UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

xANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024

OR

¨TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from ___________ to ___________

Commission file number: 001-16853

SBA COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code (561) 995-7670

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  x    No  ¨

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act.    Yes  ¨    No  x

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  x    No  ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    Yes  x   No  ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by checkmark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ¨

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant's executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act)    Yes  ¨    No  x

The aggregate market value of the voting stock held by non-affiliates of the Registrant was approximately $21.0 billion as of June 30, 2024.

The number of shares outstanding of the Registrant’s common stock (as of February 14, 2025): Class A common stock — 107,615,241.

Documents Incorporated By Reference

Portions of the Registrant’s definitive proxy statement for its 2025 annual meeting of shareholders, which proxy statement will be filed no later than 120 days after the close of the Registrant’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, are hereby incorporated by reference in Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Table of Contents

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

General

We are a leading independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure, including tower structures, rooftops, and other structures that support antennas used for wireless communications, which we collectively refer to as “towers” or “sites.” Our principal operations are in the United States and its territories. In addition, we own and operate towers in South America, Central America, Canada, and Africa. On January 10, 2025, we sold all our towers and ended our operations in the Philippines and on February 20, 2025, we entered into an agreement to sell all of our towers and related assets held in Colombia. Our primary business line is our site leasing business, which contributed 98.4% of our total segment operating profit for the year ended December 31, 2024. In our site leasing business, we (1) lease space to wireless service providers and other customers on assets that we own or operate and (2) manage rooftop and tower sites for property owners under various contractual arrangements. As of December 31, 2024, we owned 39,749 towers, a substantial portion of which have been built by us or built by other tower owners or operators who, like us, have built such towers to lease space to multiple wireless service providers. Our other business line is our site development business, through which we assist wireless service providers in developing and maintaining their own wireless service networks.

Business Strategy

Our primary strategy is to continue to focus on expanding our site leasing business through organic growth and expansion of our tower portfolio to create shareholder value. We believe that the long-term and repetitive nature of our site leasing business will permit us to maintain a stable, recurring cash flow stream and reduce our exposure to cyclical changes in customer spending which arises in our site development business. We believe that our tower operations are highly scalable. Consequently, we believe that we are able to materially increase our domestic and international tower portfolio without proportionately increasing selling, general, and administrative expenses. Key elements of our strategy include:

Organic Growth.

Maximizing our Tower Capacity. We generally have constructed or acquired towers that accommodate multiple tenants and a majority of our towers are high capacity tower structures. Most of our towers have significant capacity available for additional antennas, and we believe that increased use of our towers’ structural capacity can generate additional lease revenue and be achieved at a low incremental cost. We measure the available capacity of our existing sites to support additional tenants by assessing several factors, including tower height, tower type, wind loading, environmental conditions, existing equipment on the tower and zoning and permitting regulations in effect in the jurisdiction where the tower is located. We actively market space on our towers through our internal sales force. As of December 31, 2024, we had an average of 1.9 tenants per site.

Capitalizing on our Scale and Management Experience. We are a large owner, operator and developer of towers, with substantial capital, human, and operating resources. We have been developing towers for wireless service providers in the U.S. since 1989 and have owned and operated towers for ourselves since 1997. We believe our size, experience, capabilities, and resources make us a preferred partner for wireless service providers both in the U.S. and internationally. Our management team has extensive experience in site leasing and site development, with some of the longest tenures in the tower and site development industries. We believe that our industry expertise and strong relationships with wireless service providers will permit us to continue to organically grow our site leasing and site development services.

Systematic Tower Portfolio Growth. We intend to continue to grow our tower portfolio, domestically and internationally, through tower acquisitions and the construction of new tower structures. We believe that one of the best uses of our liquidity, including cash from operating activities and borrowings, is to acquire and/or build new towers at prices that we believe will be accretive to our shareholders both in the short and long term and which allow us to maintain our long-term target leverage ratios.

Disciplined Domestic and International Tower Acquisitions. In our tower acquisition program, we pursue towers from third parties that meet or exceed our internal guidelines regarding current and future potential returns. For each acquisition, we prepare various analyses that include projections of several different investment return metrics, review of available capacity, future lease up projections, and a summary of current and future tenant/technology mix. For example, in the third quarter of 2024 we entered into a purchase agreement with Millicom International Cellular S.A. (“Millicom”) for over 7,000 sites throughout Central America. This transaction supports our desire to secure our position as a leader in our international markets and align ourselves with the leading carriers in such markets.

Strategic New Builds. We believe strategic new builds can contribute to profitable growth, particularly in our international markets. In our new build program, we construct tower structures (1) under build-to-suit arrangements or (2) in locations that are strategically chosen by us. Under build-to-suit arrangements, we build tower structures for wireless service providers at locations that they have identified. Under these arrangements, we retain ownership of the tower structure and the exclusive right to co-locate additional tenants.

When we construct tower structures in locations chosen by us, we utilize our knowledge of our customers’ network requirements to identify locations where we believe multiple wireless service providers need, or will need, to locate antennas to meet capacity or service demands. We generally will have at least one signed tenant lease for each new build tower structure on the day that it is completed and expect that some will have multiple tenants. As part of the Millicom transaction, we have agreed to a seven-year exclusivity right for us to build up to 2,500 build-to-suit sites in Central America with each site built having an initial lease term of 15 years.

International Market Maximization. We are focused on maximizing our site leasing services and profitability in international markets that meet our investment criteria and where we believe we have, or have the ability to achieve, scale. Our investment criteria focuses on the quality and quantity of wireless service providers in a given country as well as the country’s political and regulatory environments. The majority of our international markets typically have less mature wireless networks with limited wireline infrastructure and lower wireless data penetration rates than those in the United States. Accordingly, our tower growth in these markets is primarily driven by (1) wireless service providers seeking to increase the quality and coverage of their networks, (2) increased consumer mobile data traffic, such as media streaming, mobile apps and games, web browsing, and email, and (3) incremental spectrum auctions as well as incremental voice and data network deployments. We continually evaluate how a particular market meets our long-term strategic and financial objectives and our business generally.

Using our Local Presence to Build Strong Relationships with Major Wireless Service Providers. Given the nature of towers as location-specific communications facilities, we believe that substantially all of what we do is done best locally. Consequently, we have broad field organizations across the U.S. and in our international markets that allow us to develop and capitalize on our experience, expertise, and relationships in each of our local markets which in turn enhances our customer relationships. Due to our presence in local markets, we believe we are well positioned to proactively grow and defend our site leasing business and to capture new tower build opportunities in our markets and identify and participate in site development projects across our markets.

Controlling our Underlying Land Positions. We believe that a primary component of a strong site leasing business is the ability to control the underlying land positions. Consequently, we have acquired perpetual easements, long-term leases, or other property interests for the land that underlies our tower structures and intend to continue to do so to the extent available at commercially reasonable prices. We believe that these perpetual easements, long-term leases, and other property interests will increase our margins, improve our cash flow from operations, and minimize our exposure to increases in rents for property interests in the future. As of December 31, 2024, approximately 72% of our tower structures were located on land that we own or control for more than 20 years and the average remaining life under our ground leases and other property interests, including renewal options under our control, was 36 years. As of December 31, 2024, approximately 11.6% of our tower structures had ground leases or other property interests maturing in the next 10 years.

Exploring Opportunities in Evolving Technologies and Ancillary Services. In addition to our traditional tower-related services, we continue to explore ancillary services and evolving technologies that we believe will allow us to create additional value by leveraging our current assets, capabilities, and relationships with wireless service providers and others by expanding SBA’s business within the growing communications ecosystem. This includes supporting efforts for edge data centers and private networks utilizing cellular and Wi-Fi technologies. For example, we are exploring ways to participate in edge computing infrastructure to support existing and future customers’ increasing need to deploy computing capabilities to locations closer to their end users, such as regional data centers and smaller local data centers located at the base of our towers. SBA owns two regional data centers in the U.S. and one regional data center in Brazil, as well as tower-based data centers in support of this initiative. With regard to open-access networks, SBA works with real estate developers in deploying networks that are accessible throughout a community’s various common areas and resident amenities. We have also partnered with carriers and high-traffic consumer retailers in developing systems for the offloading of data to wireless networks. Additionally, we are exploring opportunities to leverage tower assets and infrastructure to provide energy as a service, including through the deployment of on-site battery backup systems and solar energy solutions.

Industry Developments

We believe that growing wireless data traffic will require wireless service providers to continue to increase the capacity of their networks, and we believe that the continued capacity increases will require our customers to install equipment at new sites and add new equipment at existing sites. We expect that the wireless communications industry will continue to experience growth as a result of the following trends:

Consumers are increasing their demand for wireless connectivity due to the adoption of bandwidth-intensive wireless data applications, such as high-definition streaming, generative artificial intelligence, banking, gaming, social networking, enhanced web browsing, and machine-to-machine applications. According to a report published by Ericsson in November 2024, global total mobile data traffic was estimated to reach around 157 exabytes per month by the end of 2024 and is projected to grow by a factor of 3x to reach 473 exabytes per month in 2030.

The velocity of spectrum development is expected to remain dynamic as carriers continue to deploy new bands and optimize bands that are currently in service, both of which activities we expect will require carriers to install equipment at new sites and add new equipment at existing sites. For example, past and future spectrum auctions, such as Auction 108 and Auction 110 in the U.S. are expected to continue to contribute to growth in the upcoming years. In addition, the continued deployment of 5G wireless technologies is expected to increase equipment installation at existing sites and may increase the need for new sites.

Consumers list network quality as a key contributor when terminating or changing service. To remain competitive and to decrease subscriber churn rates, wireless carriers have made substantial capital investments into their wireless networks to improve service quality and expand coverage. We expect wireless carriers to continue to expend capital to differentiate their product offerings.

We believe that the worldwide wireless industry will continue to grow and is reasonably well-capitalized, highly competitive and focused on quality and advanced services; therefore, we expect that we will see a multi-year trend of additional demand for tower space from our customers, which we believe will translate into steady leasing growth for us.

Our Businesses

Site Leasing Services

Our primary focus is the leasing of antenna space on our multi-tenant towers to a variety of wireless service providers under long-term lease contracts in the United States, South America, Central America, Canada, and Africa. We derive site leasing revenues primarily from wireless service provider tenants. Wireless service providers enter into (1) individual tenant site leases with us, each of which relates to the lease or use of space at an individual site or (2) master lease agreements with us, which provide for the material terms and conditions that will apply to multiple sites; although, in most cases, each individual site under a master lease agreement is also governed by its own site leasing agreement which sets forth pricing and other site specific terms. Our site leasing business generates substantially all of our total segment operating profit, representing 96.2% or more of our total segment operating profit for the past three fiscal years. Our site leasing business is classified into two reportable segments, domestic site leasing and international site leasing.

Domestic Site Leasing

As of December 31, 2024, we owned 17,464 sites in the United States and its territories. For the year ended December 31, 2024, we generated 73.7% of our total site leasing revenue from these sites. We derive domestic site leasing revenues primarily from T-Mobile, AT&T Wireless, and Verizon Wireless. In the United States, our tenant leases are generally for an initial term of five years to ten years with multiple renewal periods at the option of the tenant. These tenant leases typically contain specific annual rent escalators, including renewal option periods. Our ground leases and other property interests in the United States are generally for an initial term of five years or more with multiple renewal periods, which are at our option, and provide for specific annual rent escalators. As of December 31, 2024, no U.S. state or territory accounted for more than 10% of our total tower portfolio by tower count, and no U.S. state or territory accounted for more than 10% of our total revenues for the year ended December 31, 2024.

