Thursday, March 12, 2015 Volume 3 | Issue 49 AMT Considers South African Towers

MTN Group, African’s largest wireless carrier, reportedly received interest from American Tower to acquire part of the carrier’s 9,000 towers in South . MTN Group has been having discussions with tower companies, but doesn’t expect to close a deal before the end of the year. MTN's tower as- sets have been valued at approximately $1.5 billion. MTN Group may decide to keep part of the tower assets, but is looking to raise cash from their prop- erties by giving tower operators the ability to rent space on cell sites to other carriers. And American Tower has been focusing on expanding their busi- ness internationally. “By diversifying our revenue stream internationally, fo- cusing on large well-funded multinational carriers and deploying capital for high-growth assets, we believe that our international segment will further elevate and extend our growth trajectory beyond that of our core business for many years to come,” Chairman, President and CEO of American Tower Jim Taiclet said on the company’s most recent conference call. In No- vember, AMT made a $1.05 billion deal with for 4,800 towers in , and agreed to buy 6,480 sites in Brazil from Tim Participacoes SA. Tom Barlett, EVP and CFO said, “We expect to close our previously announced transaction in Nigeria with Airtel in the first half of the year, which will allow us to commence operations in our newest high growth international market. By acquiring about 4,800 sites from Airtel, we will gain meaningful scale in a country, which has the largest econ- omy in Africa with a fast growing wireless sector and an extremely young, extremely mobile popula- tion with virtually no fixed buying infrastructure in place.”

AT&T and Verizon Expand in Arkansas

AT&T and Verizon have been working steadily to build out their network in Arkansas, and most re- cently upgraded their coverage in Magnolia. Verizon, in particular, has been renting tower space from the city to enhance their service and provide revenue to the local government. “Magnolia’s a busy area for us, even though it’s a small town. And if you learn anything by watching network trends, it’s that rural America uses a lot of data just like metro and urban areas. So we were looking at the Magnolia area as an opportunity to boost our capacity and test out some of these newer tech- nologies,” Leo Perreault, the executive director of network for Verizon’s south-central region said. (Arkansas Business Journal) The new network went live earlier this year, and has been a huge suc- cess. The local government is now collecting more than $12,000 in annual lease payments, and residents in the area are thrilled with their wireless connections.

Inside Towers Page 1 AT&T has also been boosting coverage. They improved coverage for patients and employees at two Little Rock hospitals. When the new patient tower opened at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, employees noticed patchy coverage. AT&T originally tried to adjust existing antennas in the area to improve coverage on campus, but customers still had issues. In 2013, AT&T installed a strategically placed antenna system, which covered about 1 million square-feet and significantly im- proved coverage. The company installed a similar system at Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock.

Spokane Holds up Cell Tower Construction

The Spokane City Council in Washington decided that no new towers will be allowed to be built until the “form, fit, function and placement” of towers is defined by the City Council. The Council has put a six-month morato- rium on new towers even though the city’s legal department advised them against it over the risk of potential lawsuits. The moratorium came after protests from Patricia Hansen, who lives in the Cliff-Cannon neighborhood and vehemently opposes the construction of a 60-foot tower. Council members believe the construction of this tower will be put on hold during the moratorium. Hansen and nine other residents attended the City Coun- cil meeting to show their support for the moratorium, explaining the process of notifying neighbors of towers was flawed. Construction began on the 60-foot tower last month, even though many of the neighbors were against the structure. The Council acknowledged that by putting a six-month hold on the tower’s construction, they would likely face a lawsuit but this time will allow the city to create a policy for the new infrastructure.

Orange County Identifies Tower Sites

As a way to increase broadband Internet services in Orange County, North Carolina, county officials have been working with state representatives and the county planners to identify opportunities. “An estimated 15 million Americans, primarily in rural communities, don’t even have access to entry-level broadband in their homes. Forty-one percent of American’s rural schools couldn’t get a high-speed connection if they tried,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler wrote in a blog post last November. As a way to remedy this, North Carolina State Representative Verla Insko is working alongside Representative Graig Meyer and state Senator Valerie Foushee. In addition to these efforts, county officials have identified new tower sites in the county and are urging the county planners to make changes to tower ordinances. Officials hope to make the process easier for companies that want to build tower. Person County has started a new process to add more emergency telecommu- nication towers in the area that will have dedicated space for wireless broadband antennas. This is an effort Orange County officials are interested in learning more about as well.

