A shift in mobile phone operators’ attitudes toward leasing sites has caused a Cary, N.C., company to push ahead with plans to develop and build its own tower sites and offer collocation leasing nationwide.
“Six months ago if you were to ask a [personal communications services] company if they wanted to lease a tower, they would have said no,” said Robert Long, vice president of marketing with SpectraSite Communications Inc.
Carriers in the past felt they needed to own their towers. Now, due to the flood of wireless entrants into the marketplace, there is no strategic value to this ownership and financial and zoning constraints are making carriers more willing to locate a tower wherever they can. “Whose rooftop is not an issue anymore,” said Long.
Three of the wireless industry’s real estate, development and management services companies recently joined forces to create SpectraSite. The new company is drawing on the expertise and resources of Little Rock, Ark.-based TeleSite Services L.L.C., a company that provides pre-market analysis, site acquisition and zoning administration; MetroSite Management L.L.C., also a Little Rock company that manages sites owned by local governments; and Cary-based U.S. Towers Inc., which has developed more than 800 towers and has been responsible for 19 basic trading area launches.
In 87 selected markets, SpectraSite will develop its own tower sites, specific to carrier requirements, then offer collocation leasing. Ultimately, the company hopes to own, manage and lease space on more than 2,000 towers nationwide. As a full-service, integrated site development company, it can offer site acquisition, development and management services in one package or on a selected basis.
“The SpectraSite approach offers the unique benefit of permitting faster buildout of a carrier’s total license area, and paying for it at a low monthly rate,” said Steven Clark, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer. “This is tremendously important as new wireless carriers rush to compete with existing cellular coverage and with other new feature-laden digital carriers. It takes the headache out of rapid network deployment, allowing operators to focus on branding and providing quality service.”
SpectraSite operates four divisions: SpectraSite Services, which provides pre-market analysis, site acquisition, zoning and related services; SpectraSite Development, which offers program management, construction management and interconnect services; SpectraSite Management, which provides tower management and collocation marketing services for towers owned by carriers, as well as site management for property owners like Cracker Barrel and Wal-Mart; and MetroSite Management, which represents municipal government-owned sites.