International Site Leasing

We currently own and operate towers in 13 international markets throughout South America, Central America, Canada, and Africa. As of December 31, 2024, we owned 22,285 sites in our international markets, of which approximately 30% of our total towers are located in Brazil and no other international markets (each country is considered a market) represented more than 5% of our total towers. Our operations in our international markets are primarily in the site leasing business, and we continue to focus on growing our international site leasing business through the acquisition and development of towers and organic growth.

We derive international site leasing revenues from all the major carriers in each of the 13 countries in which we operate. Our tenant leases are generally for an initial term of five years to fifteen years with multiple renewal periods at the option of the tenant. Our tenant leases typically either (1) contain specific annual rent escalators, (2) escalate annually in accordance with an inflationary index, or (3) escalate using a combination of fixed and inflation adjusted escalators. In addition, our international site leases may include pass-through charges, such as rent related to ground leases and other property interests, utilities, and fuel.

In our international markets, ground leases and other property interests are generally for an initial term of five years or more with multiple renewal periods, which are at our option. Our ground leases typically either (1) contain specific annual rent escalators or (2) escalate annually in accordance with an inflationary index.

In Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panama, significantly all of our revenue, expenses, and capital expenditures arising from our activities are denominated in U.S. dollars. Specifically, most of our ground leases and other property interests, tenant leases, and tower-related expenses are paid in U.S. dollars. In most of our Central American markets, our local currency obligations are principally limited to (1) permitting and other local fees, (2) utilities, and (3) taxes. In Brazil, Canada, Chile, and South Africa, significantly all of our revenue, expenses, and capital expenditures, including tenant leases, ground leases and other property interests, and other tower-related expenses are denominated in local currency. In Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, and Tanzania, our revenue, expenses, and capital expenditures, including tenant leases, ground leases and other property interests, and other tower-related expenses are denominated in a mix of local currency and U.S. dollars.

Site Development Services

Our site development business, which is conducted in the United States only, is complementary to our site leasing business and provides us the ability to keep in close contact with the wireless service providers that generate substantially all of our site leasing revenue and to capture ancillary revenues that are generated by our site leasing activities, such as antenna and equipment installation at our tower locations. Site development services revenues are earned primarily from providing a full range of end-to-end services to wireless service providers or companies providing development or project management services to wireless service providers. Our services include: (1) network pre-design; (2) site audits; (3) identification of potential locations for towers and antennas on existing infrastructure; (4) support in leasing of the location; (5) assistance in obtaining zoning approvals and permits; (6) tower and related site construction; (7) antenna installation; and (8) radio equipment installation, commissioning, and maintenance. We provide site development services at our towers and at towers owned by others on a local basis through regional, market, and project offices. These market offices are responsible for all site development operations.

Customers

We depend on a relatively small number of customers for our site leasing and site development revenues. The following customers represented at least 10% of our total revenues during the last three years:

In addition to the Big 3 wireless carriers (T-Mobile, AT&T Wireless, Verizon Wireless), we have also provided services or leased space to a number of other customers during 2024 including:

Sales and Marketing

Our sales and marketing goals are to:

use existing relationships and develop new relationships with wireless service providers to lease antenna space on and sell related services with respect to our owned towers or managed properties, enabling us to grow our site leasing business; and

successfully bid and win those site development services contracts that will contribute to our operating margins and/or provide a financial or strategic benefit to our site leasing business.

We approach sales on a company-wide basis, involving many of our employees. We have a dedicated sales force that is supplemented by members of our management team to sell our services and cultivate customer relationships. Our strategy is to delegate sales efforts by geographic region or to those employees of ours who have the best relationships with our customers. Most wireless service providers have national corporate headquarters with regional and local offices. We believe that wireless service providers make most decisions for site development and site leasing services at the regional and local levels with input from their corporate headquarters. Our sales representatives work with wireless service provider representatives at the regional and local levels and at the national level when appropriate. Our sales staff’s compensation is heavily weighted to incentive-based goals and measurements.

Competition

Domestic Site Leasing – In the U.S., our primary competitors for our site leasing activities are (1) large independent tower companies including American Tower Corporation and Crown Castle International; (2) a number of regional independent tower owners; (3) wireless service providers that own and operate their own towers and lease, or may in the future decide to lease, antenna space to other providers; (4) owners and operators of alternative facilities such as rooftops, outdoor and indoor distributed antenna system (“DAS”) networks, billboards, utility poles, and electric transmission towers; and (5) owners and operators of alternative wireless technology systems and architectures.

International Site Leasing – Internationally, our competition consists of wireless service providers that own and operate their own tower networks, large multinational, national, and regional independent tower companies, and alternative facilities such as rooftop, outdoor and indoor networks, billboards, utility poles, and electric transmission towers.

We believe that tower location and capacity, quality of service, density within a geographic market, and price historically have been, and will continue to be, the most significant competitive factors affecting the domestic and international site leasing business.

Site Development – The site development business is competitive and price sensitive. We believe that the majority of our competitors in the U.S. site development business operate within local region and market areas, while some firms offer their services nationally. The market includes participants from a variety of market segments offering individual, or combinations of, competing services. The field of competitors includes site development companies, zoning consultants, real estate firms, wireless construction companies, tower owners, telecommunications equipment vendors, which provide end-to-end site development services through multiple subcontractors, and wireless service providers’ internal staff. We believe that providers base their decisions for site development services on a number of criteria, including company experience, price, track record, local reputation, geographic reach, and time for completion of a project.

Human Capital

Our corporate offices are located in Boca Raton, Florida. We also have employees located in our international, regional, and local offices. We consider our employee relations to be good. As of December 31, 2024, we had 1,720 employees of which 628 were based outside of the U.S. and its territories.

Talent Management. We recognize and appreciate the impact our employees have on the success of our company, our customers, and the communities we serve. We pride ourselves on our ownership mindset, agility and team spirit and provide customer service with quality and integrity. We also value all those who serve our country and are proud to support military veterans and their families as they transition out of the military.

We recognize the value of attracting, developing, engaging, and retaining our talent. We invest in our employees’ professional growth and development by providing resources and opportunities to develop their skills and expand their expertise. We see diversity of thought and experiences as critical factors to the long-term success of SBA. We are committed to building a pipeline of future business leaders by recruiting and retaining talent from the communities and markets we serve.

Employee Well-Being. The well-being of our employees is a critical element of our culture, employee engagement, and productivity. Our global compensation and benefits strategy provides programs and resources focused on overall well-being. We offer a competitive total rewards package which includes market-based pay, performance-based annual incentive awards, healthcare and retirement benefits, holiday and paid time off, and tuition assistance.

Health and Safety. At SBA, providing a safe and healthy work environment for the protection of our employees is paramount. The safety of our tower technicians has been a critical focus of the company since our founding. In 2013, we opened our central training facility "Tower U" which provides a rigorous safety certification program that is required for our tower technicians. We are proud that our average lost-day incident rate in the U.S. (days away from work due to workplace incidents) for 2024 was below the 2023 Bureau of Labor benchmark.

Regulatory and Environmental Matters

Federal Regulations. In the U.S., which accounted for 73.7% of our total site leasing revenue for the year ended December 31, 2024, both the Federal Communications Commission (the “FCC”) and the Federal Aviation Administration (the “FAA”) regulate towers. Many FAA requirements are implemented in FCC regulations.

These regulations govern the construction, lighting, and painting or other marking of towers, as well as the maintenance, inspection, and record keeping related to towers, and may, depending on the characteristics of particular towers, require prior approval and registration of towers before they may be constructed, altered or used. Wireless communications equipment and radio or television stations antennas operating on towers are separately regulated and may require independent customer licensing depending upon the particular frequency or frequency band used. In addition, any applicant for an FCC tower structure registration (through the FCC’s Antenna Structure Registration System) must certify that, consistent with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, neither the applicant nor its principals are subject to a denial of federal benefits because of a conviction for the possession or distribution of a controlled substance. New tower construction also requires approval from the state or local governing authority for the proposed site, compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act (“NHPA”), compliance with the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), and may require notification to the FAA and registration with the FCC.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, the FCC, in conjunction with the FAA, has developed standards to consider proposals involving new or modified towers. These standards mandate that the FCC and the FAA consider the height of the proposed tower, the relationship of the tower to existing natural or man-made obstructions, and the proximity of the tower to runways and airports. Proposals to construct or to modify existing towers above certain heights must be reviewed by the FAA to ensure the structure will not present a hazard to air navigation. The FAA may condition its issuance of a no-hazard determination upon compliance with specified lighting and/or painting requirements. Towers that meet certain height and location criteria must also be registered with the FCC. A tower that requires FAA clearance will not be registered with the FCC until it is cleared by the FAA. The FCC’s Antenna Structure Registration (ASR) will include any FAA required lighting and/or painting. Owners of wireless communications towers have an obligation to maintain painting and lighting or other marking in conformance with FAA and FCC regulations. While the FCC requires owners to register and exercise primary responsibility for painting and lighting of antenna structures meeting the registration criteria, licensees, and permittees, collocated on the tower or antenna structure, are also responsible to ensure that the structure maintains all FAA and FCC painting and lighting requirements.

Owners and operators of towers may be subject to, and therefore must comply with, environmental laws, including NEPA, NHPA, and ESA. Any licensed radio facility on a tower is subject to environmental review pursuant to NEPA, among other statutes, which requires federal agencies to evaluate the environmental impact of their decisions under certain circumstances. The FCC has issued regulations implementing NEPA. These regulations place responsibility on applicants to investigate potential environmental effects of their operations and to disclose any potential significant effects on the environment in an environmental assessment prior to constructing or modifying a tower and prior to commencing certain operations of wireless communications or radio or television stations from the tower. In the event the FCC determines the proposed structure or operation would have a significant environmental impact based on the standards the FCC has developed, the FCC would be required to prepare an environmental impact statement, which will be subject to public comment. This process could significantly delay the registration of a particular tower.

We generally indemnify our customers against any failure to comply with legal and regulatory compliance requirements applicable to tower owners or operators relating to the construction, modification, or placement of towers. Failure to comply with the applicable requirements may lead to civil penalties.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 amended the Communications Act of 1934 by preserving state and local zoning authorities’ jurisdiction over the construction, modification, and placement of towers. The law, however, limits local zoning authority by prohibiting any action that would discriminate among different providers of personal wireless services or ban altogether the construction, modification or placement of radio communication towers. Finally, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the FCC’s rules implementing that Act require the federal government to help licensees for wireless communications services gain access to preferred sites on federal property for their facilities. This may require that federal agencies and departments work directly with licensees to make federal property available for tower facilities.

Operators of towers must also take into consideration certain radio frequency (“RF”) emissions regulations that impose a variety of procedural and operating requirements. Certain proposals to operate wireless communications and radio or television stations from tower structures are also reviewed by the FCC to ensure compliance with requirements relating to human exposure to RF emissions.

