Towering debt

When carriers began scaling back their expansion plans in 2001, tower operators were left in a prickly position. They'd just gone $10 billion in debt to build out an enormous footprint of tower sites and were counting on the seemingly unstoppable momentum of wireless buildouts. Instead, they wound up with a lot of unused tower space and massive debt. Some filed for bankruptcy. Others were on the verge of filing. Luckily, the wireless industry regained some momentum in 2003, and now after a few hard years and a lot of cost cutting and refinancing, it looks like the tower operators are landing on their feet. Standard & Poor's Rating Services just re-evaluated the five major U.S. tower operators, upping all of their bond ratings. While some are still weak, said S&P credit analyst Michael Tsao, they're almost investment-grade companies again.