What is a cell tower ground lease? In today’s competitive cell phone market, it is becoming increasingly difficult to compete without having a cell tower. Many wireless providers offer unlimited nationwide calling for one year or longer, with the customer paying a one-time fee for a year-round contract. Most of these contracts are similar and include a simple monthly agreement. The contract starts with a lower monthly rate, usually around the same price as prepaid phones, and the customer pays for a certain amount of minutes each month. Some contracts charge extra for traffic and channel monitoring.
A ground lease is simply a rental agreement between a property owner and a property tenant. In this case, the tower owner is referred to as the landlord. When the lease is up, the tower will no longer be used by the landlord, and the owner will sell it to someone else, usually a company that is leasing the tower space. Sometimes there is a monthly payment made to help with covering the cost of maintaining the structure.