Environmental Regulation. As an owner and operator of real property, we are subject to certain environmental laws that impose strict, joint and several liability for the cleanup of on-site or off-site contamination and related personal injury or property damage. We are also subject to certain environmental laws that govern tower placement and may require pre-construction environmental studies. We comply with the FCC National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) which requires screening for environmental impacts including the evaluation of those of our tower site locations (1) that might be located in a wilderness area or a wildlife preserve, (2) that might affect threatened and endangered species or their habitat (ESA), (3) that might affect properties included in, or eligible for inclusion, in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) or Indian religious and cultural sites, (4) that might affect World Heritage areas and IUCN Category I-IV protected areas, (5) that will be located in a floodplain and where facility equipment will not be placed at least one foot above the base flood elevation of the floodplain, (6) whose construction will involve significant changes in surface features (e.g., in wetlands, water diversions, considerable ground disturbance, deforestation), (7) that might affect migratory birds if the towers are over 450 feet, (8) that involve high-intensity lighting in a residential area, (9) that would cause RF radiation over FCC-established limits, and (10) that would involve similar considerations under the laws or best practices of our international markets.

When a tower site is impacted by any of the listed categories, we promptly complete an environmental assessment and obtain approval from the appropriate regulatory agency, which may include steps to mitigate the impact of construction or operation of the site. Our regional site managers regularly inspect our tower sites and report on any environmental or compliance issues. This ensures we minimize our environmental impact and remain compliant during the operational life of our assets.

We believe that we are in substantial compliance with and we have no material liability under any applicable environmental laws. These costs of compliance with existing or future environmental laws and liability related thereto may have a material adverse effect on our prospects, financial condition or results of operations.

State and Local Regulations. Most states regulate certain aspects of real estate acquisition, leasing activities, and construction activities. Where required, we conduct the site acquisition portions of our site development services business through licensed real estate brokers’ agents, who may be our employees or hired as independent contractors, and conduct the construction portions of our site development services through licensed contractors, who may be our employees or independent contractors. Local regulations include city and other local ordinances, zoning restrictions, and restrictive covenants imposed by community developers. These regulations vary greatly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but typically require tower owners to obtain approval from local officials or community standards organizations, or certain other entities prior to tower construction and establish regulations regarding maintenance and removal of towers. FCC rules establish presumptively reasonable time periods for state and local authorities to act on applications to collocate a facility or deploy a facility, such as a tower. In addition, many local zoning authorities require tower owners to post bonds or cash collateral to secure their removal obligations. Local zoning authorities generally have been unreceptive to construction of new towers in their communities because of the height and visibility of the towers, and have, in some instances, instituted moratoria. However, in August 2018, the FCC issued a declaratory ruling stating that express and de facto moratoria on deployment of telecommunications facilities violate the Communications Act. This FCC ruling has been affirmed by a federal appellate court.

International Regulations. Regulatory regimes outside of the U.S. and its territories vary by country and locality; however, these regulations typically require tower owners and/or licensees to obtain approval from local officials or government agencies prior to tower construction or modification or the addition of a new antenna to an existing tower. Additionally, some regulations include ongoing obligations regarding painting, lighting, and maintenance. Our international operations may also be subject to limitations on foreign ownership of land in certain areas. Based on our experience to date, these regimes have been similar to, but not more rigorous, burdensome or comprehensive than, those in the U.S. Non-compliance with such regulations may lead to monetary penalties or deconstruction orders. Our international operations are also subject to various regulations and guidelines regarding employee relations and other occupational health and safety matters. As we expand our operations into additional international geographic areas, we will be subject to regulations in these jurisdictions.

Availability of Reports and Other Information

SBA Communications Corporation was incorporated in the State of Florida in March 1997 and is a real estate investment trust (“REIT”) for federal income tax purposes. Our corporate website is www.sbasite.com. We make available, free of charge, access to our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A and amendments to those materials filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), on our website under “Investors – SEC Filings,” as soon as reasonably practicable after we file electronically such material with, or furnish it to, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”).

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

Risks Related to Our Business

If our wireless service provider customers combine their operations to a significant degree, our future operating results could be adversely affected.

Our domestic and international wireless service providers have and may continue to be subject to consolidation pressures arising from competitive pressures, spectrum limitations, the significant capital expenditures necessary to build out national networks on evolving technology and governmental policies seeking to limit the telecommunications infrastructure footprint within a market. Significant consolidation among our wireless service provider customers has resulted, and is expected to continue to result, in our customers failing to renew existing leases for tower space as a result of overlapping coverage, nearby locations, or reducing future capital expenditures in the aggregate because their existing networks and expansion plans may overlap or be very similar.

For example, historically, U.S. wireless service providers have grown through acquisitions. As a result, the combined companies have rationalized duplicative parts of their networks, or networks have been discontinued. During 2020, the consolidation of T-Mobile and Sprint was completed, and we began to experience non-renewal (“churn”) of certain leases as a result of overlapping and adjacent Sprint leases. We currently expect that this churn will represent an aggregate of between $115.0 million and $125.0 million of cash site leasing revenue from 2025 through 2028. We do not expect the annual churn to be uniform over this period as the timing of the churn will depend on termination rights as well as the needs of the carrier. Future consolidations of wireless service providers could significantly impact the number of our tower leases that are not renewed or the number of new leases that our wireless service provider customers require to expand their networks, which could materially and adversely affect our future operating results.

The wireless industry in our international markets has come under competition in recent years which has, and may continue to, adversely affect our international site leasing activities in the near term.

In recent years the wireless industry in our international markets has come under competitive pressures arising from an increase in the number of industry participants (both wireless service providers and tower owners), increased cost of capital and capital expenditure requirements, declining discretionary income and changing technology requirements. These pressures have resulted, and may continue to result, in increases in consolidation of wireless service providers, financial instability of wireless service providers, increased pricing pressures on tower operators and the termination or non-renewal of site leasing agreements. We expect that the impact of these competitive pressures will continue in the near term as the industry begins to rebalance and as a result, we expect approximately $27.0 to $31.0 million of churn for the 2025 fiscal year. If we are unable to manage the short-term impact of these competitive pressures or if the competitive dynamics within our international markets do not stabilize in the foreseeable future, it could have a material and adverse effect on our international site leasing revenue, our future growth and our business.

We depend on a relatively small number of customers for most of our revenue, and the loss or financial instability of any of our significant customers may materially decrease our revenue and adversely affect our financial condition.

We derive a significant portion of our revenue from a small number of customers. In the United States and in most of our international markets, there are only two to three primary wireless carriers. Consequently, a reduction in demand for site leasing, reduced future capital expenditures or operating expenses on the networks, or the loss, as a result of bankruptcy, merger with other customers of ours or otherwise, of any of our largest customers could materially decrease our revenue and have an adverse effect on our growth. Furthermore, while many of our tenants in our international markets are subsidiaries of global telecommunications companies, these subsidiaries may not have the explicit or implied financial support of their parent entities, which may impact their creditworthiness. Our growth projections are based on our beliefs regarding future revenue from these customers, and such projections could be adversely affected by the loss, consolidation or financial instability of these customers.

We derive revenue through numerous site leasing and site development contracts. In the United States and our international markets, each site leasing contract relates to the lease of space at an individual tower and is generally for an initial term of five years to fifteen years with multiple renewal periods at the option of the tenant. However, if any of our significant site leasing customers were to experience financial difficulty, substantially reduce their capital expenditures or reduce their dependence on leased tower space on our sites and fail to renew their leases with us, our revenues, future revenue growth and results of operations would be adversely affected.

Our site development customers engage us on a project-by-project basis, and a customer can generally terminate an assignment at any time without penalty. In addition, a customer’s need for site development services can decrease, and we may not be successful in establishing relationships with new customers. Furthermore, our existing customers may not continue to engage us for additional projects.

While the U.S. wireless service provider market has recently reduced to three nationwide wireless service providers, AT&T Wireless, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless, we and most of the industry anticipate that the number of nationwide wireless service providers will increase to four again if Echostar successfully builds out its nationwide network. If Echostar is unable to successfully build-out its wireless network or is unable to successfully compete for customers once its network is built out, then our dependence on the three U.S. wireless service providers for our financial and operational growth will be exacerbated.

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The following is a list of significant customers (representing at least 10% of revenue in any of the last three years) and the percentage of our total revenues for the specified time periods derived from these customers:

We also have customer concentrations with respect to revenues in each of our financial reporting segments:

If our wireless service provider customers are unable to access sufficient capital, or unwilling based on the economic cost of such capital or other reasons, to invest in their infrastructure or spectrum, it could reduce our ability to meet our growth expectations.

Each wireless service provider must have substantial capital resources and capabilities to deploy new spectrum in their wireless networks, including licenses for spectrum. Increasing interest rates have impacted, and are expected to continue to impact, the ability and willingness of wireless service providers to incur capital expenditures at historic levels to expand their networks, which would adversely affect our future revenue growth rates. For example, certain providers are financially constrained and are not currently investing in their wireless networks to deploy new spectrum. Higher interest rates increase the economic cost of available capital and may make it less favorable for wireless service providers to obtain capital for investment. If some or all of our wireless service provider customers, or potential customers, are unable to access sufficient capital, or unwilling based on the economic cost of such capital, to invest in the expansion of their networks, it could adversely affect our revenue growth. Wireless capital expenditures may also be adversely impacted by service provider decisions on debt levels, dividends, free cash flow goals, and a variety of other factors.

Our variable rate indebtedness and refinancing obligations subject us to interest rate risk, which could cause our debt service obligations to increase significantly.

Pursuant to the terms of our Credit Agreement, the interest rate that we pay on indebtedness incurred under the Revolving Credit Facility and the Term Loans varies based on a fixed margin over either a base rate or a Eurodollar rate which references the SOFR rate. As of December 31, 2024, this indebtedness represented approximately $2.3 billion, or 16.7% of our total indebtedness. As a result, we are exposed to interest rate risk. Interest rates, including SOFR, fluctuate periodically and as such may increase in future periods. If interest rates increase, our debt service obligations on the variable rate indebtedness will increase even though the amount borrowed remained the same, and our net income and cash flows, including cash available for servicing our indebtedness, will correspondingly decrease. Due to inflationary pressures on the U.S. economy and governmental action to combat inflation, interest rates have risen significantly in the past two years, and interest rates may increase in the future, which will likely increase our interest expense on our variable rate indebtedness and decrease our net income. In addition, increasing interest rates may result in higher interest expense on our current fixed rate indebtedness upon a refinancing.

Although we have used interest rate swaps to mitigate our interest rate risk from time to time, we may not maintain interest rate swaps with respect to all of our variable rate indebtedness, and any swaps we enter into may not fully mitigate our interest rate risk. Furthermore, the increase in our use of derivative instruments increases our exposure to counterparty credit risk to the extent that a counterparty to the instrument fails to meet or perform the terms of the instrument. As of December 31, 2024, we had an interest rate swap agreement on a portion of our 2024 Term Loan (as amended on October 2, 2024) which swaps $1.95 billion of notional value accruing interest at one month Term SOFR plus 175 basis points for an all-in fixed rate of 1.800% per annum through March 31, 2025. Additionally, we have two $1.0 billion forward-starting swaps with an effective start date of March 31, 2025 (coinciding with the expiration date of the current 0.050%, $1.95 billion notional value swap) and a maturity date of April 11, 2028. The combined notional value of both forward-starting swaps of $2.0 billion will effectively fix one month term SOFR for a blended all-in fixed rate of 5.165% per annum through April 11, 2028.

