Tower Clocking

While tower companies appear to be in dire straits with Wall Street and their lenders, their tower operations appear to be healthy on paper. Except for Pinnacle Holdings, which filed for bankruptcy in May, the five major tower companies have seen surprising growth in tower leasing and managing revenues this year, according to Kagan. SBA and SpectraSite both saw more than a 30% increase in tower revenues between the second quarters of this and last year, and the five major owners that make up the industry saw a collective 22% revenue growth in the same period. Meanwhile, operating expenses for the five increased an average of 10.7%.