$65,000 Worth of Tower Equipment Stolen

Two people have been arrested in Clinton, South Carolina, for allegedly stealing $65,000 worth of equipment from a cell phone tower on Hurricane Road. Officials with the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office identified the suspects as Charles Eugene Mann, 31, and Karen Diane Harvey, 41. The two have been accused of stealing the equipment from the tower on March 5. Luckily, the stolen equip- ment was recovered by deputies. The suspects were charged with grand larceny $10,000 or more. Inside Towers Page 2 Water Tower Can’t Double as Cell Tower

In Preston, Maryland, commissioners announced that a local water tower cannot be used as a cell tower for Verizon. The carrier found that the metal the water tower is made of isn’t structurally sound enough to hold the weight of the antennas. The commission will now have to consider other options for Verizon as their lease with the town is still in effect. The company could build a new structure or mount antennas on a town office or public works building. A new structure would have to comply with the town’s ordinance, requiring it be no taller than 100 feet, and be setback from roads and property lines by at least the distance of their height, and calls for screening trees.

VZ Ups Small Cell Game, AT&T Pulls Back

Recently, Inside Towers reported that AT&T had dropped its plan to deploy 40,000 small cells on its network. While AT&T has pulled back on the technology, Verizon has picked up speed. Verizon Ex- ecutive Vice President and CFO Fran Shammo said that the carrier will use small cells to enhance network capacity in markets where the company didn’t win AWS spectrum, like Chicago. Shammo reiterated that Verizon would invest $500 million of its $17.5 billion capital outlook in network densifi- cation, including with small cells. Shammo also noted that the company’s investment in macro cells will decrease over time, as the carrier puts most of its resources into small cells and in-building cov- erage.

Inside Towers Page 3 Two Possible Towers for Minnesota

Two proposals for cell towers have been submitted in Koochiching County, Minnesota. The County Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to conduct public hearings on the two separate appli- cations. Martin Consulting has submitted an application on behalf of Verizon Wireless requesting conditional-use permits to construct two 134-foot monopole towers. Because the towers aren’t very tall, they won’t need any lights and will only require a small area of land. Koochiching County doesn’t have a separate tower ordinance, but requires the towers meet the rules of the Act of 1996. The permit application is decided by the Planning Commission, who will then recom- mend (or not) the tower to the county board, which makes the final decision.

Can You Hear Us Now, Verizon?

That’s the question residents of Sea Isle City, New Jersey, wanted to know after they voiced their opposition at a recent City Council meeting. Residents are upset that Verizon wants to build a tower close to their homes, claiming the RF emissions are causes of cancer and autism. The Planning Board and Council approved the cell tower last year. The city would own the tower and lease space on it for $3,000-$3,500 a month. Permits to allow the construction of the monopole, which would be somewhere be- tween 45-90 feet, are expected to be approved by the end of the month. Residents don’t think the little money the tower would bring in is worth the risk. “Thirty-five hundred dollars is not that much,” resident John Klacik said. “You can get that for a week’s rental at the beach.” Council President John Divney said Verizon representatives and others would be invited to a council meeting as soon as possible to further discuss the residents’ worries.

Zebulon Okays Tower

The Zebulon, North Carolina, planning board approved a cell tower proposal after a joint public hear- ing on the matter. Skyway Towers requested a special-use permit to construct a 195-foot monopole on private property. The proposal will now go to the Zebulon commissioners for final consideration at their April 6 meeting. T-Mobil is looking to improve coverage for customers in the area, but the tower would allow for other carriers to co-locate. Only one resident spoke in opposition of the tower along with an expert who provided information on the project. After these testimonies, the board unani- mously approved the request. Ronald Harris was the resident who spoke out against the tower, ask- ing why the structure was necessary as there is another tower in close proximity to this site. Tom Johnson, a land use attorney representing Skyway Towers, explained that while the towers are close, a half-mile radius is a tight radius, but that the goal is to achieve equally tight service. He shared before-and-after graphics to show the void in reception the new tower is expected to fill.

Inside Towers Page 4