We have a substantial level of indebtedness which may have an adverse effect on our business or limit our ability to take advantage of business, strategic or financing opportunities.

As indicated below, we have and will continue to have a significant amount of indebtedness. The following table sets forth our total principal amount of debt and shareholders’ deficit as of December 31, 2024 and 2023:

Our substantial level of indebtedness increases the possibility that we may be unable to generate cash sufficient to pay the principal, interest, or other amounts due on our indebtedness. Subject to certain restrictions under our existing indebtedness, we and our subsidiaries may also incur significant additional indebtedness in the future, which may have the effect of increasing our total leverage.

As a consequence of our indebtedness, (1) demands on our cash resources may increase, (2) we are subject to restrictive covenants that further limit our financial and operating flexibility, and (3) we may choose to institute self-imposed limits on our indebtedness based on certain considerations including market interest rates, our relative leverage and our strategic plans. For example, as a result of our substantial level of indebtedness and the uncertainties arising in the credit markets and the U.S. economy:

•we may be more vulnerable to general adverse economic and industry conditions;

•we may have to pay higher interest rates upon refinancing or on our variable rate indebtedness if interest rates rise, thereby reducing our cash flows;

•we may find it more difficult to obtain additional financing to fund future working capital, capital expenditures, and other general corporate requirements that would be in our best long-term interests;

•we may be required to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to the payment of principal and interest on our debt, reducing the available cash flow to fund other investments, including share repurchases, tower acquisitions, and new build capital expenditures, or to satisfy our REIT distribution requirements;

•we may have limited flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business or in the industry;

•we may have a competitive disadvantage relative to other companies in our industry that are less leveraged; and

•we may be required to sell debt or equity securities or sell some of our core assets, possibly on unfavorable terms, in order to meet payment obligations.

Increasing competition in the tower industry may create pricing pressures or result in non-renewals that may materially and adversely affect us.

Our industry is highly competitive, and our wireless service provider customers often have alternatives for leasing antenna space. We believe that tower location and capacity, quality of service, density within a geographic market, and price historically have been and will continue to be the most significant competitive factors affecting the site leasing business. However, competitive pricing pressure for tenants on towers from our competitors have and may in the future result in us entering into master lease agreements that may impact certain terms of existing or future individual site lease agreements. Terms that may be impacted include pricing discounts, term concessions, and equipment rights. Competition for tenants, whether or not resulting in master lease agreements, may materially and adversely affect our lease rates or lead to non-renewal of existing leases. Furthermore, pricing pressures could lead to more prevalent network sharing, both domestically and internationally, which could reduce the demand for our tower space or lead to non-renewals of existing leases. In addition, the increasing number of towers (1) may provide customers the ability to relocate their antennas to other towers if they determine that a more suitable, efficient or economical location exists, which could lead to non-renewal of existing leases, or (2) may adversely impact our ability to enter into new customer leases. This impact may be exacerbated if competitors construct towers near our existing towers.

Any of these factors could materially and adversely affect our growth rate and our future operations.

In the site leasing business, we compete with:

•wireless service providers that own and operate their own towers and lease, or may in the future decide to lease, antenna space to other providers;

•national and regional tower companies who may be substantially larger and have greater financial resources than we do;

•international tower companies who have been in the international market for a longer period of time than we have; and

•alternative facilities such as rooftops, outdoor and indoor DAS networks, billboards, and electric transmission towers.

The site development segment of our industry is also competitive. There are numerous large and small companies that offer one or more of the services offered by our site development business. As a result of this competition, margins in this segment may come under pressure. Many of our competitors have lower overhead expenses and therefore may be able to provide services at prices that we consider unprofitable. If margins in this segment were to decrease, our consolidated revenues and our site development segment operating profit could be adversely affected.

A slowdown in demand for wireless services could materially and adversely affect our future growth and revenues.

We expect a significant portion of our future revenue growth will result from increased leasing activity and investments in the deployment of new or fallow spectrum by our wireless service provider customers. Wireless service providers typically invest in their networks in response to consumer demand for additional or higher quality service. Potential periods of economic downturn or decreases in discretionary income may also reduce consumer spending on, and demand for additional or higher quality wireless services. If consumers significantly reduce their use of wireless services or fail to widely adopt and use new wireless technologies and their products and applications, our wireless service provider customers could experience a reduction in the rate of growth of or a decrease in demand for their services and therefore reduce the amount they invest in their network. In addition, a slowdown may increase competition in the tower industry which may in turn increase our exposure to the risks described herein.

Increasing competition may negatively impact our ability to grow our communication site portfolio long term.

We intend to continue growing our tower portfolio, domestically and internationally, through acquisitions and new builds. Our ability to meet our growth targets significantly depends on our ability to build or acquire existing towers that meet our investment requirements. Traditionally, our acquisition strategy has focused on acquiring towers from smaller tower companies, independent tower developers, and wireless service providers. However, as a result of consolidation in the tower industry, there are fewer of these tower transactions available, and there is more competition to acquire existing towers. Increased competition for acquisitions may result in fewer acquisition opportunities for us, higher acquisition prices, and increased difficulty in negotiating and acquiring such towers. Furthermore, to the extent that the tower acquisition opportunities are for significant tower portfolios, some of our competitors and financial sponsors are significantly larger and have greater financial resources than we do. Finally, laws regulating competition, domestically and internationally, may limit our ability to acquire certain portfolios and/or delay our acquisition of certain portfolios. As a result of these risks, the cost of acquiring these towers may be higher than we expect, or we may not be able to meet our annual and long-term tower portfolio growth targets. If we are not able to successfully address these challenges, we may not be able to materially increase our tower portfolio in the long-term through acquisitions.

Our ability to build new towers is dependent upon our wireless customers’ needs and the availability of sufficient capital to fund construction, our ability to locate, and acquire at commercially reasonable prices, attractive locations for such towers and our ability to obtain the necessary zoning and permits. Local regulations, including municipal or local ordinances, zoning restrictions and restrictive covenants imposed by community developers, vary greatly, but typically require antenna tower and structure owners to obtain approval from local officials or community standards organizations prior to tower or structure construction or modification. With respect to our international new builds, our tower construction may be delayed or halted as a result of local zoning restrictions, inconsistencies between laws or other barriers to construction in international markets. Due to these risks, it may take longer to complete our new tower builds than anticipated, domestically and internationally, and the costs of constructing these towers may be higher than we expect, or we may not be able to add as many towers as planned in 2025. With respect to our domestic new builds, attractive locations may be scarce due to the density within a geographic market. If we are not able to increase our new build tower portfolio as anticipated, it could negatively impact our ability to achieve our financial goals.

Our international operations are subject to economic, political, and other risks that could materially and adversely affect our revenues or financial position.

Our current business operations in developing markets, and our expansion into any other international markets in the future, could result in adverse financial consequences and operational problems not typically experienced in the United States. The site leasing revenues generated by our international operations were approximately 24.8% of our total revenues during the year ended December 31, 2024, and we anticipate that our revenues from our international operations will continue to grow in the future. Accordingly, our business is and will be subject to risks associated with doing business internationally, including:

•laws and regulations that dictate how we operate our towers and conduct business and which may be uncertain, be inconsistent or adversely change, including those relating to zoning, construction, maintenance and environmental matters, and laws related to ownership of real property;

•changes in a specific country’s or region’s political or economic conditions, including inflation or currency devaluation;

•laws affecting telecommunications infrastructure including the sharing of such infrastructure;

•potential changes in trade restrictions and tariffs that may be proposed by the U.S. and potential retaliatory trade restrictions and tariffs by other countries;

•laws and regulations that tax or otherwise restrict repatriation of earnings or other funds or otherwise limit distributions of capital;

•changes to existing or new domestic or international tax laws, new or significantly increased municipal fees directed specifically at the ownership and operation of towers, which may be applied and enforced retroactively and could materially affect the profitability of our operations;

•expropriation and governmental regulation restricting foreign ownership or requiring reversion or divestiture;

•governmental regulations and restrictions impacting tower licenses, spectrum licenses and concessions, including additional restrictions on the use or revocation of such licenses, concessions or spectrum and additional conditions to receive or maintain such licenses;

•laws and regulations governing our employee relations, including occupational health and safety matters and employee compensation and benefits matters;

•our ability to comply with, and the costs of compliance with, anti-bribery laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar local anti-bribery laws;

•our ability to negotiate, and enforce, leases or other contracts on similar terms as that of our U.S. operations;

•uncertainties regarding interpretations of our contractual rights to land and towers;

•uncertainties regarding legal or judicial systems, including inconsistencies between and within laws, regulations and decrees, and judicial application thereof, and delays in the judicial process;

•challenges arising from less-developed infrastructure in certain markets;

•difficulty in recruiting and retaining trained personnel; and

•our ability to provide power to our sites in those international markets that do not have an available electric grid at our tower sites.

We are also exposed to risks operating in countries with high levels of inflation, including the risk that inflation rates exceed our fixed escalator percentages in markets where our leases include fixed escalators and the risk that adverse economic conditions may discourage growth in consumer demand and consequently reduce our customers’ demand for our site leasing services. As of December 31, 2024, approximately 21.1% of our tenant leases in our international markets include fixed escalators.

Currency fluctuations may negatively affect our results of operations.

In Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panama, significantly all of our revenue, expenses, and capital expenditures arising from our activities are denominated in U.S. dollars. Specifically, most of our ground leases and other property interests, tenant leases, and tower-related expenses are paid in U.S. dollars. In Brazil, Canada, Chile, and South Africa significantly all of our revenue, expenses, and capital expenditures, including tenant leases, ground leases and other property interests, and other tower-related expenses are denominated in local currency. In Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, and Tanzania, our revenue, expenses, and capital expenditures, including tenant leases, ground leases and other property interests, and other tower-related expenses are denominated in a mix of local currency and U.S. dollars. Our foreign currency denominated revenues and expenses are translated into U.S. dollars at average exchange rates for inclusion in our consolidated financial statements.

For the year ended December 31, 2024, approximately 26.3% of our total site leasing revenue was generated by our international operations, of which 23.1% was generated in non-U.S. dollar currencies, including 15.0% which was denominated in Brazilian Reais. The exchange rates between our foreign currencies and the U.S. Dollar have fluctuated significantly in recent years and may continue to do so in the future. For example, the Brazilian Real has historically been subject to substantial volatility and weakened 6.9% when comparing the average rate for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023. This fluctuation has affected, and may in the future continue to affect, our reported results of operations.

Changes in exchange rates between these local currencies and the U.S. dollar will affect the recorded levels of site leasing revenue, segment operating profit, assets and/or liabilities. Volatility in foreign currency exchange rates can also affect our ability to plan, forecast, and budget for our international operations and expansion efforts.

