American Tower Corporation
(
AMT
) - a leading independent operator of wireless communications
towers in the world plans to acquire nearly 883 towers from
Mexican telecom operator Axtel for $250 million.
Axel mainly offers telecom and Internet services to Mexican
customers. However, the Mexican market is hugely dominated by
America Movil
(
AMX
). So Axel in recent times is going through a tough phase, hence
the amount to be received from American Tower will help the
former to pay back certain portion of its debt to its long list
of creditors.
As of Sept 30, 2012, American Tower managed to acquire 50,699
communications towers, of this, 50,226 are for Wireless network
and 473 for Broadcasting. Geographically, the company operates
21,668 wireless towers and 274 broadcast towers in the U.S. along
with 29,031 wireless towers and 199 broadcast towers outside the
U.S. So, the acquisition of these towers from Axtel will further
expand its tower portfolio.
American Tower continues its strong performance driven by
substantial demand for tower space to facilitate high-speed
wireless data and on demand video services, along with super-fast
3G/4G technologies. Massive demand for wireless data and video
throughout the world will boost American Tower's long-term
growth.
However, American Tower has a highly leveraged balance sheet.
So, any further acquisition of towers may exert huge pressure on
company's balance sheet going forward.
Few days back,
Crown Castle International Inc.
(
CCI
) - the leading tower company in the U.S. reported strong
fourth-quarter 2012 financial results with the bottom line
beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a significant margin.
Another tower company,
SBA Communications Corp.
(
SBAC
) is expected to release its fourth quarter results on Feb 18
while American Tower is yet to release its results in the
upcoming days.
Currently, American Tower has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
AMER TOWER CORP (AMT): Free Stock Analysis
Report
AMER MOVIL-ADR (AMX): Free Stock Analysis
Report
CROWN CASTLE (CCI): Free Stock Analysis
Report
SBA COMM CORP (SBAC): Free Stock Analysis
Report
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