If you own a plot of land, real estate or community property, with or without an antenna tower, our teams and expertise can help you generate additional income or improve your rental yields. If you're an individual, a local authority or a landlord, and you'd like to understand the roles of the players involved, the regulations and the TDF group, we can answer all your questions. Don't hesitate to contact our teams.
A leading industrial player for almost 50 years, the TDF group operates and manages telecommunications infrastructure (relay antennas) and broadcasting (television and radio), secure networks and connectivity services for its public and private customers throughout France, both in mainland France and overseas.
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Radio sites (also known as relay antennas) are at the heart of the 4G and 5G mobile networks operated by operators.
Deployed throughout the country, these interconnected sites maintain the connection between home and business users.
These sites consist of a pylon (or support: mast, water tower, building roof, etc.) on which operators install antennas that broadcast radio waves enabling them to provide an electronic communications service to their customers. In rural areas, these sites are built on private or public land. In urban areas, the site will consist of supports and antennas installed high up on building roofs.
There are three main players (for a cell phone site):
Person providing a site on which to build the tower or masts supporting the antennas: private individual, large accounts/social landlords, condominiumscommunities)
Company that builds, operates and ensures the functioning and safety of the infrastructures on the site
Companies that install antennas on towers to transmit the frequencies needed for mobile telephony.
There are currently four operators in France: Bouygues Telecom, Free Mobile, Orange and SFR.
The coverage and quality of mobile services are key priorities for public authorities (ARCEP, Parliament, Government) to ensure connectivity across the country.
Based on proposals from Arcep, the French government and operators announced the New Deal Mobile in January 2018. This nationwide program gives priority to regional planning in the conditions for allocating mobile frequencies to operators; in this case the 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2.1 GHz frequency bands. Operators have made commitments to ensure nationwide coverage.
This involves the deployment of relay antennas by operators on new radio sites, particularly in sparsely populated areas.
At the end of the program, by 2027, each operator will be required to ensure coverage of 5,000 new areas thanks to new sites (the majority of which will be shared). Discover the France Mobile website
For several years now, the French government has been pursuing an ambitious public policy aimed at providing all French citizens with high-quality cell phone coverage. This involves reducing the number of mobile "white zones" and improving coverage in certain areas, such as transport hubs. Targeted coverage schemes have been put in place, notably as part of the New Deal Mobile program. These areas are identified by local authorities and the government. Telecom operators respond to these needs by deploying new base stations. To do this, they often rely on towercos, whose mission is to build, install and operate radio sites on which telecoms stations are housed.
To be able to host a relay antenna on its infrastructure (tower, mast, pylon), TDF must first secure control of the land on which the infrastructure will be built, either by purchasing the plot or by leasing it. To do this, TDF turns to local authorities, large landlords and private owners alike. For the landowner, it's a way of increasing the value of his property by receiving a sum of money on sale, or rent each year.
You may terminate your lease by giving the notice period specified in your lease. Please note that termination will entail the dismantling of the tower, and TDF will seek alternative solutions to continue to meet its contractual obligations to its customers.
Should you decide to terminate your lease and sign a new one with another company, we will look for another location to set up our infrastructure.
We will vacate the premises by restoring them to their original state, as stipulated in the lease, unless otherwise specifically agreed with the lessor. To do this, we would like you to let us know as soon as you have reached an agreement with another company.
There is no set scale or average rent.
The remuneration offered fluctuates according to the geographical area in which the tower is located, the position of the site, and the services present on the infrastructure. Rents may also fluctuate according to the population density of the area.
In all cases, don't hesitate to contact us to discuss how we can add value to our partnership.
To introduce 5G technology, operators prefer to use existing mobile sites.
Even if the sites already exist, operators and towercos invest heavily to update networks, change equipment or renew infrastructure.
Also, these technological evolutions generally do not generate additional direct revenues, but bring better network quality that will benefit users in the area.
With few exceptions, the infrastructure (tower, technical premises, etc.) always belongs to TDF. Ownership of the infrastructure is mentioned in your lease. If you have any doubts contact us at so that we can examine your lease together.
As part of its business, TDF buys or leases land on which to install telecom infrastructures. If you would like to sell, please contact us.
The Agence Nationale des Fréquences(ANFR) is making available to the general public a tool for displaying on a map the base stations installed in France. This tool is called Cartoradio and is free of charge.
Cartoradio enables you to find out the location of radio stations belonging to all operators and towercos, as well as the operators broadcasting from this site (in the case of Ran Sharing, as defined in your lease, both operators appear on cartoradio, but only the radio equipment of one is present on the site). Access Cartoradio.
Occasionally, TDF and its customers may need to slightly raise the height of the tower to add new antennas. This action improves digital coverage of the territory by avoiding the deployment of a new tower.
To carry out this work, TDF takes care of all the administrative formalities.
Fiber is a wired technology used to transmit information at very high speeds, particularly between fixed points such as ISP boxes.
The mobile network is a radio access technology used to circulate information between wireless phones, whether stationary or in motion.
The two technologies are different and complementary. As a result, towers are still needed in fiber-optic areas to broadcast the radio waves used to operate mobile networks.