Data bite

Christian Century, May 31, 2003

About 1 percent of all cell phone towers in the U.S. are housed in church steeples, says the New York Times. Cell phone companies that have looked to expand coverage areas often pay churches between $1,000 and $3,000 a month to rent space in steeples, said Jim Fryer, a cell phone analyst in Landsdown, Pennsylvania.

Steeples provide the height needed to transmit signals and often receive the blessing of urban planners who do not want transmission towers cluttering the skyline.