China Tower Maintains Its Fast Infrastructure Deployment Pace

 By John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor China Tower, based in Beijing, continues its large-scale growth at a very fast pace. Through the first half of 2021, the company reported that its base of towers grew to 2.035 million, adding a net 12,000 towers to the 2.023 million at the end of 2020.

Perhaps more significantly, in that same six-month period, the company claims it installed approximately 256,000 5G cell sites throughout the country. As of June 30, the total 5G installed base is an estimated 1,022,000 cell sites.

China Tower reported U.S.$ 6.6 billion* (CNY42.7 billion) in operating revenues for 1H21, up over 7 percent from $6.1 billion in the same period in 2020. EBITDA came in at $4.8 billion while operating cash flow was $3.7 billion and free cash flow was $2.1 billion.

The company says that through the first half of 2021, its new construction and upgrade activities were focused on its “One Core and Two Wings” strategy. Continue Reading

Senate Passes Massive Infrastructure Package

 The Senate on Tuesday voted 69 to 30 to pass the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package. That action handed a victory to President Joe Biden and the group of senators who worked for months negotiating the agreement in consultation with White House officials, noted Axios. Before the half-hour vote began, Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said from the Senate floor: "It's been a long and winding road, but we have persisted and now we have arrived."

The measure includes $65 billion for broadband that includes wireless infrastructure. Inside Towers reported the Democrat and GOP senators previously agreed on speeds of 100 Megabits per second down/20 Megabits up. Of the $65 billion overall in broadband subsidies, $40 billion is allocated to states for infrastructure deployment. Continue Reading

DISH Still Finding its (Wireless) Sea Legs

 By John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor DISH Network (NASDAQ: DISH) is preparing to launch its 5G facilities-based network while still learning how to run a wireless business. In its 2Q21 earnings release, the company shared that it has lost wireless subscribers even as it adds to its base of wireless users.

For the quarter, DISH acquired more than 200,000 wireless subscribers through an asset purchase agreement with Republic Wireless. At the same time, the company experienced a net decrease of 201,000 retail wireless subscribers. That followed a net decrease of 161,000 subscribers in 1Q21. The company closed 2Q21 with 8.9 million retail wireless subscribers. 

Wireless service revenues were $1.2 billion, down sequentially over four percent from $1.3 billion in 1Q21. Service revenues were up 14 percent over $1.1 billion in 3Q20 when DISH first reported on its wireless retail service business.

That initial revenue influx came with DISH’s acquisition of the Boost Mobile prepaid wireless business from T-Mobile in accordance with the Department of Justice’s Final Judgment on the T-Mobile-Sprint merger. Continue Reading

Artificial Intelligence Helps Verizon Pinpoint Sites in C-Band Buildout

 By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor After spending nearly $53 billion on 161 MHz nationwide in the C-band auction, the pressure is on for Verizon to get its mid-band network up and running as quickly and efficiently as possible. As a result, the carrier is using artificial intelligence (AI) to guide the placement of its antennas, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal. 

Verizon normally talks about how it’s 5G network can help others employ AI in their businesses. But what is good for the goose is good for the gander. The company divulged that it began using AI models in 2018 for site acquisition (well before the C-band auction). Verizon’s recent candor about AI and its mid-band spectrum deployment might be its way of telling Wall Street, “don’t worry, we got this.” Continue Reading

DigitalBridge Differentiates Itself Among Infrastructure REITs

 By John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor DigitalBridge Group (NYSE: DBRG) is unique among digital infrastructure real estate investment trusts (REITs). Its mix of infrastructure assets, its global operating footprint and its “invest, operate and build” methodology set DBRG apart from other REITs in the communications business.

DBRG reported consolidated digital revenues of $236 million in 2Q21, up nearly three times over the $63 million in 2Q20. The total is a combination of digital operating revenues of $189 million and $47 million for investment management fees raised by its Digital Colony Partners II (DCP II) fund which is the company’s primary investment vehicle for acquiring or investing in new infrastructure assets. 

At the end of the quarter, with nearly $50 billion total assets under management (AUM), the company reported $35 billion digital AUM or roughly 72 percent of its goal of “rotating” to 100 percent digital AUM. Continue Reading

SBA Communications Grows with Increased Site Activity

 By John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor SBA Communications (NASDAQ: SBAC) may have even surprised itself with its 2Q21 results. The company said that Q2 results were ahead of expectations and that growth rates are “going up!”

Site leasing revenues for the quarter came in at $524 million, up nearly nine percent from $482 million in 2Q20. Domestic site leasing revenues account for 80 percent of the SBAC’s total site leasing revenues and were up eight percent year-over-year to $419 million.

The company said its domestic customers were “extremely active” throughout the quarter with network build and upgrade activity. SBAC pointed out that the main drivers of new leasing activity come from the Big 3 U.S. mobile network operators that account for 72 percent of SBACs global revenues. 

Activities included T-Mobile’s nationwide 2.5 GHz Extended Range 5G coverage, Verizon’s site preparations for its upcoming C-band deployments, AT&T’s continuing FirstNet expansion, DISH Network’s readying for its 5G rollout and general coverage expansion work across the board. Continue Reading

Canada's 3500 MHz Spectrum Auction Raises US$7.2B

 As anticipated, Canada's “Big Three” carriers, Bell, Rogers and Telus dominated the country’s auctioning of 3500 MHz spectrum by generating around 80 percent of the total US$7.2 billion in funding. Last Thursday, the government announced that 1,495 licenses (out of 1,504 available) were awarded to 15 Canadian companies, while small and regional providers made up the remainder. The recent 600 MHz spectrum auction, in comparison, brought US$2.87 billion into the nation’s coffers.

Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said the results would boost competition and Ottawa (the nation’s capital) will continue to push to open up a market dominated by the top trio of carriers. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government asked operators to cut prices by a quarter by 2021 after widespread complaints of price gouging, according to Reuters. A global survey of phone rates by independent industry analyst Tefficient has shown Canada to be among the highest in the world of the 44 nations polled. The major carriers replied that they’ve worked on lowering prices. Continue Reading