Furthermore, we have intercompany loan agreements with our foreign subsidiaries to borrow in U.S. Dollars. As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, the aggregate amount outstanding under the intercompany loan agreements subject to remeasurement with our foreign subsidiaries was $1.1 billion and $1.3 billion, respectively. In accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 830, we remeasure foreign denominated intercompany loans with the corresponding change in the balance being recorded in Other income (expense), net in our Consolidated Statements of Operations as settlement is anticipated or planned in the foreseeable future. Consequently, if the U.S. Dollar strengthens against the Brazilian Real, South African Rand, or the Tanzanian Shilling, our results of operations would be adversely affected. For the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, we recorded a $156.8 million loss and a $52.4 million gain, net of taxes, respectively, on the remeasurement of intercompany loans due to changes in foreign exchange rates. For the year ended December 31, 2024, we funded $9.3 million and repaid $177.1 million under our intercompany loan agreements. Subsequent to December 31, 2024, we made no repayments under our intercompany loan agreements.

Delays in the roll-out of new spectrum or deployment of new technologies could materially and adversely affect our future growth and revenues.

Our ability to grow is dependent on the ability and willingness of our wireless service provider customers to invest in the roll-out of new spectrum or new technologies. Much of the future capital investment by domestic wireless service providers is expected to result from the roll-out of 5G. However, the roll-out of prior spectrum, including 3G and 4G was often delayed and the roll-out of this spectrum may encounter similar interruptions. For example, in January 2022, several major U.S. wireless carriers had to temporarily delay deployment of new wireless facilities that were meant to facilitate the evolution of their wireless networks to 5G technology in response to concerns of the aviation industry that those 5G facilities could interfere with equipment used for aviation and could impede aviation safety. Although this issue has been substantially resolved, the deployment of new technologies has resulted, and may continue to result, in unexpected issues that could increase the cost or delay the deployment of new technologies.

The FCC continues to auction new bands of spectrum, including Auction 108 and Auction 110. Our customers have been and are expected to be the primary winners of these auctions and subsequently deploy this spectrum on our portfolio which would provide us with a revenue growth opportunity. Any delays or failure of these auctions could negatively impact future demand for our towers. Similarly, any delays in the clearing or availability of this spectrum subsequent to these auctions could delay the related demand for our towers.

New technologies or network architecture or changes in a customer’s business model may reduce demand for our wireless infrastructure or negatively impact our revenues.

Improvements or changes in the efficiency, architecture, and design of wireless networks or changes in a wireless service provider customer's business model may reduce the demand for our wireless infrastructure. Also, as customers deploy increased capital to develop and implement new technologies, they may allocate less of their budgets to lease space on our towers. For example, new technologies that may promote network sharing, joint development, or resale agreements by our wireless service provider customers, such as signal combining technologies or network functions virtualization, may reduce the need for our wireless infrastructure, or may result in the decommissioning of equipment on certain sites because portions of the customers' networks may become redundant. In addition, other technologies and architectures, such as WiFi, DAS, femtocells, other small cells, or satellite (such as low earth orbiting) and mesh transmission systems may, in the future, serve as substitutes for, or alternatives to, the traditional macro site communications architecture that is the basis of substantially all of our site leasing business. Certain small cell complementary network technologies or satellite services could shift a portion of our customers’ network investments away from traditional tower-based networks, which may reduce the need for carriers to add more equipment at certain communications sites. The majority of our tower portfolio comprises traditional macro sites and therefore is not as diversified into non-macro sites and other technologies and architectures as some of our competitors. In addition, new technologies that enhance the range, efficiency, and capacity of wireless equipment could reduce demand for our wireless infrastructure. For example, our wireless service provider customers have engaged in increased use of network sharing, roaming, or resale arrangements, resulting in reduced capital spending or a decision to sell or not renew their spectrum licenses or concessions. Any significant reduction in demand for our wireless infrastructure resulting from new technologies or new architectures or changes in a customer's business model may negatively impact our revenues or otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. Any such event may have a disproportionate impact on our business compared to our competitors, whose portfolios may be more technologically and architecturally diversified than ours. In addition, while we are exploring and investing in ancillary services and emerging technologies, including our mobile edge computing initiative and private networks, those investments may not prove to be profitable.

These factors could also have a material adverse effect on our growth rate since growth opportunities and demand for our tower space as a result of new technologies may not be realized at the times or to the extent anticipated. Any of these factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

If we are unable to protect our rights to the land under our towers, it could adversely affect our business and operating results.

Our real property interests relating to the land under our tower structures consist primarily of leasehold and sub-leasehold interests, fee interests, easements, licenses, rights-of-way, and other similar interests. From time to time, we experience disputes with landowners regarding the terms of the agreements for the land under our tower structures, which can affect our ability to access and operate such towers. Further, landowners may not want to renew their agreements with us, they may lose their rights to the land, or they may transfer their property interests to third parties, including property interest aggregators and our competitors, which could affect our ability to renew agreements on commercially viable terms or at all. Further, for various reasons, title to property interests in some of the foreign jurisdictions in which we operate may not be as certain as title to our property interests in the United States.

As of December 31, 2024, the average remaining life under our ground leases and other property interests, including renewal options under our control, was approximately 36 years, and approximately 11.6% of our tower structures have ground leases or other property interests maturing in the next 10 years. Failure to protect our rights to the land under our towers may have a material adverse effect on our site leasing revenue and future growth.

We hold some of our towers through rights of use agreements, which are terminable in accordance with the terms of the respective agreements and provide us limited visibility regarding the relationship between the owner of the towers and the land owner.

We hold an aggregate of 4,069 towers through right of use agreements, pursuant to which we have the right to use and lease space on the tower to third parties, but do not own the tower. These agreements typically provide for multiple renewal periods, however, as these agreements are contractual, they may be terminated in accordance with their terms. If we were unable to renew our right of use for these agreements, then we would likely lose the revenue generated by the leasing tenants on such towers as the tenants may choose to remain on the tower to the extent feasible. In addition, as we do not own such towers, we are not a party to the ground lease agreement with the owner of the land underlying the towers. Consequently, we may not have visibility to the relationship between the land owner and the tower owner, including the term of any ground lease, and may not have the ability to promptly intervene if the land owner takes, or fails to take action, that would risk continued use of the tower, such as a sale of the parcel to a land aggregator, failure to pay taxes or condemnation actions. If the land owner was unable or unwilling to renew the ground lease with the tower owner, we could lose our ability to use the tower irrespective of our right of use agreement. During the year ended December 31, 2024, we generated $120.0 million of site leasing revenue from right of use towers. If we were to lose a significant number of our right to use towers it could adversely affect our site leasing revenue.

We may not be able to fully recognize the anticipated benefits of towers that we acquire.

A key element of our growth strategy is to increase our tower portfolio through acquisitions. We are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties as a result of those acquisition activities. These activities may fail to achieve the benefits we expected from the acquisition, or the acquired assets may not meet our internal guidelines for current and future returns, particularly if we are required to place greater reliance on the financial and operational representations and warranties of the sellers in individually material acquisitions. The impact of these risks is further enhanced in acquisitions of towers in international markets, where it may be more difficult to verify all relevant information with respect to the assets being acquired. These risks could adversely affect our revenues and results of operations.

In addition, acquisitions which would be material in the aggregate may exacerbate the risks inherent with our growth strategy, such as (1) an adverse financial impact if the acquired towers do not achieve the projected financial results, (2) the impact of unanticipated costs associated with such acquisitions on our results of operations, (3) increased demands on our cash resources that may impact our ability to explore other opportunities, (4) undisclosed and assumed liabilities that we may be unable to recover, (5) an adverse impact on our existing customer relationships, (6) additional expenses and exposure to new regulatory, political, and economic risks, and (7) diversion of managerial attention.

As part of new acquisitions of tower assets in natural disaster-prone areas, we may assess asset exposure to physical risks and inspect assets for signs of climate-related damage to help us understand the degree of exposure to tornadoes, fires, hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes the site may face over the longer term. However, our environmental due diligence may not uncover all natural disaster-related risks to tower assets that we acquire, and our mitigation measures may not be successful, which could require us to incur significant expenditures and may have an adverse effect on our operations or financial condition.

The process of integrating any acquired towers into our operations is also subject to a number of risks and financial impacts, including unforeseen operating difficulties, large expenditures, diversion of management attention, the loss of key customers and/or personnel, our inability to retain or timely find suitable replacements for key employees and management needed to operate the acquired business, and exposure to unanticipated liabilities. These risks may be exacerbated in acquisitions of a material number of towers. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in integrating domestic and international acquisitions into our existing business.

The documents governing our indebtedness contain restrictive covenants that could adversely affect our business by limiting our flexibility.

The indentures governing the 2020 Senior Notes and the 2021 Senior Notes, the Senior Credit Agreement, and the agreement for the mortgage loan underlying the Tower Securities contain restrictive covenants imposing significant operational and financial restrictions on us, including restrictions that may limit our ability to engage in acts that may be in our long-term best interests. Among other things, the covenants under each instrument limit our ability to:

•merge, consolidate or sell assets;

•make restricted payments, including pay dividends or make other distributions;

•enter into transactions with affiliates;

•enter into sale and leaseback transactions; and

•issue guarantees of indebtedness.

Additionally, the agreement governing the mortgage loan relating to our Tower Securities contains financial covenants that require that the borrowers maintain, on a consolidated basis, a minimum debt service coverage ratio. To the extent that the debt service coverage ratio, as of the end of any calendar quarter, falls to 1.30 times or lower, then all cash flow in excess of amounts required to make debt service payments, to fund required reserves, to pay management fees and budgeted operating expenses and to make other payments required under the loan documents, referred to as “excess cash flow,” will be deposited into a reserve account instead of being released to the borrowers. The funds in the reserve account will not be released to the borrowers unless the debt service coverage ratio exceeds 1.30 times for two consecutive calendar quarters. If the debt service coverage ratio falls below 1.15 times as of the end of any calendar quarter, then an “amortization period” will commence and all funds on deposit in the reserve account will be applied to prepay the mortgage loan until such time that the debt service coverage ratio exceeds 1.15 times for a calendar quarter.

The Senior Credit Agreement, as amended, requires SBA Senior Finance II LLC (“SBA Senior Finance II”) to maintain specific financial ratios, including (1) a ratio of Consolidated Net Debt to Annualized Borrower EBITDA not to exceed 6.5 times for any fiscal quarter and (2) a ratio of Annualized Borrower EBITDA to Annualized Cash Interest Expense (calculated in accordance with the Senior Credit Agreement) of not less than 2.0 times for any fiscal quarter.

These covenants could place us at a disadvantage compared to some of our competitors which may have fewer restrictive covenants and may not be required to operate under these restrictions. Further, these covenants could have an adverse effect on our business by limiting our ability to take advantage of financing, new tower development, merger and acquisitions, or other opportunities. If we fail to comply with these covenants, it could result in an event of default under our debt instruments. If any default occurs, all amounts outstanding under our outstanding notes and the Senior Credit Agreement may become immediately due and payable.

Our dependence on our subsidiaries for cash flow may negatively affect our business.

