The blowback from American Tower’s edict to vendors last week requiring complicity in limiting their work on any site that falls within a half-mile radius of theirs, has prompted the company to bend, ever so slightly, by:
- moving the deadline for signed agreements of compliance to tomorrow
- excluding non-macro towers as a factor
- limiting the sites to those published on their website
- allowing for a site-specific waiver
But to one vendor who wished to remain nameless, “it still does not do enough to walk this situation back. This is an unprecedented power play and the company making it is really damaging their reputation in the marketplace.”
A copy of a letter sent from an American Tower representative, Jared Morley, Director of Supply Chain, to vendors was obtained by Inside Towers over the weekend (reprinted in its entirely):
Vendor Compliance
Vendor.Compliance@AmericanTower.com
Contractor,
Over the past week, I have spoken and/or exchanged correspondence with many of you in order to gain additional clarity on the intent and obligations of the amendment you originally received on May 31, 2018. These discussions have highlighted some unintended issues that we have addressed through revised wording in the amendment. These revisions seek to accomplish four objectives:
- Clarifies that our focus is on towers being developed next to existing towers which will overbuild communities
- Excludes non-macro tower facilities from consideration – both in terms of ATC assets for proximity analysis and for future projects where you are engaged to help address coverage and capacity issues
- Ensures you are only accountable when the ATC proximity asset is published on our website
- Introduces a method to obtain a site specific waiver when conditions require an additional tower asset within the ½ mile radius
Within the embedded DocuSign envelope, you will find another copy of my original letter from May 31, along with an updated version of the amendment which reflects the points above.
These changes are intended to minimize any negative impact, but to still help protect the long term health of the industry and our assets. We strongly believe the proliferation of proximate towers to existing towers could result in disruptive community backlash and impede the deployment of necessary infrastructure in the future.
Because of these revisions, the deadline for your response is extended until June 20, 2018.
I look forward to our continued partnership and to receiving your support of this initiative.
Thanks,
Jared Morley
Director of Supply Chain
By Jim Fryer, Managing Editor, Inside Towers
June 19, 2018
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