AT&T's (NYSE:T) failed $39 billion bid for T-Mobile USA may be a boon for tower companies thanks to the fact that T-Mobile may very well look to sell its portfolio of 7,000 towers.
Prior to the proposed merger earlier this year, T-Mobile was reportedly interested in selling the towers for as much as $2 billion as part of parent company Deutsche Telekom's effort to raise capital. Moreover, a merger would have meant fewer towers. Now both AT&T and T-Mobile will be expanding their next-generation networks separately.
"Carrier consolidation has always been a fear for tower investors. AT&T and T-Mobile run the same network technology so network consolidation is feasible... The percentage of rental revenue at risk due to possible site decommissioning for American Tower, Crown Castle and SBA is 4 percent, 6 percent and 7 percent," Clayton Moran, with The Benchmark Company, wrote in a research note.
For more:
- see this article from The Street
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