That small patch of hillside just happens to align with the western mouths of the three- bore Caldecott Tunnel on the main commuter route linking the eastern suburbs in Contra Costa County to Oakland and San Francisco. Exclusive rights provisions in carrier form agreements can be cleverly disguised and subtle. If an owner wants to retain the ability to collocate other carriers on its property, all of the site agreements should expressly recognize the owner's right to enter into agreements with other carriers and require the various collocated carriers to cooperate with one another in a reasonable manner to resolve any interference issues. Whether the property is a rooftop, ridgeline or tower site, these problems can include allocation of infrastructure and utility costs, contract management, resolution of interference problems and compliance with FCC, FAA and other regulatory requirements. In these collocation situations, owners should consider whether to retain the services of a site management firm.
Site managers can benefit an owner in several ways.
First, the site manager is a single point of contact for the carriers and the owner, thus relieving the owner of the responsibility for micromanaging a technically complex group of tenants. Third, the site manager is likely to have the higher level of the special technical and engineering expertise necessary to manage a collocated site. Under the property manager model, the site manager markets the site to carriers, coordinates the carriers' equipment installation and maintenance and manages the site agreements. The carriers continue to have a direct contractual relationship with the owner, and the site manager merely has a management agreement with the owner. The second model is the site operator model.