We are a holding company with no business operations of our own. Our only significant assets are, and are expected to be, the outstanding capital stock and membership interests of our subsidiaries. We conduct, and expect to continue conducting, all of our business operations through our subsidiaries. Accordingly, our ability to pay our obligations is dependent upon dividends and other distributions from our subsidiaries to us. Most of our indebtedness is owed directly by our subsidiaries, including the mortgage loan underlying the Tower Securities and any amounts that we may borrow under the Senior Credit Agreement. Consequently, the first use of any cash flow from operations generated by such subsidiaries will be payments of interest and principal, if any, under their respective indebtedness. Other than the cash required to repay amounts due under our 2020 Senior Notes and 2021 Senior Notes and funds to be utilized for stock repurchases and dividend payments, we currently expect that substantially all the earnings and cash flow of our subsidiaries will be retained and used by them in their operations, including servicing their respective debt obligations. The ability of our operating subsidiaries to pay dividends or transfer assets to us is restricted by applicable state law and contractual restrictions, including the terms of their outstanding debt instruments.

The loss of the services of key personnel or a significant number of our employees may negatively affect our business.

Our success depends to a significant extent upon performance and active participation of our key personnel. We cannot guarantee that we will be successful in retaining the services of these key personnel. Although we have an employment agreement with Brendan T. Cavanagh, our President and Chief Executive Officer, this agreement does not ensure Mr. Cavanagh will continue with us in his current capacity for any particular period of time. We do not have employment agreements with any of our other key personnel. If any of our key personnel were to leave or retire, we may not be able to find an appropriate replacement on a timely basis and our results of operations could be negatively affected. Further, the loss of a significant number of employees or our inability to hire a sufficient number of qualified employees could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our business is subject to government regulations and changes in current or future regulations could harm our business.

We are subject to federal, state, and local regulation of our business, both in the U.S. and internationally. In the U.S., both the FAA and the FCC regulate the construction, modification, and maintenance of towers and structures that support antennas used for wireless communications and radio and television broadcasts. In addition, the FCC separately licenses or otherwise regulates wireless communications equipment, wireless radio stations, and radio and television broadcast stations operating from such towers. FAA and FCC regulations govern construction, lighting, painting, and marking of towers and may, depending on the characteristics of the tower, require registration of the tower. Certain proposals to construct new towers, or to modify or add new equipment to existing towers, are reviewed by the FAA to ensure that the tower will not present a hazard to air navigation. Further, in connection with our previous acquisition of a building containing a data center, we also acquired a limited number of residential apartment units and became subject to additional federal, state, and local laws and regulations such as building, zoning, landlord/tenant, health and safety, and accessibility governing residential housing.

Tower owners have an obligation to mark or paint such towers or install lighting to conform to FAA and FCC regulations and to maintain such marking, painting, and lighting. Tower owners also bear the responsibility of notifying the FAA of any lighting outages. Certain proposals to operate wireless communications and radio or television broadcast stations from towers are also reviewed by the FCC to ensure compliance with environmental impact requirements established in federal statutes, including NEPA, NHPA, and ESA. Failure to comply with existing or future applicable requirements may lead to civil penalties or other liabilities and may subject us to significant indemnification liability to our customers against any such failure to comply. In addition, new regulations may impose additional costly burdens on us, which may affect our revenues and cause delays in our growth. Local regulations, including municipal or local ordinances, zoning restrictions, and restrictive covenants imposed by community developers, vary greatly, but typically require tower owners to obtain approval from local officials or community standards organizations prior to tower construction or modification. Local regulations can delay, prevent, or increase the cost of new construction, co-locations, or site upgrades, thereby limiting our ability to respond to customer demand. In addition, new regulations may be adopted that increase delays or result in additional costs to us. In our international operations, the impact of zoning, permitting, and related regulations and restrictive covenants on our new builds, co-locations, and operations could be exacerbated as some of these markets may lack established permitting processes for towers, have inconsistencies between national and local regulations, and have other barriers to timely construction and permitting of towers. As a result, tower construction in some of our international markets may be delayed or halted or our acquired towers may not perform as anticipated. These factors could have a material adverse effect on our future growth and operations.

Information technology disruptions, including as a result of cybersecurity breaches, could compromise our information, which would cause our business and reputation to suffer.

As part of our day-to-day operations, we rely on information technology and other computer resources and infrastructure to carry out important business activities and to maintain our business records. Our computer systems, or those of our cloud or Internet-based providers, could fail on their own accord and are subject to interruption or damage from power outages, computer and telecommunications failures, computer viruses, security breaches (including through cyber-attack, data theft, and exploiting potentially vulnerable services, such as virtual private networks and collaboration platforms as a result of remote working), errors, catastrophic events such as natural disasters, and other events beyond our control. If our or our vendors’ computer systems and backup systems are compromised, degraded, damaged, or breached, or otherwise cease to function properly, we could suffer interruptions in our operations or unintentionally allow misappropriation of proprietary or confidential information (including information about our tenants or landlords). This could damage our reputation and disrupt our operations and the services we provide to customers, which could adversely affect our business and operating results. In addition, security incidents that impact our customers and other business partners could adversely affect our business and operating results. Furthermore, our investments in ancillary services and emerging technologies, including data centers and our mobile edge computing initiative, may leave us more vulnerable to security incidents, create new exposure for us to different types of security incidents or exacerbate the impact of such incidents on our business and operating results. In addition, we may, from time to time, upgrade our data processing systems and other operating technologies and take other steps to improve the efficiency of our information technology. These upgrades may require us to divert financial, operational, technical and managerial resources which could adversely affect our business and operations.

Additionally, if we are unable to effectively upgrade and improve the efficiency of our information technology systems, we may experience disruptions to our operations and services.

Data privacy and protection laws are evolving globally and present risks related to our handling of sensitive data that could result in regulatory penalties or litigation.

A portion of the activities that support our business involve collection, storage, and transfer of sensitive data of our employees, tenants, ground lessors, and other third parties, including residential tenants as a result of our previous data center acquisition that included a limited number of residential apartment units. In recent years, there has been increased public attention regarding the protection of personal data and security of data transfers, accompanied by legislation and regulations intended to strengthen data protection and information security. The evolving nature of privacy laws in the U.S. and the other countries where we have operations could impact our compliance costs in handling such data. Many data privacy regulations also grant private rights of action, including Brazil's General Data Protection Law and certain state laws, such as California's Consumer Privacy Act. As interpretation and enforcement of these and other future data privacy regulations and industry standards evolve, we may incur costs related to litigation or regulatory penalties if we are alleged to be non-compliant.

Damage from natural disasters and other unforeseen events could adversely affect us.

Our towers are subject to physical climate-related risks and natural disasters (including as a result of any potential effects of climate change) such as tornadoes, fires, hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes or may collapse for any number of reasons, including structural deficiencies. In addition, we have energy sources on some of our tower sites, and any unforeseen incident may cause damage to surrounding property. We maintain insurance to cover the estimated cost of replacing damaged towers and damage to surrounding property, but these insurance policies are subject to loss limits, deductibles, and retentions. We also maintain third party liability insurance, subject to loss limits, deductibles, and retentions, to protect us in the event of an accident involving a tower. An incident involving our towers or tower sites for which we are uninsured or underinsured, or damage to a significant number of our towers or surrounding property, could require us to incur significant expenditures and may have a material adverse effect on our operations or financial condition and may harm our reputation.

To the extent that we are not able to meet our contractual obligations to our customers, due to a natural disaster or other catastrophic circumstances, our customers may not be obligated or willing to pay their lease expenses; however, we may be required to continue paying our fixed expenses related to the affected tower, including expenses for ground leases and other property interests. If we are unable to meet our contractual obligations to our customers for a material portion of our towers, our operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We could have liability under environmental laws that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our operations, like those of other companies engaged in similar businesses, are subject to the requirements of various federal, state, local, and foreign environmental and occupational safety and health laws and regulations (including climate-related laws and regulations), including those relating to the management, use, storage, disposal, emission and remediation of, and exposure to, hazardous and non-hazardous substances, materials, and wastes. As owner, lessee, or operator of numerous tower structures, we may be liable for substantial costs of remediating soil and groundwater contaminated by hazardous materials without regard to whether we, as the owner, lessee, or operator, knew of or were responsible for the contamination. We may be subject to potentially significant fines, penalties, or taxes if we fail to comply with any of these requirements. The current cost of complying with these laws is not material to our financial condition or results of operations. However, the requirements of these laws and regulations are complex, change frequently, and could become more stringent in the future. It is possible that these requirements will change or that liabilities will arise in the future in a manner that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We could suffer adverse tax and other financial consequences if taxing authorities do not agree with our tax positions.

We are periodically subject to a number of tax examinations by taxing authorities in the states and countries where we do business. We also have significant net operating losses (“NOLs”) in U.S. federal and state taxing jurisdictions. Generally, for U.S. federal and state tax purposes, NOLs generated prior to the 2018 tax year can be carried forward and used for up to 20 years, and all of our NOLs will remain subject to examination until three years after our NOLs are used or expire. NOLs generated starting in the 2018 tax year can be carried forward indefinitely but are subject to the 80% utilization limitation. We expect that we will continue to be subject to tax examinations in the future. In addition, U.S. federal, state, and local, as well as international, tax laws and regulations are extremely complex and subject to varying interpretations.

If our tax benefits, including from our use of NOLs or other tax attributes, are challenged successfully by a taxing authority, we may be required to pay additional taxes or penalties, or make additional distributions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We are subject to income tax and other taxes in the geographic areas where we hold assets or operate, and we periodically receive notifications of audits, assessments, or other actions by taxing authorities. In certain jurisdictions, taxing authorities may issue notices and assessments that may not be reflective of the actual tax liability for which we will ultimately be liable.

In connection with a current assessment in Brazil, the taxing authorities have issued income tax deficiencies related to purchase accounting adjustments for tax years 2017 through 2019. We disagree with the assessment and have filed an appeal with the higher appellate taxing authorities. We will continue to vigorously contest the adjustments and expect to exhaust all administrative and judicial remedies necessary to resolve the matters, which could be a lengthy process. There can be no assurance that these matters will be resolved in our favor, and an adverse outcome, or any future tax examinations involving similar assertions, could have a material effect on our results of operations or cash flows in any one period. As of December 31, 2024, we estimate the aggregate range of reasonably possible losses in excess of amounts accrued to be between zero and $49.0 million; excluding penalties and interest of $63.1 million.

Our issuance of equity securities and other associated transactions may trigger a future ownership change which may negatively impact our ability to utilize NOLs in the future.

The issuance of equity securities and other associated transactions may increase the chance that we will have a future ownership change under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (“Code”). We may also have a future ownership change, outside of our control, caused by future equity transactions by our current shareholders. Depending on our market value at the time of such future ownership change, an ownership change under Section 382 could negatively impact our ability to utilize our NOLs and could result in us having to make additional cash distributions.

Our costs could increase and our revenues could decrease due to perceived health risks from RF energy.

