YOU ARE AT:Network InfrastructureBy the Numbers: Top Tower Companies for the Second Quarter of 2008

By the Numbers: Top Tower Companies for the Second Quarter of 2008

The companies listed below represent the largest independent national and regional tower companies in the United States for the second quarter of 2008.

American Tower and Crown Castle continue to dominate the U.S. tower industry.

American Tower remains the largest tower company in the country, with more than 23,000 towers in its portfolio that covers the United States, Mexico and Brazil. Crown Castle comes in a close second with more than 22,000 towers.

Global Tower Partners and SBA Communications rank third and fourth in a second tier of companies that own more than 1,000 towers. TowerCo will soon join that category with the acquisition of 3,000 towers from Sprint Nextel. That deal closed during the third quarter and is not reflected on this ranking.

SBA bolstered its tower portfolio with the acquisitions of Optasite, which ranks eighth on this list, and Lightower, which ranks 10th. Neither deal closed during the second quarter and are not reflected on this listing.

The RCR Wireless News “By-the-Numbers” list is the property of RCR Wireless News and should not be construed as an endorsement of the companies listed below. Please link to this report using the “permalink” button, below.

Top Tower Companies for the Second Quarter of 2008
Tower Companies
# of Towers
Markets
Carrier partners
American Tower
23,134
United States, Mexico, Brazil
unavailable
Crown Castle
22,461
United States, Australia
unavailable
Global Tower Partners
9,995
United States
unavailable
SBA Communications
6,896
United States
Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, MetroPCS
Message Center Management
879
United States
Cingular, Cricket, Dobson, MetroPCS, Clearwire, SkyTel, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless
Clear Channel Communications
700*
United States
unavailable
Subcarrier Communications
605**
United States
Verizon, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, AT&T, Clearwire, MetroPCS, USA Mobility
Optasite
528
United States
unavailable
Tower Ventures
400
United States
Nextel, Cellular South, Verizon, Cricket, Cingular, Clearwire, T-Mobile
Lightower
350
United States
unavailable
Diamond Communications
272
United States with Southeast focus
unavailable
Vangard Wireless
220
United States
unavailable
DukeNet Communications
142
Midwest, Southeast
unavailable
Performance Development Group
84
Iowa, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota
unavailable
Industrial Communications
71
United States–Northeast and Florida
unavailable
Horvath Communications
71
Midwest, Pennsylvania, Texas
Cingular, Centennial, MetroPCS, Sprint Nextel, Verizon, Cricket, T-Mobile, Revol, U.S. Cellular
New Horizon Towers
50
Texas, Louisiana, Iowa
unavailable
TowerCo
48***
United States
unavailable
Bay Communications
34
New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts
T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint Nextel
Foresite
11
Southeast United States
unavailable
Collier Enterprises II L.L.C.
5
Florida
unavailable

*ClearChannel’s site count reflects first-quarter figures and includes only physical tower sites. The company says it has more than 60,000 sites avaialbe for co-location when its billboard properties are factored into the count.

* SubCarrier’s tower count includes 208 owned towers and 325 towers under management.
**TowerCo sold 424 towers to SBA during the second quarter but was in the process of acquiring more than 3,000 towers from Sprint Nextel in a deal that closed during the third quarter.

ABOUT AUTHOR