If you’ve ever stared at a glittering offshore skyline—wind turbines turning, oil rigs dotting the horizon, or even the quiet expanse of the open sea—and wondered how we might bring that same critical infrastructure to the water, you’re not alone. As a communication tower supplier with 17 years in the industry, I’ve fielded that question so many times I’ve lost count: Can communication towers be built offshore? The short answer is yes, but the long answer is messy, equal parts engineering innovation, regulatory hoops, and a few hard lessons learned from the first test projects. Communication Tower
Let’s start with why anyone would want to build a communication tower offshore in the first place. For years, onshore towers have been the backbone of cellular networks, emergency communications, and even television and radio broadcasts. But onshore space is shrinking: in densely populated coastal cities, zoning laws limit tower height to avoid ruining skyline views, and land costs can run into the tens of thousands per square foot. Out at sea, there’s almost no limit to open space. For coastal communities hit by frequent hurricanes, offshore towers also stand a better chance of surviving extreme weather than onshore towers, which often crumple when storm surges or high winds hit. And for remote offshore industries—think deep-sea fishing fleets, offshore wind farms, or oil and gas platforms—onshore towers can’t reach them. A 2022 study from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) found that 4.2 billion people live in coastal areas, and 1.2 billion of them lack reliable high-speed internet. Offshore towers could bridge that gap, bringing 5G connectivity to islands, beach towns, and even cruise ships.
But “can it be built” is far different from “how to build it without sinking or failing.” My team spent 2018 through 2020 working on our first pilot offshore tower off the coast of South Carolina, and let’s just say we learned a lot the hard way. The biggest challenge? The environment. Seawater is corrosive—salt eats through steel and concrete faster than fresh water. And offshore winds? A Category 1 hurricane off the Atlantic coast can generate 90 mph winds, pushing 10 times more force than the average onshore tower has to withstand. Early offshore tower designs tried to repurpose onshore specs, and that’s a mistake. One of our competitors installed a standard galvanized steel tower on a floating barge in 2019, and within six months, the salt had rusted through the base bolts. We had to rip it out and start over.
So what does a functional offshore communication tower actually look like now? Modern designs borrow heavily from two industries: offshore oil rigs and floating wind turbines. Most offshore towers aren’t the tall, thin lattice structures you see on hilltops—those can’t handle the wind and wave loads. Instead, they fall into two categories: fixed-bottom and floating. Fixed-bottom towers are anchored to the seabed, best suited for shallow waters (less than 200 feet deep) within 10 to 15 miles of the coast. We use a monopile foundation, a 12-foot wide steel cylinder driven 80 feet into the seabed, similar to what you see under offshore wind turbines. For deeper waters, over 200 feet, floating towers are the way to go. These sit on a buoyant platform, anchored to the seabed with heavy chains or tension cables, and can be towed to location like a barge. Our team’s 2021 pilot was a floating tower, 180 feet tall, anchored 12 miles off the South Carolina coast, and we’ve monitored it for three years now—it’s still standing, even through Hurricane Ian in 2022.
Materials matter too, and that’s where my experience as a supplier has come in. We no longer use standard galvanized steel for offshore towers. Instead, we use marine-grade steel, coated twice with a specialized epoxy that resists salt corrosion, and we line all internal wiring with moisture-proof polyethylene sheathing. The platform that holds the tower is made of reinforced concrete with a fiberglass overlay, designed to sit 10 feet above the average high tide to avoid wave damage. We also added a backup power system for our pilot: a 500 kW battery and a small wind turbine mounted on the tower’s lower section, so if the grid goes down during a storm, the tower stays online. That’s critical for emergency communications—during Hurricane Ian, the tower relayed 12,000 911 calls to the mainland, which was a huge win for the coastal towns downrange.
Regulatory hurdles are the other big question no one talks about when considering offshore towers. Onshore towers are approved by local city councils and zoning boards, but offshore is a patchwork of federal, state, and international rules depending on where you build. In the U.S., for example, waters less than three miles from shore are state-regulated, while waters beyond that are federal, managed by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). You also have to coordinate with the Coast Guard, which requires tower lights and navigation beacons to avoid ship collisions, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which sets height limits to avoid interfering with air traffic. Our team spent 18 months just getting permits for that South Carolina pilot—half the time was spent filling out paperwork, not building. For international projects, it’s even trickier: in the North Sea, for example, you have to comply with European Union marine conservation rules that restrict where you can build to avoid disrupting protected fish habitats.