The U.S. and other foreign governments impose requirements and other guidelines relating to exposure to RF energy. Exposure to high levels of RF energy can cause negative health effects. The potential connection between exposure to low levels of RF energy and certain negative health effects, including some forms of cancer, has been the subject of substantial study by the scientific community in recent years. According to the FCC, the results of these studies to date have been inconclusive. However, public perception of possible health risks associated with cellular and other wireless communications technologies (such as 5G) could slow the growth of wireless companies and deployment of new technologies, which could in turn slow our growth. In particular, negative public perception of, and regulations regarding, health risks could cause a decrease in the demand for wireless communications services. Moreover, if a connection between exposure to low levels of RF energy and possible negative health effects, including cancer, were demonstrated, we could be subject to numerous claims. Our current policies provide no coverage for claims based on RF energy exposure. If we were subject to claims relating to exposure to RF energy, even if such claims were not ultimately found to have merit, our financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

Risks Related to Our Status as a REIT

Remaining qualified as a REIT involves highly technical and complex provisions of the Code. Failure to remain qualified as a REIT would result in our inability to deduct dividends paid to our shareholders in computing our taxable income, thereby increasing our tax obligations and reducing our available cash.

We originally elected to be taxed as a REIT commencing with our taxable year ended December 31, 2016. While we intend to operate so that we remain qualified as a REIT, given the highly complex nature of the rules governing REITs, the importance of ongoing factual determinations, the possibility of future changes in our circumstances, and the potential impact of future changes to laws and regulations impacting REITs, no assurance can be given that we will qualify as a REIT for any particular year.

Changes to the tax laws or interpretations thereof, with or without retroactive application, could materially and adversely affect our investors or us. We cannot predict how changes in the tax laws might affect our investors or us. New legislation, U.S. Treasury Regulations, administrative interpretations, or court decisions could affect significantly and negatively our ability to qualify as a REIT or the U.S. federal income tax consequences to our investors and us of such qualification.

Qualification as a REIT involves the application of highly technical and complex Code provisions for which only limited judicial and administrative authorities exist. Even a technical or inadvertent violation could jeopardize our REIT qualification.

Our qualification as a REIT will depend on our ability to satisfy tests concerning our organization, the nature and diversification of our asset, the sources of our income, the amounts we regularly distribute to our shareholders, the diversity of our shareholder ownership, and other requirements on a continuing basis. Our ability to satisfy the asset tests depends upon our analysis of the characterization and fair market values of our assets, some of which are not susceptible to a precise determination, and for which we will not obtain independent appraisals.

If we fail to qualify as a REIT in any taxable year, to the extent we have REIT taxable income and have utilized our net operating losses (“NOLs”), we would be subject to U.S. federal income tax on our taxable income at regular corporate rates, and dividends paid to our shareholders would not be deductible by us in computing our taxable income. Any resulting corporate tax liability could be substantial and would reduce the amount of cash available for distribution to our shareholders, which in turn could have an adverse impact on the value of our common stock. Unless we were entitled to relief under certain provisions of the Code, we also would be disqualified from re-electing to be taxed as a REIT for the four taxable years following the year in which we failed to qualify as a REIT. If we fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT, we may need to borrow additional funds or liquidate assets to pay any additional tax liability. Accordingly, funds available for investment and making payments on our indebtedness would be reduced.

The net income of our taxable REIT subsidiaries (“TRSs”) is not required to be distributed to us, and such undistributed TRS income is generally not subject to our REIT distribution requirements. However, if the accumulation of cash or reinvestment of significant earnings in our TRSs causes the fair market value of our securities in those entities to represent more than 20% of the value of our total assets, as determined for REIT asset testing purposes, we would, absent timely responsive action, fail to remain qualified as a REIT. If we continue our international expansion, our TRS fair market value may cause us to exceed the above thresholds.

Complying with REIT requirements, including the 90% distribution requirement, may limit our flexibility or cause us to forgo otherwise attractive opportunities, including certain discretionary investments and potential financing alternatives.

To remain qualified as a REIT, we are required generally to distribute at least 90% of our REIT taxable income after the utilization of any available NOLs (determined without regard to the dividends paid deduction and excluding net capital gain) each year to our shareholders. Our determination as to the timing or amount of future dividends will be based on a number of factors, including investment opportunities around our core business and the availability of our existing NOLs. To the extent that we satisfy the 90% distribution requirement but distribute less than 100% of our REIT taxable income (after the application of available NOLs, if any), we will be subject to U.S. federal corporate income tax on our undistributed taxable income. In addition, we will be subject to a 4% nondeductible excise tax if the actual amount that we pay out to our shareholders for a calendar year is less than a minimum amount specified under the Code.

From time to time, we may generate REIT taxable income greater than our cash flow as a result of differences in timing between the recognition of taxable income and the actual receipt of cash or the effect of nondeductible capital expenditures, the creation of reserves or required debt or amortization payments. If we do not have other funds available in these situations, we may need to borrow funds, sell assets or raise equity, even if the then-prevailing market conditions are not favorable for these borrowings, sales, or offerings, to enable us to satisfy the REIT distribution requirement and to avoid U.S. federal corporate income tax and the 4% excise tax in a particular year. These alternatives could increase our costs and our leverage, decrease our Adjusted Funds From Operations, or require us to distribute amounts that would otherwise be invested in future acquisitions, new tower builds, or stock repurchases.

Thus, compliance with the REIT requirements may hinder our ability to grow, which could adversely affect the value of our common stock. Furthermore, compliance with the REIT distribution requirements may increase the financing we need to fund capital expenditures, future growth, or expansion initiatives, which would increase our total leverage. 

In addition to the 90% distribution requirement, to remain qualified as a REIT for federal income tax purposes, we must continually satisfy tests concerning, among other things, the nature and diversification of our assets, the sources of our income and the amounts we distribute to our shareholders. Compliance with these tests will require us to refrain from certain activities and may hinder our ability to make certain attractive investments, including the purchase of non-qualifying assets, the expansion of non-real estate activities, or investments in the businesses to be conducted by our TRSs. Furthermore, our ability to compete for acquisition opportunities in domestic and international markets may be adversely affected if we need, or require, the target company to comply with certain REIT requirements. 

Moreover, if we fail to comply with certain asset ownership tests, at the end of any calendar quarter, we must correct the failure within 30 days after the end of the calendar quarter or qualify for certain statutory relief provisions to avoid losing our REIT qualification and suffering adverse tax consequences. As a result, we may be required to liquidate assets in adverse market conditions or forgo otherwise attractive investments.

These actions may have the effect of reducing our income, amounts available for distributions to our shareholders, and amounts available for making payments on our indebtedness.

Covenants specified in our current and future debt instruments may limit our ability to make required REIT distributions.

The mortgage loan agreement related to our securitization transactions, the Senior Credit Agreement, and the indentures governing our 2020 Senior Notes and 2021 Senior Notes contain certain covenants that could limit our ability to make distributions to our shareholders. Under the mortgage loan agreement related to our securitization transactions, a failure to comply with the Debt Service Coverage Ratio in that agreement could prevent our borrower subsidiaries from distributing any excess cash from the operation of their towers to us. In addition, while the Senior Credit Agreement permits our subsidiaries to make distributions to us to satisfy our REIT distribution requirements, this authority is subject to condition that our subsidiaries are not then in default of their payment obligations under the Senior Credit Agreement or that we or any of our subsidiaries have filed an action relating to bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization or relief of debtors. Furthermore, while the indentures governing the 2020 Senior Notes and 2021 Senior Notes permit us to make distributions to our shareholders to the extent such distributions are necessary to maintain our status as a REIT or to avoid entity level taxation, this authority is subject to the conditions that no default or event of default exists or would result therefrom and that the obligations under the 2020 Senior Notes or 2021 Senior Notes, as applicable, have not otherwise been accelerated.

If these limitations prevent us from satisfying our REIT distribution requirements, we could fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT. If these limitations do not jeopardize our qualification for taxation as a REIT but do nevertheless prevent us from distributing 100% of our REIT taxable income, we will be subject to U.S. federal corporate income tax, and potentially the nondeductible 4% excise tax, on the retained amounts.

Our payment of cash distributions in the future is not guaranteed and the amount of any future cash distributions may fluctuate, which could adversely affect the value of our Class A common stock.

REITs are required to distribute annually at least 90% of their REIT taxable income (determined before the deduction for dividends paid and excluding any net capital gain). We may use our NOLs to offset our REIT taxable income, and thus any required distributions to shareholders may be reduced or eliminated until such time as the NOLs have been fully utilized, which may adversely affect the market value of our Class A common stock. The Code places limitations upon the future availability of NOLs based upon changes in our equity. If these occur, our ability to offset future income with existing NOLs may be limited.

The amount of future distributions will be determined, from time to time, by our Board of Directors to balance our goal of increasing long-term shareholder value and retaining sufficient cash to implement our current capital allocation policy, which prioritizes investment in quality assets that meet our return criteria, and then stock repurchases, when we believe our stock price is below its intrinsic value. The actual timing and amount of distributions will be as determined and declared by our Board of Directors and will depend on, among other factors, our NOLs, our financial condition, earnings, debt covenants, and other possible uses of such funds. Consequently, our future distribution levels may fluctuate.

Certain of our business activities may be subject to corporate level income tax and foreign taxes, which would reduce our cash flows, and would have potential deferred and contingent tax liabilities.

We may be subject to certain federal, state, local, and foreign taxes on our income and assets, including alternative minimum taxes, taxes on any undistributed income, and state, local, or foreign income, franchise, property, and transfer taxes. In addition, we could be required, in certain circumstances, to pay an excise or penalty tax, which could be significant in amount, in order to utilize one or more relief provisions under the Code to maintain qualification for taxation as a REIT. In addition, we may incur a 100% excise tax on transactions with a TRS if they are not conducted at an arm’s length basis. Any of these taxes would decrease our earnings and our available cash.

Our TRS assets and operations also will continue to be subject, as applicable, to federal and state corporate income taxes and to foreign taxes in the jurisdictions in which those assets and operations are located. Any of these taxes would decrease our earnings and our available cash.

Risks Related to Ownership of our Class A Common Stock

The REIT-related ownership and transfer restrictions may restrict or prevent our shareholders from engaging in certain transfers of our common stock.

In order for us to satisfy the requirements for REIT qualification, no more than 50% in value of all classes or series of our outstanding shares of stock may be owned, beneficially or constructively, by 5 or fewer individuals (as defined in the Code to include certain entities) at any time during the last half of each taxable year (other than the first year for which an election to be subject to tax as a REIT has been made). In addition, our capital stock must be beneficially owned by 100 or more persons during at least 335 days of a taxable year of 12 months or during a proportionate part of a shorter taxable year (other than the first year for which an election to be taxed as a REIT has been made). Our articles of incorporation contain REIT-related ownership and transfer restrictions that generally restrict shareholders from owning more than 9.8%, by value or number of shares, whichever is more restrictive, of our outstanding shares of Class A common stock, or 9.8% in aggregate value of the outstanding shares of all classes and series of our capital stock. Under applicable constructive ownership rules, any shares of stock owned by certain affiliated owners generally would be added together for purposes of the ownership limits. These ownership and transfer restrictions could have the effect of delaying, deferring, or preventing a transaction or a change in control that might involve a premium price for our capital stock or otherwise be in the best interest of our shareholders.

Our articles of incorporation, our bylaws and Florida law provide for anti-takeover provisions that could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us.

