PCIA 2014: Tower leaders bullish on carrier spending

Orlando, Fla. – Leaders from the nation’s three largest tower companies took the stage to kick off PCIA’s 2014 Wireless Infrastructure Show. Crown Castle International, American Tower and SBA Communications all projected a continuation of current growth trends. Specifically, the group highlighted network densification and an improving regulatory environment as key contributors to growth.
Rodney Smith, CFO of American Tower’s U.S. tower division, said his company has invested more than $7 billion in the U.S. market over the last several years. He sees future growth driven by Sprint and T-Mobile US’s LTE roll outs, as well network densification by Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility. “Some say Verizon is a mile wide and an inch deep,” he said. “They will have to come back in and densify that network.”
“We have a long way to go in terms of 4G deployments,” said Brenden Cavanagh, CFO of SBA Communications. “Based on backlogs we have today at record levels, the growth ‘projectory’ is significant. A lot of amendments are for 4G upgrades. There is still a lot of that going on. Growth during the next several years will be similar to what we have seen the last several years. … We’re seeing growth opportunities today that we didn’t even see years ago.”
More spectrum for wireless services will also drive growth. “Dish and FirstNet look like opportunities in the future,” said Ben Moreland, CEO of Crown Castle. “I am very confident that over time that spectrum will get deployed in some shape or form that will result in further sharing of our infrastructure.” The group also expressed optimism about next year’s 600 MHz spectrum auction.
Smith noted that carriers are approaching American Tower with requests to deploy small cells on existing towers, at lower levels. He sees this as a way to monetize the tower assets in a way that was unexpected several years ago.
Regulatory environment
The group agreed that the climate in Washington, D.C., is improving for tower developers. “We see a shift in the U.S. government’s part, where they recognize the value of bringing wireless services to people across the country,” said Smith.
Smith did note that he hopes to see some regulations change in the future, as the industry is changing. “We are required every quarter to climb a tower and inspect lighting kits,” he said. “We have cameras up there where we can see everything we need to. It would be nice to see the regulations get updated to match what is really happening in the industry.”
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