Landlords have been warned not to be fooled over mast rental deals now that mobile phone operators are agreeing to share masts. Property experts say that the telcos may agree to share, but that only the most naïve landlord or badly written lease would let them cut their rent.
The warnings follow this weeks agreement between BT and Deutsche Telekom to share masts in the UK. By sharing, BT and DT, which owns One2One, hope to cut the multi-billion-pound cost of building 3G networks in both the UK and Germany.
One2One managing director Harris Jones said that site sharing would mean 10,000 fewer mobile masts in the UK. But property experts insist that this should not signal a plunge in rental income.
Richard Sweetman of Drivers Jonas Telecom said: “Sharing will reduce roll-out costs for infrastructure. But it does not follow that rental income will be reduced, because most robust leases do not allow for site sharing.”
But Sweetman warned that “loose and woolly” leases that failed to address site-sharing could allow operators to get away with paying rents well below market value.
Jennifer Rickard, telecoms expert and managing partner at Nabarro Nathanson, added: “We advise clients to look at whether theyre happy with the mast-sharing rental issue. Are they happy with the initial rent or do they want a review linked to mast sharing?”
Market analysts said that they expect to see more tie-ups between mobile phone operators.
EGi News 15/06/01
