Since establishment in 2013, Phoenix Tower International (PTI), led by Chief Executive Officer Dagan Kasavana, has become one of the fastest growing wireless infrastructure providers in the world. Today, with a growing portfolio of over 90,000 sites, including over 7,000 owned towers across 14 countries and 986 km of fiber, PTI has been focused on expanding their services and solution offerings while growing and operating their domestic and international portfolio of assets.
In the United States, the company has seen growth in the areas of next generation solutions such as small cell and DAS, accompanied by the addition of managed sites to their portfolio. “We’re having very different conversations with our U.S. customers than we had a year ago, when we were solely a tower company,” Kasavana told Inside Towers.
At the end of 2018, PTI acquired the small cell deployment company Syscom Telecom, adding over 80,000 marketable sites to their U.S. portfolio. In addition to the portfolio of managed assets, the transaction provided PTI the opportunity to bring on Syscom’s team of experts to build on the company’s small cell program.
In early 2019, PTI entered into an exclusive rooftop management and marketing agreement with three Blackstone Group portfolio companies. This agreement added over 1,000 properties to PTI’s U.S. portfolio that are well-suited for a variety of equipment installations, including macro, broadcast, IoT, and small cell, furthering PTI’s ability to meet their customers’ needs with a variety of infrastructure solutions. “We’re excited about the business we’re doing on our third-party sites, including our billboard and premier rooftop sites in the United States,” said Kasavana. “We’re able to help our customers with their rapid growth of small-cell installations and DAS construction.”
In 2019 the company also grew their international tower portfolio significantly as well. Among the myriad of transactions was PTI’s acquisition of Uniti Group’s Latin America portfolios across Colombia and Mexico. “Our expansion across Latin America has been a big success for us,” Kasavana said, “and our newly hired CFO, Michael Bremer, and newly hired Global General Counsel, Aleksandra Cuprys, have been critical to navigating the challenges of operating a larger multinational organization.”
In addition to strategic hires on the leadership team, PTI grew its global team by more than 60% to ensure coverage to address its customers’ needs. PTI expanded offices in Mexico City, Lima, Bogota, and Santo Domingo, and has broken ground on expansion plans for its headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida. “As we grow, we are focused on maintaining our internal culture across all of our markets by hiring strong regional personnel in all markets we do business in and demonstrating our mission and values in everything we do. Our values are written on the walls of all our offices, we are in constant communication across all markets and departments and our company culture is reflected in how we work with our business partners and how we conduct business at every level of the organization,” Kasavana stated.
To support and engage employees, PTI holds an annual All-Hands Meeting for most of its employees to gather and discuss business strategies, provide regional and sector updates and focus on achievement of annual and longer-term goals. The 2-day event, which was most recently held in Walt Disney World also includes “PTI University” which offers specialized training on a wide range of hard and soft skills. PTI strives to develop from within, promoting 22 employees in 2019, and earning the distinguished Great Place to Work® certification in its U.S. office.
At the heart of PTI’s values is the commitment to give back to the community. PTI’s WINGS Foundation supports numerous worthy causes throughout all its markets. “We are in 14 countries and we support local charities in each of them. We strongly believe in helping the communities in which we operate and where our employees live.” Additionally, PTI employees have an opportunity to devote time, otherwise spent in the office, to volunteering. “All employees receive an extra day of paid time off each year to support causes that are important to them,” explained Kasavana, “and we donated over $300,000 to charitable causes in 2019, with plans to donate more in 2020.”
In 2020, PTI plans to continue its growth and expansion. The company has raised new capital from investors and sees several opportunities ahead. “We’ve built something unique at PTI and we truly enjoy working together and working with all of our business partners,” Kasavana said. “We believe the best is yet to come.”
December 10, 2019
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