The problem
Carrier access agreements are negotiated once and then filed away. Years later, carriers occupy risers and rooftops under expired terms, insurance certificates have lapsed, and equipment has been added far beyond the original scope, with nobody reconciling documents against reality.
The risk
Expired or unenforced agreements mean uncompensated occupancy, uninsured work in your building, and weak legal footing in a dispute. If a carrier's contractor causes damage and their certificate of insurance lapsed two years ago, ownership absorbs the loss. Meanwhile, undocumented occupancy costs real license revenue.
Understanding it
An access agreement is only as valuable as its administration. The agreement defines what a carrier may occupy, what standards they must follow, what insurance they must carry, and what they owe, but those terms only protect the property if someone tracks obligations, verifies compliance, and reconciles the agreement against what is physically installed.
GDS administers agreements as living governance documents: occupancy is audited against granted rights, insurance and licensing are tracked to expiration, and new requests are checked against existing terms before access is granted.
Best practices
- Inventory all existing agreements and reconcile them against physical occupancy.
- Track insurance certificates, licensing, and bonding to expiration dates.
- Require agreement compliance as a gate in the access request workflow.
- Audit rooftop and riser occupancy annually against granted rights.
- Standardize new agreements on owner-protective templates with governance terms.
How GDS delivers it
- Agreement inventory, abstraction, and obligation tracking
- Insurance and license compliance monitoring
- Occupancy audits against agreement scope
- New agreement coordination with ownership and counsel
- Renewal, escalation, and default management support
Common questions
Does GDS negotiate agreements on our behalf?
GDS supports negotiation with market knowledge, technical scope review, and governance terms, working alongside ownership and legal counsel. The business terms remain ownership decisions.
What does an occupancy audit typically find?
Commonly: carriers occupying space beyond agreement scope, equipment from carriers with no agreement at all, lapsed insurance certificates, and abandoned equipment from decommissioned services still consuming space and power.