One segment expected to benefit from AT&T’s (T) decision to drop its acquisition bid of T-Mobile USA is the tower market, which for the past several months has waited on news of how a combined AT&T Mobility/T-Mobile USA would impact their operations.
Now, that the deal is off, most expect business to again hit a boom cycle for the tower industry. This boom is to be fueled by T-Mobile USA now needing to spend money on towers in support of its newly acquired spectrum and possible LTE strategy.
“Some of our private contacts have already indicated that last week T-Mobile has begun re-engaging in a dialogue with wireless RF and tower operators to continue to focus on its HSPA+ rollout,” Wells Fargo Securities said in a research note. “It is our understanding that since the March 20, 2010 announcement of the merger, T-Mobile has been somewhat quiet on this front.”
Also boding well for the tower market are the expected tower buildouts associated with Verizon Wireless’ recent spectrum buying spree, Clearwire’s plans for rolling out TDD-LTE now that it has found funding, and AT&T’s plans for continued LTE rollouts along with the pending acquisition of 700 MHz spectrum assets from Qualcomm that it’s still hoping to have approved.
Crown Castle (CCI) saw its stock surge 2.5% early Tuesday, American Tower’s (AMT) stock was up more than 3.5% and SBA’s (SBAC) stock was up just over 3%.
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