Steel In The Air, Inc

Steel In The Air, Inc Steel in the Air assists landowners municipalities, and venue owners with cell tower lease negotiations, valuation, infrastructure management & brokerage.

Ken Schmidt started Steel in the Air a decade ago. It was the first landowner-centric cell tower lease consultancy firm in the United States. Ken is well-respected in the industry for his ethical, no-nonsense approach to cellular lease negotiations and cellular asset valuation. Since 2004, SITA has been a trusted resource for private and public landowners, municipalities, investors, attorneys and educators.

The May Newsletter is now live - here are the LinkedIn highlights from the previous month ๐Ÿ‘‰
06/02/2026

The May Newsletter is now live - here are the LinkedIn highlights from the previous month ๐Ÿ‘‰

Welcome to our LinkedIn breakdown for May. Here's what we talked about in the past month.

How many cell towers are there in the US? If this question causes you to lose sleep at night... We have the answer: http...
06/01/2026

How many cell towers are there in the US? If this question causes you to lose sleep at night... We have the answer: https://bit.ly/4lMKzK8. ๐Ÿ’ก

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Join our newsletter to get exclusive access to in-depth wireless analysis, breaking industry news, trends, and reports ๐Ÿ‘‰ https://bit.ly/3LP5w9i

How does AT&T lease sites?๐Ÿ—ผFirst, the radio frequency department and marketing department determine locations where a ne...
05/28/2026

How does AT&T lease sites?

๐Ÿ—ผFirst, the radio frequency department and marketing department determine locations where a new tower is needed.
๐Ÿ—ผ AT&T will issue a search ring- a specific location with a distance attached.
๐Ÿ—ผ Next, the agent will identify those properties in the search ring that meet local zoning regulations and where the landowner may be willing to enter into a lease.
๐Ÿ—ผ Then they contact the landowners of the best properties and make inquiries.
๐Ÿ—ผ If the landowner is interested, AT&T will submit a proposal to lease the property. The lease rate is based upon several factors...

Find them here:

Discover the latest AT&T cell tower lease rates and construction plans. Learn about the network expansion and leasing opportunities with AT&T and its partners.

Area residents are upset that there are anti-bird devices at the top of the tower, disrupting osprey nesting, but it's p...
05/26/2026

Area residents are upset that there are anti-bird devices at the top of the tower, disrupting osprey nesting, but it's perfectly legal to install them when the osprey isnโ€™t nesting. Of course, if they were added during an active nesting season, that would be illegal.

We dealt with ospreys and towers frequently in Florida. There was one less-than-reputable tower developer in Florida who would send a crew out to climb the tower in the middle of the night to remove the nest rather than waiting until the end of nesting season. No bird was going to stop him, protected or not. โ˜น

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Neighbors say devices blocked an active osprey nest on NE 122nd Ave.

See how a federal case ruling Verizon's lease illusory impacts how tower owners should be treating options and option pa...
05/25/2026

See how a federal case ruling Verizon's lease illusory impacts how tower owners should be treating options and option payments: https://bit.ly/3OBnoGv ๐Ÿ’ก

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Join our newsletter to get exclusive access to in-depth wireless analysis, breaking industry news, trends, and reports ๐Ÿ‘‰ https://bit.ly/3LP5w9i

How much is a cell tower lease worth in 2026? ๐Ÿค” The latest edition of Steel In The Air's 'New Cell Tower Lease Rates & N...
05/21/2026

How much is a cell tower lease worth in 2026? ๐Ÿค”
The latest edition of Steel In The Air's 'New Cell Tower Lease Rates & Negotiation Guide' is live ๐Ÿ‘‰ https://bit.ly/4qO5iyz.

I agree. The public market's inherent cynicism and cyclical nature are leading to inefficiencies in tower valuation rela...
05/20/2026

I agree. The public market's inherent cynicism and cyclical nature are leading to inefficiencies in tower valuation relative to the private market. At today's market caps, public tower valuations are clearly below their fair value. However, private market valuations may also be too high, driven by infrastructure funds seeking to rebalance digital investments that are overexposed to data centers and investors willing to forecast unachievable lease-up to make their models work.

The result could be a perfect storm for SBA. (and for other sellers who are in the market currently or plan to be) We have had more inbound requests/calls/discussions about infrastructure funds seeking large tower platforms to acquire. The issue is that most are either locked up with Peppertree or another investor, or too small to make a dent in rebalancing.

If you are wondering about the value of your tower portfolio in today's frothy market - please DM me, and we can have a confidential discussion. โœ‰๏ธ

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๐—ฃ๐˜‚๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜€ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜† ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ถ๐˜‚๐—บ๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€. Bloomberg reports SBA Communications is weighing a sale after preliminary int...

05/18/2026

If you are an executor, trustee, advisor, or heir dealing with an inherited cell tower lease, understanding how the agreements transfer โ€” and how they should be valued โ€” is critical:

๐Ÿ—ผ Cell Tower Leases Run With the Land
๐Ÿ—ผ Transferring Lease Payments to the Estate or Heirs
๐Ÿ—ผ Ongoing Income Tax Consequences
๐Ÿ—ผ Estate, Inheritance, and Capital Gain Considerations
๐Ÿ—ผ Multiple Heirs, One Lease
๐Ÿ—ผ Selling the Lease and Distributing Proceeds

Learn more on our blog: https://bit.ly/4qO5iyz

โ“ Should You Do a Lease Buyout for a Collocation Lease on your Tower?Lease aggregators and investors are increasingly ap...
05/14/2026

โ“ Should You Do a Lease Buyout for a Collocation Lease on your Tower?
Lease aggregators and investors are increasingly approaching tower owners with offers to purchase the rights to collocation lease income โ€” leaving the tower owner with the tower but without the rent. It sounds like easy liquidity. It rarely is ๐Ÿ‘‰ https://bit.ly/3NvQxlW

Will just have to agree to disagree. ๐Ÿค” There are new build macro sites that are built primarily for FWA. ๐Ÿ‘‰
05/13/2026

Will just have to agree to disagree. ๐Ÿค” There are new build macro sites that are built primarily for FWA.

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The US home Internet competitive landscape is fragmenting into four distinct territorial formations, and these formations are reshaping wireless competition through convergence. Via Recon Analytics' Roger Entner & Jake Hawkridge...

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