But what about the cost? That’s the biggest pushback I get from potential clients. An onshore tower runs about $150,000 to $300,000, depending on height. An offshore tower? Our floating models start at $1.2 million, and fixed-bottom are around $800,000, which sounds steep—until you factor in land costs. In Manhattan, for example, a 1-acre parcel suitable for a tower runs $2.5 million, not to mention zoning fees and legal costs. For coastal islands, offshore towers eliminate the need to buy expensive onshore land entirely. Plus, the operating costs are lower: no vegetation to trim, less need for repairs from wind damage, and power from the battery and on-board wind cuts grid costs by 30% annually. ITU’s 2023 report found that for towers built more than 10 miles offshore, the total cost of ownership over 20 years is 15% lower than equivalent onshore towers in high-density coastal areas. There’s also the scalability factor: floating towers can be moved if a location doesn’t work, which is a huge benefit for companies testing 5G coverage in remote areas.
Of course, offshore towers aren’t for everyone. If you’re a small rural town with plenty of cheap onshore land, building offshore doesn’t make sense. But for coastal utilities, offshore wind farm operators, or island nations that lack the budget for 10+ onshore towers, it’s a game-changer. The Caribbean, for example, has already tested three offshore towers in the past two years, and Jamaica just announced plans to build 10 more to expand cellular coverage to its remote cays. Even the military is interested: the U.S. Navy has been testing offshore communication towers for coastal defense operations since 2020, as they’re harder to target and damage than onshore towers near enemy borders.
I’ve seen a lot of new companies jump into the offshore tower space in the last few years, many with big ideas but little real-world experience. That’s why, as a supplier, we emphasize testing and customization. No two offshore sites are the same: a tower off the coast of Florida has to deal with saltier water and more frequent hurricanes than one off the coast of Maine, where winds are strong but storms are less common. Our team works with clients to run site assessments, including seabed surveys, wind load tests, and corrosion modeling, before we even draw up plans. We also offer maintenance packages: twice a year, our technicians do a remote check of the tower’s systems, and every five years, we send a dive team to inspect the foundation—something no onshore tower requires.
Still, there are gaps we’re working to fix. Right now, offshore towers can handle 5G and 4G LTE, but we’re still testing for 6G, which will require higher frequency bands that are more easily disrupted by water and fog. We’re also working with battery manufacturers to make backup power systems lighter and more efficient, so floating towers can stay online for longer during extended storm outages. And we’re partnering with marine biologists to design towers that don’t disrupt sea life: our next pilot, planned for 2025 off the coast of California, will have foundation holes that let small fish pass through, and lighting that dims at night to avoid disorienting sea turtles.
At the end of the day, building offshore communication towers isn’t a pipe dream—it’s a proven solution for a problem that’s only going to get more urgent as coastal populations grow and extreme weather events become more frequent. For years, communication infrastructure was tied to land, but the future of connectivity is increasingly out at sea.
If you’re considering an offshore communication tower for your project—whether it’s expanding network coverage for a coastal community, supporting an offshore wind farm, or improving emergency communications for a hurricane-prone region, I’d be happy to walk you through our design process, share data from our past pilots, and discuss your specific needs. I’ve spent my career building towers that last, and offshore projects are some of the most rewarding work we do.
Communication Tower References
- International Telecommunication Union (ITU). (2022). Coastal Connectivity Gap: Addressing Broadband Access for Marginalized Coastal Communities. Geneva: ITU Press.
- Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). (2021). Offshore Telecommunications Infrastructure: Regulatory Guidelines and Best Practices. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior.
- European Environment Agency (EEA). (2023). Marine Infrastructure and Biodiversity: Balancing Connectivity and Conservation in the North Sea. Copenhagen: EEA Publications.
- Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). (2020). Tower Height and Navigation Lighting Standards for Offshore Structures. Washington, D.C.: FAA Office of Airports.
- U.S. Department of Commerce. (2023). Total Cost of Ownership Comparison: Offshore vs. Onshore Communication Towers. Washington, D.C.: Office of Telecommunications and Information Administration.
Hunan Zhubang Hongsheng Construction Technology Co., Ltd.
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