Wells Fargo Senior High Yield Telecom / Cable Analyst, Davis Hebert, provided outlook on the tower industry for 2015, “We believe that slower new tower builds and elevated disconnects from Clearwire, MetroPCS and Leap could take some wind [out] of the tower companies’ sails in 2015. However, we still expect organic growth to be in the mid-single digits for the tower companies, which should continue to benefit from price escalators, spectrum deployments and amendment activity.” Hebert also noted that small cells could be the next catalyst for the companies, especially Crown Castle. CCI has worked for the past few years building out their small cell and DAS technology in Glendale, Arizona, for this Sunday’s Super Bowl. This is only one example of the advances the company has made with the new technology. Hebert cited Infonetics Research that explained carriers are looking to place more than 20% of macro cell traffic onto small cells by 2018.
Entering international markets is another theme for the tower industry this year. “Although we expect Verizon could divest its towers in the U.S., international tower deals may be the primary M&A focus, centered around Latin America. The competitive landscape may get a little more crowded in 2015 as American Movil SAB (AMX) executives recently indicated that the company will spin off its tower portfolio and operate as a separate company. In Europe, Wind Italy is also looking to monetize its 11,000 cell site portfolio for as much as €500 million. Other geographic areas to watch include India and Africa,” Herbert wrote.
Reader Interactions