Turf vendor MSA insurance requirements compared

Side-by-side comparison of typical insurance requirements from the five major turf vendors and tower owners that issue MSAs to telecom subcontractors. Requirements shown are typical minimums for standard subcontractor scope.

Coverage Line	Crown Castle	SBA	American Tower	Ericsson	Nokia
General Liability	$1M occ / $2M agg	$1M occ / $2M agg	$1M occ / $2M agg	$1M occ / $2M agg	$2M occ / $4M agg
Height Exclusion	No exclusion permitted	No exclusion permitted	No exclusion permitted	No exclusion permitted	No exclusion permitted
Workers Compensation	Statutory	Statutory	Statutory	Statutory	Statutory
Employers Liability	$1M / $1M / $1M	$500K / $500K / $500K	$1M / $1M / $1M	$1M / $1M / $1M	$1M / $1M / $1M
Commercial Auto	$1M CSL	$1M CSL	$1M CSL	$1M CSL	$2M CSL
Umbrella / Excess	$5M-$10M	$5M	$5M-$10M	$10M	$10M-$25M
Additional Insured	Blanket required	Scheduled or blanket	Blanket required	Blanket required	Blanket required
Primary & Noncontributory	Required	Required	Required	Required	Required
Waiver of Subrogation	GL, WC, Auto	GL, WC	All lines	All lines	All lines
Per-Project Aggregate	Required	Varies by scope	Required	Required	Required
Inland Marine	Recommended	Recommended	$250K+ required	Required	$500K+ required
Professional Liability	If engineering scope	If engineering scope	$1M if engineering	$1M required	$2M required
Pollution Liability	Generator/decom work	Not typically required	Generator/decom work	$1M required	$1M-$2M required
Completed Operations	Required 2 years	Required 1 year	Required 2 years	Required 3 years	Required 3 years
Sub Flow-Down	Required	Required	Required	Required	Required, matching limits

Vendor-specific notes

Crown Castle

Largest US tower owner (~40,000 towers). MSA terms are generally middle-of-road. Small cell and fiber segments may have separate, lower-limit requirements.

SBA Communications

~39,000 towers in the US. Typically the least demanding MSA insurance requirements among major towercos. EL limits at $500K are lower than peers.

American Tower

~43,000 US towers. Requirements closely mirror Crown Castle but with stricter inland marine and waiver of subrogation provisions.

Ericsson

OEM / turf vendor for carrier-managed deployments. Highest professional liability and pollution requirements among the group. 3-year completed ops tail.

Nokia

OEM / turf vendor. Most demanding MSA requirements overall: $2M GL occurrence, $2M auto CSL, $10M-$25M umbrella. Sub flow-down must match or exceed prime limits.

Key takeaways

Height exclusions: All five vendors prohibit height exclusions on GL and umbrella. This is non-negotiable across every major MSA.
Nokia is the most demanding: $2M GL occurrence, $2M auto CSL, and umbrella requirements up to $25M put Nokia MSAs at the top of the difficulty scale.
SBA is the least demanding: Lower EL limits ($500K) and flexible additional insured requirements make SBA the easiest MSA to comply with.
OEM vendors require more: Ericsson and Nokia (as OEM/turf vendors) typically require professional liability and pollution coverage that towercos do not.
Completed operations tail: Ranges from 1 year (SBA) to 3 years (Ericsson, Nokia). Budget for tail coverage accordingly.

Disclaimer:These are typical ranges observed across turf vendor MSAs and do not represent any specific company's current contract terms. MSA requirements change frequently and vary by project scope, geography, and sub-tier level. Verify your specific MSA before structuring your insurance program. Last reviewed July 2026.

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