Telesites SAB, a spinoff from Carlos Slim’s America Movil SAB, has a majority of analysts recommending selling the shares. The wireless-tower company started trading in Mexico this week and after its debut on Monday when there appeared to be market interest, it proceeded to drop yesterday 2.9 percent to 11.99 pesos ($.70). Mexico City-based Telesites, created to manage the operator’s …
Mt. Wilson’s iconic Poole complex acquired by InSite Towers
A deal to buy the multi-tower Poole Tower complex on Mount Wilson in California that was expected to be close to being inked in April, according to a report in Wireless Estimator, took another seven months, but finally closed last week, according to Media Services Group’s Bob Heymann, Jr. who served as the broker for Poole Properties, in announcing the …
Indiana’s tallest building picks Subcarrier Communications to manage its rooftop assets
Subcarrier Communications has been selected to provide rooftop management services for the Chase Tower in Indianapolis, Ind., expanding their building rooftop management portfolio. The team leaders for this transaction were Operations Manager Greg Weger, and VP of Engineering Bill Cordell from Subcarrier’s Houston Office. The iconic Monument Circle building opened in 1990. At 830 feet, it’s the 47thth tallest building …
CTI jumps back into tower ownership with a 120 structure deal with Vyve Broadband
Massachusetts-based CTI Towers, Inc., a wireless tower operating company in which Comcast Ventures is majority owner, has jumped back into the tower space following their announcement today that it has acquired 120 communication towers from Vyve Broadband, a Rye Brook, N.Y.-headquartered mid-sized MSO with towers in Okla., Kan., Ark., and Wyo. The deal, expected to close by year-end, will provide …
Digital Bridge and Stonepeak complete ExteNet Systems’ $1.4 billion recapitalization
ExteNet Systems, Inc., a leading independent provider of distributed networks enabling outdoor and indoor wireless connectivity, announced the successful completion of its recapitalization efforts, initially announced in July. The acquisition is led by Digital Bridge Holdings (Digital Bridge) and Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners (Stonepeak), which together head the consortium that invested or arranged over $1.4 billion capital, inclusive of equity and …
Phoenix Tower International closes its 600 T-Mobile tower buy
Phoenix Tower International (PTI) announces that it has closed its transaction with T-Mobile to acquire the ownership or management rights relating to over 600 wireless communication tower sites including the exclusive right to manage and operate the sites from T-Mobile. Terms of the transaction remain confidential between the parties. TD Securities LLC served as M&A Advisor to PTI and provided …
Mobilitie and Digital Bridge vie for ‘largest’ infrastructure bragging rights
Mobilitie LLC, announced it has closed a $325 million debt investment. Led by CIT Bank, N.A., and TD Securities (USA), LLC, the investment will continue to fuel the exponential growth of the company’s distributed antenna systems, small cell, communication tower and Wi-Fi business investments. The Newport Beach, California-based company took the opportunity in its press release last week to state …
Trump Tower’s not-so-swaying broadcast antenna results in a $2,000 fine to developer
On Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, 2015, Toronto, Canada building authorities closed off an area of the city’s financial district after they received reports of an ‘unstable’ antenna on the Trump Tower. On Friday, the developer of Trump Tower, Talon International Development Inc., was handed a $2,000 bill from the city for the cost of closing off the roads around …
Carriers say they’re being strong-armed with onerous Long Island lease requirement
Carriers leasing space on Riverhead, New York’s water towers have filed federal lawsuits claiming the Riverhead Water District is trying to “strong-arm” them into paying more by not allowing technicians onto the properties to repair and upgrade equipment until they agree to the new terms which the carriers believe are too high MetroPCS has leased space on the water tower …
Vertical Bridge picks up 200 Nsight towers, raising its count to almost 3000
Vertical Bridge, the largest private owner and manager of wireless communication infrastructure in the U.S., today announced it has closed a transaction to acquire the rights to over 200 wireless communications towers from Nsight Tower Holdings, LLC (“Nsight”), a major telecommunication service provider in the Midwest. Vertical Bridge will have the exclusive rights to lease and operate the portfolio of …
