NEW YORK-Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said late last week it has placed B-plus corporate credit ratings on American Tower Corp. and Crown Castle International Corp. and a B rating on SBA communications Corp., and put all three companies on CreditWatch with negative implications.
“The CreditWatch listing reflects our assessment that several risks to the wireless tower industry have increased so that the three companies could find it more challenging to improve cash flow and significantly lower their debt in the next several years,” said S&P analyst Michael Tsao. The analyst cited challenges to the tower industry, including reductions in tower-related expenditures by carriers, tenuous financial positions of smaller wireless carriers and advanced technologies that enable more efficient spectrum usage.
American Tower, Crown Castle and SBA held a total of approximately $8 billion in debt as of June 30, 2002, according to S&P.
