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Biting the Hand That Feeds You
January 17, 2006
THERE IS A NEW KID on the block and he might send a shiver through the cellular telephone industry. Called the Cellular Site Landowners Association (CSLA) , and just as its name says, the group intends to represent land owners with a cell site on their property.
According to its web site, the goal of CSLA is to be “the unified knowledge base for cellular site landowners to gather relevant information, exchange ideas, and maximize wireless revenues.” In other words, they plan to use the information they’ve gathered from within the wireless industry and use it to organize land owners against cellular telephone carriers.
CSLA largely consists of James Polick, a real estate attorney, and Rob Benson, a former employee at Marconi, Motorola, and Sprint PCS. Polick has also worked as an independent consultant for other wireless telecommunications companies.
Taking a close look at their web site I get the impression that CSLA is a company and not an actual association or union of land owners. I can’t seem to find any evidence that the group has a true organizational structure common with these types of associations. They instead advertise their ability to help land owners negotiate deals and help them create leverage if a tower owner wishes to renegotiate a lease or get a signature on an estoppel letter. If they really are a company (and not an association), their choice of company names (e.g. nom de plume) is a bit misleading in my opinion.
CSLA also makes a point to seek land owners who have been approached by land acquisition companies such as Unison Site Management and Wireless Capital Partners (Wireless Capital PartnersWCP), both of which are former clients of Polick. They are also advertising their ability to help land owners who are renegotiating their tower leases as a result of the merger between Cingular Wireless and AT&T Wireless.
CSLA is really pushing their product on the Internet lately. Not only have they launched their nifty new web site, they are also promoting their services by RSS and advertising online. CSLApromotes a service that allows land owners to sell their leases by online auction (think eBay), which would effectively remove the site acquisition agent and independent contractor entirely from the process.
I also hope their plan works. If not, I don’t believe too many wireless telecommunications companies will hire them back after biting the hands that fed them. ■
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