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The Coming Year: Good For Towers

January 16, 2014

By Ronald G. Bizick II…

As 2013 came to a close, our mid-sized tower business had never been stronger.

We are expecting 2014 to continue to be very strong. Carrier activities including, new builds, collocations and amendments, have built up throughout 2013 and new projects appear to be well funded with numerous active search rings.

AT&T and Verizon are fighting to keep ahead of each other and the rest of the pack with unprecedented activity in LTE, infill sites and new coverage.  Also, Sprint and T-Mobile have fresh war chests and creative approaches to add subscribers, bringing new vigor to their 2014 projected activities.

All four national carriers were actively upgrading their data networks throughout 2013, and, if the carrier’s execute their current plans, and it seems likely that they will, all four will be simultaneously active in the new siting market for the first time in many years.  We expect this build up to continue and the impact is already showing with our 2014 pipeline at record levels.

Of course, all this growth has made the tower acquisition market red hot and we don’t foresee it slowing down.  Values in the middle market remain high for sellers as buyers remain bullish on future growth.   Once the larger portfolios currently on the market close; AT&T Towers and GTP’s $4.8 billion sale to AMT, we expect the buyers to quickly integrate the new towers and continue the acquisition trend by pursuing the remaining mid-size and smaller tower companies.  Critical mass will remain an edge; comparatively larger portfolios will command a premium as the herd thins, but smaller companies will certainly continue to be pursued as well.  This active acquisition market will help ensure that the robust “cottage” industry persists as local developers build towers throughout the country and sell to larger buyers, taking profits and refreshing capital for new projects.

 

Ronald G. Bizick II is CEO of Tarpon Towers. This article ran on page 32 in the Horizons section of the December 2013 issue of AGL magazine. 

 

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