Friday, January 21, 2011

Why T-Mobile Selling Their Towers is not a Big Deal

Everyone has been up in arms the last few days because of a report of T-Mobile USA thinking about selling their towers.  If they do, so what, nothing will change.  Not all carriers own their towers.  Towers are expensive to own and maintain.  Outside of the physical maintenance of the tower, there is a lot of FCC regulations that need to be met and paperwork filed annually showing those regulations are being met. By selling the towers and then leasing them from the company they sell them to they 1) get capital money for the sale of the towers and equipment and 2) they can eliminate the tower maintenance staff that they employ, thus having more money freed up for capital expenditures.
In no way will this sale, if it happens, affect their service.  It will affect the people they employ but not their customers.

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