Tower owner skates on $231,000 in FCC fines by playing the wolf at the door card
Johnson Towers Corporation (JTC), an owner-operated Florida company, agreed to a consent decree with the Federal Communications Commission to pay $3,000 in three installments of $1,000 each year for not installing obstruction lighting on two antenna structures and update registration information with the FCC to show the dismantlement of a third tower. The company’s owner, Dan L. Johnson, agreed that …
SBA Communications sees 2016 growth outpacing 2015’s full year projections
In providing SBA Communications Corporation’s Q3 earnings report today, President and CEO Jeffrey Stoops said, “Our backlogs continue to grow, and our initial 2016 outlook reflects a higher domestic organic growth rate than we now expect for full year 2015. Our portfolio continues to grow as well. We now own over 25,000 sites.” “Our customers remain active,” Stoops said, “and …
One tower is surely not in step with American Tower’s upbeat Mexico outlook
American Tower Corp. CFO Tom Bartlett said during the company’s Q3 analysts’ conference call on Friday that Mexico had 90% wireless penetration, but only had 45% smart phone saturation. He also said that the growth potential was excellent since, “We believe, like Brazil, that the market needs twice the number of towers to support 4G over the long term.” He …
American Tower cautions investors that their MLA with AT&T isn’t expiring in 2016
In American Tower Corp.’s investors’ conference call this morning, EVP and CFO Tom Bartlett cautioned analysts that their master lease agreement (MLA) with AT&T was not expiring in 2016 when he was questioned by one caller regarding the expiration. Bartlett said he had seen that statement in some write-ups, but it wasn’t correct. In August, SVP and Treasurer Leah Stearns …
Crown Castle will reinstate gag order keeping them from discussing carriers
Crown Castle CEO Ben Moreland said yesterday during the company’s Q3 conference call that Crown’s executives used to refrain from speaking with any specificity about carrier deployments, but “over the last couple of years, we’ve sort of relaxed that standard, and probably spoken a little bit too much occasionally around specific carrier deployment plans.” But Crown’s easing of carrier build …
American Tower’s Viom deal puts their India tower count ahead of the U.S.
American Tower Corporation is paying $1.16 billion to buy a controlling stake in the Indian tower operator, Viom Networks. The deal, which was widely expected will see American Tower taking a 51 percent stake in the Indian firm, which currently owns and operates approximately 42,200 towers and 200 indoor distributed antenna systems across India. American Tower’s existing Indian portfolio of …
One towerco to own a mind-boggling 1.5 million towers in China in a $34 billion deal
Every large tower owner dreams of the day when they can boast that they’re the largest in the world. Those hopes were dashed yesterday with the announcement that the big three telecommunications operators in China have agreed upon an infrastructure-sharing joint venture, China Tower Corp. According to Barclays, the total tower count will be a staggering 1.5 million towers. The …
FCC Commissioner’s new tower builds is based on a hazy crystal ball
Commentary — Making subsidies more flexible and removing legal hurdles are two of several changes the Federal Communications Commission should make to advance wireless infrastructure development, FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly said Wednesday at the Competitive Carriers Association conference in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Another adjustment they should consider is providing their Commissioners with research that they’ve unearthed to provide direction rather than …
Central States Towers picks up $75m in new debt and equity financing
CIT Group Inc. announced that CIT Communications & Technology Finance served as sole lead arranger and administrative agent in a senior secured credit facility to Central States Tower (CST), a leading middle market operator and developer of wireless communications towers and a portfolio company of Sweetwater Capital, LLC. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. “We have maintained a strong …
American Tower topples an Oklahoma tower while its sole tenant was broadcasting
UPDATE: Sept. 25, 2015 – Dale Bolton, High Plains Public Radio’s director of programming and operations, said today that he has been informed that an American Tower Corporation representative had called another individual within his organization on Friday afternoon prior to taking the KGUY tower down the following morning for safety reasons. However, Bolton said,”They were unable to get to Guymon to …
