If you’ve ever driven through a small rural town in the U.S. or a growing suburban neighborhood, you’ve probably passed the same 100-foot steel structures peeking above the treeline: telecom towers. For years, these towers have carried a bit of a mixed reputation—some residents see them as eyesores, others worry about property values, and local politicians often juggle requests for new towers with community pushback. As someone who’s spent the last 12 years working for a telecom tower supply and installation company, I’ve sat through dozens of town halls where neighbors ask the same blunt question: “What’s in it for us?” Today, I want to break down the real, tangible economic benefits of having these towers in an area, straight from the perspective of someone who builds and maintains them for a living. Telecom Towers
Let’s start with the most obvious, but often underdiscussed, economic driver: digital inclusion and the jobs that come with it. Five years ago, I was on a project in central Ohio, a stretch of farmland that had no reliable cellular service. The local school district was struggling to offer remote learning to students whose only internet access was spotty satellite that cut out during storms, and a handful of small family-owned farms were losing money because they couldn’t use precision agriculture tools—things like soil moisture sensors, GPS-guided tractors, and market apps that need consistent cellular to work. When we installed four new telecom towers there in 2020, the change was immediate. Within six months, the school district rolled out a 1:1 device program with reliable internet, and local farm revenue from digital tools jumped 18%, according to the county agricultural extension office. That’s not just tech jargon—that’s money staying in the community.
But the jobs don’t stop at the farm or the school. When we win a contract to build towers in an area, we hire almost entirely local labor. A typical 10-tower project, which takes about six months from site prep to activation, will employ 20 to 30 local workers: electricians, concrete pourers, excavation crews, and general laborers. We also partner with local steel suppliers for the tower components, concrete companies for the foundations, and even local restaurants to feed our crews during site work. That’s payroll that goes directly into the community, not to some out-of-state corporation. After a project in western Kentucky in 2021, we did a quick breakdown: 72% of the total project spend went back into the local economy, either as wages or payments to local businesses. Compare that to a big-box store opening, where much of the profit flows to corporate headquarters, and it’s easy to see why this matters.
Next, there’s property value and business growth, the two things that make local council members pay attention. For a long time, the myth was that telecom towers drag down home values. But a 2022 study from the Appraisal Institute, which is a leading global association for real estate appraisers, found that when towers are properly sited (usually at least 500 feet from residential homes, per FCC guidelines), they have no negative impact on property values. In fact, in areas where cellular service was non-existent or unreliable, home values rose an average of 7% within two years of tower installation. That makes sense: buyers today prioritize internet access as much as they prioritize a good school district. If a neighborhood has consistent 5G, it’s more attractive to young families, remote workers, and retirees who want to stay connected.
For small businesses, the impact is even bigger. Take a small outdoor event space in northern Michigan I worked with two years ago. Before our tower went up, they could only take cash because credit card processing relied on cell service, and they couldn’t promote their events on social media consistently because their internet cut out mid-post. Within three months of the tower activating, they added credit card processing, their social media reach tripled, and their event revenue went up 40%. That’s not an anomaly. The Small Business Administration (SBA) released a report in 2023 that found small businesses in areas with full cellular coverage are 30% more likely to grow their annual revenue than those in underserved areas. They can connect with customers, use digital tools to manage inventory, and even hire more local workers because they can run their operations smoothly.
Another often overlooked benefit: tax revenue. Local governments collect property taxes on telecom towers, just like they do on any other commercial structure. A single tower can generate between $1,500 and $5,000 a year in annual property taxes, depending on its size and location. Multiply that by the number of towers in a medium-sized town, and that’s money that goes toward road repairs, public safety, and school funding. In the rural county in Ohio I mentioned earlier, that $1,500 per tower added up to $6,000 a year in extra tax revenue, which the county used to repair 12 miles of local backroads. That’s not a small amount for a community where the average annual budget for road maintenance was only $40,000 before the towers went in. There’s also the fact that telecom companies pay leasing fees to landowners who host towers on their property. A farmer who lets a tower go up on 1 acre of unused land can make $10,000 to $15,000 a year in long-term, consistent income—no seasonal work, no extra labor, just a check every year. That’s a huge boost for small farmers, especially those who are struggling with volatile crop prices.
Now, I know some of you are thinking: “That’s all good, but what about 5G and future growth?” Let’s talk about that. Telecom towers aren’t just for today’s smartphones. They’re the backbone for next-generation technology: smart city infrastructure, electric vehicle charging networks, telehealth, and even autonomous vehicles. A 2024 report from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations agency, estimated that every $1 invested in telecom infrastructure generates $3 in economic activity globally. For a local area, that means being able to attract future businesses that rely on high-speed, reliable connectivity. A manufacturing plant, a logistics hub, or a tech startup won’t move to a town with spotty cell service, because they need that infrastructure to operate. When we put towers in an area, we’re not just fixing a problem now—we’re building a foundation for long-term economic growth. In the town in western Kentucky I worked in, a distribution center for a national retail chain announced it would open a 200-job facility there a year after our towers went live, specifically citing the “reliable 5G coverage” as a key reason for choosing the site.
I’ve worked in this industry long enough to know that telecom towers aren’t perfect. They need to be sited properly, maintained regularly, and residents need to be consulted during the planning process. But the economic benefits are real, and they go way beyond the tower itself. They’re about jobs, tax revenue, small business growth, and opportunities that might not exist without that steel structure standing on the edge of town.
If your area is looking to improve connectivity and unlock these economic benefits, we can help. Our team has decades of experience designing, supplying, and installing telecom towers that meet FCC guidelines and community needs. We work with local governments, landowners, and businesses to find the right solutions for every area. To learn more about partnering with us for telecom tower supply and installation, we encourage you to reach out for a consultation.
Substation Structures References:
Appraisal Institute. (2022). The Impact of Telecom Towers on Residential Property Values.
U.S. Small Business Administration. (2023). Digital Inclusion and Small Business Growth.
International Telecommunication Union. (2024). Global Economic Returns from Telecom Infrastructure Investment.
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