Commerce Secretary Urges Lawmakers to Pass U.S. Chip Funding

By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau ChiefCommerce Secretary Gina Raimondo pushed lawmakers at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday to advance legislation to boost U.S. chip manufacturing. She explained the Commerce Department will work with states to streamline broadband infrastructure permitting.  

The administration’s FY2023 budget request includes $11.7 billion for the Commerce Department, an 18 percent increase above the fiscal year 2022 enacted level, according to her testimony. Raimondo said the document calls for $97 million to strengthen domestic supply chains and help small and medium-sized manufacturers improve their competitiveness. It also proposes $16.1 million to augment the Commerce Department’s data tools and expertise to support more secure and diversified supply chains. Continue Reading

American Tower Sees Accelerating Global Expansion

By John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor

American Tower (NYSE: AMT) continues to bolster its position as the world’s largest independent tower company. With significant new tower builds during the quarter, along with some small acquisitions and site sales, the company ended 1Q22 with a total of 219,266 towers worldwide. During its quarterly earnings call, AMT reported that total property revenues, including contributions from both towers and data centers, increased 22 percent on a year-over-year basis to $2.6 billion. Adjusted EBITDA grew 13 percent to $1.6 billion while AFFO came in at $1.2 billion, up 7 percent YoY. The company attributes the strong growth to global secular trends for mobile data consumption and continued heavy capital expenditures by its mobile network operator tenants around the world as they install equipment to activate new spectrum. MNOs in the U.S. and Europe are focused on new 5G networks while 4G coverage and densification continues apace among MNOs in developing markets. Internally, AMT is on track with its construction program to build 6,000-7,000 new towers in 2022. The company completed 1,437 new builds in 1Q22 across its global footprint with the majority split between India and Africa. Continue Reading

AT&T Awarded $15 Million Contract to Modernize Army National Guard Network

AT&T announced yesterday it was awarded a task order to modernize GuardNet, the command and control network that allows Army National Guard soldiers to access the internet, connect with other networks and databases, and support training and mission planning and execution.

The task order, awarded by the Defense Information Systems Agency’s Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, is valued at $15 million over 11 years if all options are exercised. It was awarded via the General Services Administration’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract. Continue Reading

SBA Communications Corporation Reports First Quarter 2022 Results

SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: SBAC) yesterday reported results for the quarter ended March 31, 2022.

Highlights of the first quarter include:

• Net income of $188.3 million or $1.72 per share
• AFFO per share increased 14.7 percent over the prior year period
• Total revenue of $619.7 million, a 12.9 percent growth over the prior year period
• Repurchased 1.3 million shares in the first quarter at an average price per share of $332.00

In addition, the company announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.71 per share of the company’s Class A Common Stock. The distribution is payable June 14, 2022 to the shareholders of record at the close of business on May 19, 2022.

“We are off to a very strong start to 2022,” commented Jeffrey A. Stoops, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We produced double-digit growth in AFFO per share while operationally executing at a very high level. Our cash flows continue to grow, providing multiple opportunities for the creation of additional shareholder value.” Continue Reading 

Carriers Could be Required to Submit WEA Performance Reports

By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief

As Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) celebrate their tenth year, the FCC proposes to strengthen their effectiveness through carrier reporting after each alert, similar to the kind of reporting that radio and television stations are required to provide for the Emergency Alert System (EAS). Currently participation in the WEA system is voluntary. However, Commissioners last Thursday voted on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, that if approved as proposed, would require carriers to provide public reports to the FCC on the alerts’ reliability, speed, and accuracy. From a National Weather Service warning about an approaching hurricane, to AMBER alerts that bring a child home safely, in the past decade emergency managers have sent nearly 63,000 alerts aimed at keeping the public safe and informed, note FCC officials. Continue Reading

Crown Castle’s Long Growth Runway

By John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor

Crown Castle (NYSE: CCI) sees a long, steady growth ramp in site leasing revenues. The company anticipates that its mobile network operator tenants will continue to expand their network coverage and capacity in major markets with towers, small cells, and fiber for years to come. CCI points out that its MNO customers have invested about $200 billion between acquiring spectrum licenses and investing in 5G network infrastructure over the last four years.  The company expects MNO investment and expansion activity to continue at a high level through 2025, as each MNO builds macrocells on towers, then densifies their networks in urban centers with small cell deployments. Continue Reading

Owners Must Keep Tower Lighting Updated Until Structure is Dismantled

By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief

The FCC issued an order and citation to Massey, Wood and West, Inc. and MWW Realty Corp. concerning several tower lighting violations. The case began on May 12, 2020 when a consumer complained about an unlit tower for antenna structure number 1020743 in Mechanicsville, VA. Finding that no Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) had been issued for the tower, the FCC Operations Center asked the FAA that same day to issue a 30-day NOTAM for the structure. An agent from the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau’s Columbia, MD field office investigated and extended the NOTAM three times. During a visual inspection on November 23, 2020, the agent saw the tower, which was above 200 feet AGL, was located at the ASR coordinates mentioned above. It was painted and had a lighting system installed. But on February 2, 2022, another agent from the field office saw that the lights were not lit after sunset. Continue Reading