AT&T and Crown Castle expand agreement for wireless network infrastructure

Under the terms of the new agreement, leasing management and operations will be streamlined to improve the efficiency and flexibility required for AT&T to deploy new technologies and increase network capacity. As a result, these changes will enable AT&T to speed up the deployment of 5G technologies and specifically help with its FirstNet build.

itw-capacity-website-340x405px.jpg"This agreement marks a significant milestone in our relationship with Crown Castle," said Susan Johnson, executive vice president of global connections and supply chain at AT&T. "It establishes a market-based framework and simplifies the lease management and administration process. This will allow us to streamline network projects to better serve our customers."

As well as macro sites, the scope of the agreement also includes small cell deployments, which are necessary to improve wireless networks, meet the demands of growing mobile data usage and prepare for 5G.

"We are pleased to expand our longstanding strategic relationship with AT&T. We look forward to continuing to support AT&T's growth by providing our infrastructure assets to meet their network needs for years to come," added Mike Kavanagh, chief commercial officer at Crown Castle.

AT&T say that the announcement aligns itself with the company’s objective to provide customers with better speed, reliability and performance.

In February of this year Deutsche Telekom set up an edge computing lab in the US, in collaboration with Crown Castle. Under the terms of the agreement connectivity to each site will use extensive fibre networks owned and maintained by Crown Castle. The following year Crown Castle confirmed its intention to buy Lightower Fiber Networks for $7.1 billion, allowing it to diversify away from its traditional tower business.