We normally think of AT&T and Verizon as rivals, but today the two carriers confirmed that they'll be working together on a new project.
AT&T and Verizon have struck a deal to build hundreds of cell towers. The two carriers will be teaming up with Tillman Infrastructure, a company who owns and operates towers, small cells, and smart cities infrastructure and will construct the towers for AT&T and Verizon.
Construction of the first towers is expected to kick off in Q1 2018. As the construction is completed, engineers will start installing equipment to quickly turn up the sites.
Building cell towers isn't cheap, and so AT&T and Verizon are teaming up to reduce their costs. Both carriers cited costs in their statements regarding this agreement, with Verizon saying that it's important to reduce operating costs while offering the best customer experience and AT&T explaining that it needs alternatives to the traditional tower leasing model, which it described as "not cost-effective or sustainable."