Over the past several WISPA shows I have had the opportunity to chat and get to know CEO John Paleski from Subcarrier Communications (www.subcarrier.com). John is very in-tune with how the WISP industry functions in terms of tower needs. Many of the big tower companies tack on so many fees with their towers it makes leasing a tower out of reach for many. Add on the processes in place can be a deterrent to getting equipment in place.
Subcarrier has addressed many of these hurdles for the WISP industry. Reasonable rates for tower rent are always a concern, but if the business model is there for the WISP, they are not the primary concern many times. Not only has subcarrier realized many WISPs are utilizing smaller equipment, but things like huge application fees are a negative for the smaller WISP. Subcarrier knows what is on their towers. Such a simple thing means a rapid and smooth deployment for the WISP. After several conversations with JOHN, it is apparent he knows just about every tower in his inventory. He can tell you if they will support what you are wanting to hang on that tower without running a $2000 engineering study right off the bat. On the flip side, he isn’t compromising safety or integrity of the tower. Many towers, such as old AT&T long lines towers were built to such high specifications if you just apply a little common sense and some quick figuring you know the typical WISP deployment isn’t going to add any significant amount of loading on the tower.
I believe that John thinks the same way many of us in this industry do. An empty tower is not making anybody any money. If it makes sense for both parties then a deal can be made. Too many of the larger tower companies only look at deals that make sense for them.
I would encourage any of you looking for towerspace to check out the sites Subcarrier has. Check out their interactive Google Search to see if they have some towers you could use. Tell them Justin sent you over.