AT&T Signs $4.85 Billion Tower Deal With Crown Castle

AT&T has agreed to lease 9,100 towers and sell outright another 600 of them to Crown Castle for $4.85 billion in cash.

Within the terms of the deal, Crown Castle will have exclusive rights to the towers for a lease period of about 28 years. When the lease is up, Crown Castle will have fixed price purchase options totaling around $4.2 billion for the towers.

In the meantime, AT&T will sublease capacity from the towers for a minimum of 10 years at a rate of $1,900 per month per tower, with the rent rising two percent annually. During the lease, Crown Castle will be able to sublet capacity to other companies as it sees fit.

Crown Castle is a Houston, Texas-based wireless infrastructure company that owns, builds, operates and leases towers, rooftop antennas and Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS).

Following the move, Crown Castle’s shares have dipped almost two percent while AT&T’s have jumped almost two percent.