Sprint runs its tower business as the separate SprintSites USA division. That unit manages about 4,800 towers and boasts more than 2,700 third-party tenants. If the company does decide to sell, those additional tenants could be crucial in driving up the price of a deal. It's not just the new skepticism surrounding the wireless market in general that may drive tower prices down. Some analysts wonder whether the tower industry has overreached by spending too much for towers in the past.
Rents are a serious issue.
Towers are nothing more than real estate investments. Tower companies have paid 18 to 20 times the annual rental over a seven-year period. That's unheard of in the real estate business, says Sweet. The explicit assumption is that specialists can continue to attract new tenants, says McIlree. He also notes that these operations have to attract three or four tenants per tower if they are to make a profit.