American Tower Corporation reported revenue of $1.813 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2019, up 4.1% over the same period last year. Net income was $408 million, up 45.4%.
The company said it continues to benefit from the general trend of more equipment deployed on its towers.
Jim Taiclet, American Tower’s Chief Executive Officer, stated, “We began 2019 with a solid quarter of results, highlighted by strong global leasing activity, 8.2% Organic Tenant Billings Growth in the U.S., the construction of more than 700 new sites and a 20% dividend increase.
We remain focused on driving operational excellence, prudently deploying capital and leveraging our innovation program to capitalize on exciting future opportunities as wireless networks continue to advance. With our portfolio of more than 170,000 towers, small cell systems and other communications real estate, we believe we are well positioned to take advantage of the global demand trends in mobile to continue driving attractive growth and returns for years to come.”
Some highlights:
- The company now has approx. 170,000 sites worldwide
- U.S. organic tenant billings growth was over 8%
- Certain wireless carriers in India are in the process of, or have recently concluded, merging their operations or exiting the marketplace, and the company’s operational and financial results during the first quarter of 2019 were impacted by churn driven by this carrier consolidation process.
- Total capital expenditures were $231 million, of which $32 million was for non-discretionary capital improvements and corporate capital expenditures.
- American Tower spent approximately $91 million for the acquisition of 107 communications sites, located primarily in international markets, and other communications infrastructure assets.