Cell Tower News: American Tower, SBA report growth

by Jarad Matula March 18, 2016

written by Jarad Matula March 18, 2016

American Tower reports strong growth, SBA minimal

In the excitement leading up to and during the recent NATE UNITE 2016 event, it seems the tower industry’s financial update escaped us until now. As you’ll recall, Crown Castle earlier this year reported its full-year and Q4 2015 financials. Its two main competitors, American Tower and SBA Communications, recently announced results, both showing growth, though one a clear winner.

American Tower reported both a strong Q4 and 2015. Here’s some key stats:

Q4 2015

Total revenue increased 22.3% to $1.3 billion.
Property revenue increased 21.5% to $1.25 billion.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased 21.2% to $802 million.
Adjusted funds from operations increased 22.7% to $542 million.

Full-year 2015

Total revenue increased 16.4% to $4.8 billion.
Property revenue increased 16.8% to $4.7 billion.
Adjusted EBITDA increased 15.7% to $3.1 billion.
AFFO increased 18.5% to $2.2 billion.

SBA Communications posted Q4 2015 financials, but not all of its year-end totals. So we’ll just have to compare the quarter and take peek at what the end-of-year may shape up to be.

Q4 2015

Total revenue increased 0.5% to $406.9 million.
Domestic leasing revenue increased 3.3% to $404.7 million.
Adjusted EBITDA increased 2.9% to $274.3 million.
AFFO decreased 0.2% to $181.1 million.

Full-year 2015 (unaudited)

Total revenue increased 7.3% to $1.6 billion.
Domestic leasing revenue increased 8.9% to $1.5 billion.

As a refresher, Crown Castle‘s Q4 2015 revenue grew 2.2%, from $925.9 million to $945.8 million. Its yearly revenue grew 3.53% to $3.7 billion. So for 2015, it would seem purely in terms of revenue, American Tower did the best, with Crown Castle just behind and SBA a somewhat distant third. But don’t pop champagne just yet if you have American Tower stock. According to financial site Zacks, this could be somewhat of a high water mark for the company, as it sees new clients and capacity topping out in the near future as the wireless industry moves away from complete reliance on towers for coverage and more use of small cells, distributed antenna systems and Wi-Fi.

What does ‘5G’ mean for the tower industry?

On this week’s HetNet Happenings program, we discussed the NATE UNITE 2016 event, and in particular what the push for “5G” means for the tower industry, as well as why attending NATE throws a bit of cold water on the hype. Plus there’s ample New Orleans food discussion.