A total of 559 towers had a change of ownership in the first quarter of 2025 according to the Inside Towers Database. A change of ownership can be either an acquisition or a transfer of ownership between entities within the same organization. The transactions included private and public tower companies, mobile network operators and a host of non-telecom owners and operators including organizations in broadcasting, energy/utilities, government, education along with investors. By month, there were 153 transactions in January. February was the busiest period with 227 followed by March with 179.
Private tower companies were most active in the quarter. A total of 30 entities were involved with 362 transactions. Nine entities including StratCap Wireless Group, Tarpon Towers III, Tillman Infrastructure and five Vertical Bridge subsidiaries acquired a total of 41 towers from AT&T Mobility (NYSE: T) and Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) and their respective subsidiaries. Vertical Bridge’s BTS Towers, The Towers, VB 500 II, VB Acquisitions and VB BTS III entities acquired 36 towers from AT&T and Verizon.
APC Towers was the busiest towerco. In February, APC Towers transferred ownership of 139 sites from its APC Towers IV subsidiary to its APC Towers V entity. The company sold one tower to American Tower (NYSE: AMT) subsidiary, American Towers LLC.
Public tower companies had 48 transactions in the quarter. American Towers LLC accounted for 47 of those. The company acquired 42 towers from AT&T Mobility entities, AT&T Mobility Spectrum and SBC Tower Holdings and one from APC Towers IV. SBA Communications (NASDAQ: SBAC) transferred ownership of one tower to SBA Puerto Rico.
MNOs changed ownership on 24 towers in Q1. AT&T Mobility accounted for 17 transactions in assigning tower ownership to its AT&T Mobility Spectrum and New Cingular Wireless PCS subsidiaries. T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) South LLC acquired one tower from Nextel South Corp.
Non-telecom organizations changed ownership of 125 towers in the quarter.
Broadcast and media companies were most active in acquiring 64 towers. LOAM Media led the broadcasters with 26 tower acquisitions. Acquisitions among energy companies and utilities tallied 32 towers. Cleco Power, Enbridge Gas Utah and ExxonMobile were the most active, picking up a combined 26 sites. The Other category including broadband and cable operators, government agencies, universities, and investor groups, accounted for another 29 tower acquisitions.
Note that since most of the transactions are private, the value of these transactions is not generally available.
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By John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor
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