Crown Castle International Corp had gotten the approval of US phone company AT&T Inc to acquire or lease the latter's 9,700 wireless towers. The deal was worth USD4.85 billion, with Bloomberg News pointing out that the value was a premium over the initial deal amount.
The acquisition deal would reportedly help AT&T improve its balance sheet while undergoing a network upgrade that would cost the company USD14 billion. AT&T would also be doing an USD11 billion stock buyback and had plans to acquire assets in Europe.
Recon Analytics wireless-industry strategist Roger Entner said, "This gives them cash and financial flexibility. It also gets them out of owning towers, which isn't core to being a service provider. You don't need to own the supermarket building to be in the supermarket business."
In a joint statement, the companies said Crown Castle would be owning 600 AT&T towers and would be an exclusive operator of AT&T's 9,100 other towers. The lease agreement would run for 28 years on average. Starting in 2032, Crown Castle would have the option to acquire the leased towers for a lot price of USD4.2 billion.
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