The appetite for tower sites is increasing rapidly as a wider variety of wireless carriers-from utilities companies to personal communications services carriers-are coming into markets across the country. Tower management companies as a result must work hard to serve up better-managed sites and more profitable towers.
Doing this starts by recognizing wireless carriers have the primary technical responsibility for developing and managing their own tower sites. However, tower sites differ greatly, and some sites are quite capable of serving more than one master. Some are suitable for accommodating equipment and antennas for multiple wireless carriers, even multiple types of wireless services, like PCS, cellular, paging, specialized mobile radio, vehicle location and wireless Internet. These multi-use and multitenant sites are very valuable because they both help reduce the number of sites necessary for wireless infrastructure and add significantly to a tower owner’s bottom line.
Such sites have collocated users. Collocation is a term used to describe the sharing or joint use of a telecommunications facility. And where there’s shared resources, there needs to be management; some companies specifically specialize in the professional management and operation of multi-use collocation towers.
Such organizations generally are known as site managers and are experienced in dealing with the technical and logistical requirements that come into play when multiple users operate from a single tower site. Their skills generally include experience in radio-frequency interference, Federal Aviation Administration/Federal Communications Commission compliance, safety issues, marketing, customer relations and hiring industry professionals.
In addition, professional site managers can ensure site security by limiting access to authorized personnel.
Engineering and design
The first phase of each tower-management project is to determine engineering and design issues. All towers are designed with a particular purpose in mind; they are not all created equal.
As a site manager, I personally like to get involved in a project prior to ordering the steel. I generally suggest a make and model that has a high degree or “collocatability” and which will provide enough loading to install the full range of wireless or mobile services for the general community. Obviously, in some areas, I suggest a heavy-duty tower; others areas require only a light-duty tower. Those decisions depend on the perceived demand, availability of existing towers, topography and the degree to which a given market is built out.
In most cases, however, I am called in to manage tower assets that already have been built and are at various stages of producing revenue. In cases like this, I first order and evaluate the as-built drawings and design factors and determine the existing load, then compare the present load with the load the tower was designed to accommodate.
I then can make a decision regarding what the remaining capacity is and where on the tower that capacity is located. This in turn will assist in determining a financial pro forma to calculate future tower earnings. It also will assist the marketing department in advertising where the availability is on the tower and which antenna groupings can be accommodated.
Marketing
Tower management firms can provide tower space for customers on a statewide or national scope. Either way, they generally know most potential users in a given market. In fact, some tower managers act as users’ reps or project managers; they are charged with locating towers and providing leasing services to PCS, cellular and other wireless customers. The closest professional counterpart would be a real estate agent. And, as in real estate, it’s best for tower managers to avoid the possibility of any conflicts of interest by representing either the users or the tower owners in a given market-not both.
To be a successful tower marketer, a site manager should be familiar with each customer’s hardware, frequency and power requirements. Tower managers should try to match each tower’s vertical availabilities with each user’s propagation requirements.
Site managers provide very detailed area location and tower maps, and, if requested, propagation studies to a potential user who may be unsure if a particular elevation will provide adequate coverage. As users are added to a tower, the manager will conduct a frequency compatibility study and update the windload study.
Safety
Another key benefit site managers bring to the table is in-depth knowledge of safety issues-particularly exposures to RF levels, FAA and FCC tower height requirements, and OSHA regulations.
The safety of RF exposure has been evaluated by a number of professional scientific organizations and governmental agencies in the United States and around the world. The two most widely recognized are the American National Standards Institute and the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement.
Current ANSI and NCRP maximum allowable exposures are not set at a threshold between safety and known hazard, but rather at 50 times below a level that the majority of the scientific community believes may pose a health risk.
Another responsibility associated with tower management is compliance with FAA and FCC rules and regulations. Generally, communications towers range in height from 35 feet to more than 1,000 feet. New tower construction as well as existing towers are closely regulated by the FCC and FAA.
Towers proposed for construction that are 200 feet or more in height or are located near public airports must be studied and approved by the FAA. These towers require either white strobe lights or a red beacon with aviation paint. The owner must ensure the beacon is working every day or risk the possibility of a substantial FAA-imposed fine.
A tower-management firm also must have experience in OSHA compliance. A competent site manager must be able to recognize when an antenna installation crew is in compliance with OSHA and when it is not. Lack of compliance can be very costly.
Financial issues
Finally-and here’s the important part about money-site managers also can devise and implement accounting procedures to divide accurately the user revenue and apply and send it to all appropriate departments. For example, the site manager can take the revenue from a customer’s towers and send a pro-rated amount to the engineering division, real estate division, property management, etc.
As radio tower design, management, rules and regulations become more complex and sophisticated, the role of experienced, competent, and professional site managers becomes increasingly important.
As wireless communications plays a larger, more vital role in our everyday lives, many tower owners will look back on the management choices they make today as pivotal. Ultimately, the physical selection of towers and the method of tower management chosen will be viewed as a critical factor in carrier profitability and success.
John Paleski is the president of Subcarrier Communications Inc., a site-management firm based in Old Bridge, N.J.
