T-Mobile/Sprint Merger Jitters?

By Christine Sloan and Brett Reall

HAVE A CELL TOWER LEASE WITH T-MOBILE OR SPRINT OR BOTH?

WORRIED ABOUT WHAT THE MERGER BETWEEN THE TWO COMPANIES MEANS FOR YOU?

There is a lot of confusion surrounding the T-Mobile/Sprint merger. As an example, in an excerpt from: “Light Reading Weekly” reported on February 13, 2020:   


“6. Actual changes for customers: Sprint and T-Mobile executives have said they expect the full merger process to take three years to finish. That in part would involve the companies shuttering 35,000 redundant cell towers around the country and building 10,000 new towers, resulting in the combined company commanding a total of 85,000 towers. Such a move would likely be designed to make optimal use of T-Mobile's 600MHz and Sprint's 2.5GHz spectrum, as well as the other spectrum bands the companies own.” (emphasis added)

 

Having been through this process with many other carriers over the last few decades, here's what we advise you to do:

  • If you have both Sprint and T-Mobile on your property, there is a high probability that one will leave.
  • Don’t make any hasty decisions!
    • The only fast options in this scenario are generally bad options…
    • Rent reductions will be offered in return for lease guarantees for your site but it is doubtful that the guarantee will be beyond a couple of years, i.e. the timeframe during which T-Mo will be determining what to do with the sites anyway.
    • Lease buyouts will be severely discounted.
    • Lease amendments will probably contain language allowing tenants to abandon equipment in place.
  • Work with your tenant on upgrades. Be tenant-friendly, but not blindly accepting of proposed changes…
  • We can do an analysis of the area to see what overlaps exist between Sprint and T-Mobile sites.
    • This would depend on what data we have available.
    • This may take an hour or two, would not be perfect, but could give you a sense of what is out there.
  • We don’t know yet how Dish Network will respond to the sites that may be decommissioned.
    • There is a chance Dish will pick up some of the towers to be abandoned by T-Mobile.
    • Dish is hiring tower climbers right now.

Basically, take a deep breath, don’t make bad decisions, and talk to us. We’ll keep our eyes open for opportunities and warning signs.  Click here to contact us if you have a cell site and have questions about any of the above items – we can help you make the wisest decision possible.

 Remember, these carriers have teams of professionals on their side, helping them make decisions.  Shouldn’t you?!