and new types of cell sites, you can count on GeoTel Communications to keep you updated. Contact GeoTel to learn more about their advanced telecom data!
Author: Valerie Stephen