Provisions of our articles of incorporation, our bylaws and Florida law could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us, even if doing so would be beneficial to our shareholders. These provisions, alone or in combination with each other, may discourage transactions involving actual or potential changes of control, including transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices to holders of our Class A common stock, or could limit the ability of our shareholders to approve transactions that they may deem to be in their best interests.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 1C. CYBERSECURITY

Risk Management & Strategy

A cybersecurity threat is any potential unauthorized occurrence, on or conducted through, our information systems that may result in adverse effects on the confidentiality, integrity or availability of our information systems or any information residing therein. We have a comprehensive, cross-functional approach to cybersecurity risk management, driven by our information security management systems and propelled by industry-leading expertise from both our internal information technology security team and top-tier third-party consultants and firms that we engage. Our cyber risk management process is supported by both management and our Board of Directors.

Our cybersecurity risk management strategies represent an integral component of our overall approach to enterprise risk management (“ERM”). Our cybersecurity policies, standards, processes, and practices are fully integrated into our ERM program and based on the recognized National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework. We continuously seek to adopt market-leading standards and procedures to protect our tower infrastructure, data, and carrier, vendor, and consumer information. Key elements of our cybersecurity risk management strategy include:

(1)System Monitoring and Testing. We work collaboratively with third-party industry experts and consultants to conduct regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing from both outside and within our system networks. Our information security team utilizes endpoint software together with technology platforms and applications designed to enable it to monitor user and network behavior and origination points in real time both at our corporate headquarters as well as any of our sites globally. In addition, we conduct quarterly phishing campaign simulations which include notification of the respective Executive Vice President in the event of a failure by an employee in their department.

(2)Threat Identification & Response. Our internal information security team works collaboratively with our external industry consultants to identify threats utilizing analytics and metrics, which are aligned with the MITRE ATT&CK (Adversarial Tactics, Techniques, and Common Knowledge) Framework, and mitigate attacks across various layers of our enterprise systems. We leverage the core functions of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover) to constantly work toward identifying opportunities for further improvement and development of our risk mitigation strategies. We also build upon the principles of the ISO 27001 standard and have achieved ISO 27001:2013 certification for one of our data centers. As part of our response preparedness, our executive management team participates in comprehensive tabletop exercises annually simulating cybersecurity breaches or other incidents which simulate identifying, responding and reporting of such an incident in accordance with our risk management programs.

(3)Defense Procedures & Preparedness. We have established and maintain a data incident response and a business continuity management plan to timely, consistently, and appropriately address cyber threats that may occur despite our safeguards. The response plan is global in scope and covers the major phases of the incident response process, including preparation, detection and analysis, containment and investigation, notification (which may include timely notice to our Board if deemed material or appropriate), eradication and recovery, and incident closure and post-incident analysis. Our response plan is reviewed annually, regularly tested, and updated based on developments in the industry. Our business continuity management system includes targets and objectives, impact analyses and risk assessments, exercise and testing, training and awareness, documentation and standards for data centers and servers.

(4)Outside Consultants & Industry Experts. In addition to the broad capabilities of our internal information security team, we also engage various outside consultants, including contractors, security firms, auditors, and other third-party subject matter experts, to among other things, conduct regular testing of our networks and systems to identify vulnerabilities through penetration testing, while also measuring and advising on potential improvements to our cybersecurity programs. We are also members of recognized global industry organizations such as the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), International Information System Security Certification Consortium (ISC), and International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).

(5)Third-Party Risk Assessments. We maintain a comprehensive risk-based approach to identifying and overseeing potential cybersecurity risks presented by third parties, including our vendors and service providers. We have a dedicated information technology vendor management team that reports to our Chief Information Officer (“CIO”). We conduct initial and regular cybersecurity assessments of third-party vendors that we engage with in our operations and their information security policies and systems in order to identify, evaluate, and address potential vulnerabilities.

(6)Team Member Education & Awareness. We remain dedicated to fostering an internal culture of cybersecurity, where all of our team members are trained to identify, respond, and report potential cybersecurity threats that may arise. New hires are required to participate in cybersecurity onboarding training, and current employees are responsible for completing mandatory cybersecurity training annually and phishing awareness training quarterly. Our leadership team participates in advanced, targeted cybersecurity training and exercises to ensure additional security. Our leadership team also participates in table-top exercises and trainings tailored to specific business units. For example, most recently our internal audit and finance teams participated in a successful table-top exercise which simulated cyber-attacks on our payroll and financial systems. All of our table-top exercises are facilitated by a third-party.

As part of our cybersecurity risk management strategy, each cyber threat is evaluated for materiality and escalated based upon evaluation of the potential severity and risk impact on our operations. We have not experienced a material cybersecurity breach in the past three years. As such, we have not incurred any material expenses from cybersecurity breaches or any expenses from penalties or settlements related to a cybersecurity breach during that time. For more information regarding cybersecurity-related risks that could materially affect our business strategies, results of operations, or financial condition, please see Item 1A in this Form 10-K under the headings “Information technology disruptions, including as a result of cybersecurity breaches, could compromise our information, which would cause our business and reputation to suffer.”

Governance & Personnel

Our Board believes a robust cybersecurity strategy is vital to protect our business, customers, and assets. The Board has delegated to the Audit Committee responsibility for oversight and review of our cybersecurity and other information technology and data privacy risk management program, controls, strategies, and procedures. The Audit Committee periodically evaluates our cybersecurity strategies to ensure effectiveness and, if appropriate, includes a review from third-party experts. In addition, our Board also may review and assess cybersecurity risks as part of its responsibilities for general risk oversight. Additionally, the Audit Committee has established a subcommittee to evaluate cybersecurity incidents, if any, and determine the Company’s disclosure obligations in light of such incidents.

Our CIO reports to the Audit Committee at every regularly scheduled meeting (or more frequently, as needed) to discuss cybersecurity risk exposure and risk management strategy. Our CIO has over 25 years of experience in the information technology and security industry with global organizations.

Our executive leadership team, which includes our CIO, reviews and manages implementation of our cybersecurity strategy and programs through regularly scheduled meetings.

Our information security team, led by our CIO and Senior Director, IT Security and Compliance, has over 75 years of collective cybersecurity experience and maintains numerous active industry-recognized cyber certifications, such as Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), and Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA). Our information security team undertakes a variety of measures in the daily monitoring and management of cybersecurity risks across our business. For example, the information security team monitors our technology infrastructure with tools designed to detect suspicious behavior and decrypt VPN traffic on our systems globally. The information security team conducts regular internal and external audits with third-party cybersecurity experts to identify and evaluate potential weaknesses in its cybersecurity systems. Some of these third-party monitoring functions continue throughout the year while other third-party security experts are periodically retained to audit specific areas of our cybersecurity program. In addition, our information security team works with our internal audit function to monitor reporting and escalation of cybersecurity incident reports from across our business. Our information security team also works with our Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel on our data privacy program, including with respect to the preservation and protection of the integrity and confidentiality of our data and systems.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

We own our headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida where we currently have approximately 160,000 square feet of office space. We also own or have entered into long-term leases for international and regional locations convenient for the management and operation of our site leasing activities, and in certain site development office locations where we expect our activities to be longer-term. We believe our existing facilities are adequate for our current and planned levels of operations and that additional office space suited for our needs is reasonably available in the markets within which we operate.

Our interests in towers and the land beneath them are comprised of a variety of fee interests, leasehold interests created by long-term lease agreements, perpetual easements, easements, licenses, rights-of-way, right-of-use, and other similar interests. As of December 31, 2024, approximately 72% of our tower structures were located on parcels of land that we own, land subject to perpetual easements, or parcels of land that have an interest that extends beyond 20 years. The average remaining life under our ground leases and other property interests, including renewal options under our control, is 36 years. In rural areas, support for our towers, equipment shelters, and related equipment requires a tract of land typically up to 10,000 square feet. Less than 2,500 square feet is required for a monopole or self-supporting tower of the kind typically used in metropolitan areas for wireless communications towers. Ground leases and other property interests are generally for an initial term of five years or more with multiple renewal periods, for a total of 30 years or more.

Most of our towers have significant capacity available for additional antennas. We measure the available capacity of our existing facilities to support additional tenants and generate additional lease revenue by assessing several factors, including tower height, tower type, wind loading, environmental conditions, existing equipment on the tower and zoning and permitting regulations in effect in the jurisdiction where the tower is located. As of December 31, 2024, we had an average of 1.9 tenants per site.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

We are involved in various legal proceedings relating to claims arising in the ordinary course of business. We do not believe that the ultimate resolution of these matters will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, or liquidity.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE ITEM 5.

Not Applicable.

 PART II

MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Market for our Class A Common Stock

Our Class A common stock commenced trading under the symbol “SBAC” on The NASDAQ National Market System on June 16, 1999. We trade on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, a segment of the NASDAQ Global Market.

As of February 14, 2025, there were 270 record holders of our Class A common stock.

Dividends

As a REIT, we are required to distribute annually at least 90% of our REIT taxable income after the utilization of any available NOLs (determined before the deduction for dividends paid and excluding any net capital gain). As of December 31, 2024, $337.7 million of the federal NOLs are attributes of the REIT. We may use these NOLs to offset our REIT taxable income, and thus any required distributions to shareholders may be reduced or eliminated until such time as our NOLs have been fully utilized or expired. The amount of future distributions will be determined, from time to time, by our Board of Directors to balance our goal of increasing long-term shareholder value and retaining sufficient cash to implement our current capital allocation policy, which prioritizes investment in quality assets that meet our return criteria, and then stock repurchases when we believe our stock price is below its intrinsic value. The actual amount, timing, and frequency of future dividends, will be at the sole discretion of our Board of Directors and will be declared based upon various factors, many of which are beyond our control.

 ITEM 6. RESERVED

 ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the information contained in our consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto. The following discussion includes forward-looking statements that involve certain risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those described in Item 1A. Risk Factors. Our actual results may differ materially from those discussed below. See “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and Item 1A. Risk Factors.

We are a leading independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure, including tower structures, rooftops, and other structures that support antennas used for wireless communications, which we collectively refer to as “towers” or “sites.” Our principal operations are in the United States and its territories. In addition, we own and operate towers in South America, Central America, Canada, and Africa. On January 10, 2025, we sold all of our towers and ended our operations in the Philippines and on February 20, 2025, we entered into an agreement to sell all of our towers and related assets held in Colombia. Our primary business line is our site leasing business, which contributed 98.4% of our total segment operating profit for the year ended December 31, 2024. In our site leasing business, we (1) lease space to wireless service providers and other customers on assets that we own or operate and (2) manage rooftop and tower sites for property owners under various contractual arrangements. As of December 31, 2024, we owned 39,749 towers, a substantial portion of which have been built by us or built by other tower owners or operators who, like us, have built such towers to lease space to multiple wireless service providers. Our other business line is our site development business, through which we assist wireless service providers in developing and maintaining their own wireless service networks.

Site Leasing

Our primary focus is the leasing of antenna space on our multi-tenant towers to a variety of wireless service providers under long-term lease contracts in the United States, South America, Central America, Canada, and Africa. As of December 31, 2024, no U.S. state or territory accounted for more than 10% of our total tower portfolio by tower count, and no U.S. state or territory accounted for more than 10% of our total revenues for the year ended December 31, 2024. In addition, as of December 31, 2024, approximately 30% of our total towers are located in Brazil and no other international market (each country is considered a market) represented more than 5% of our total towers.

We derive site leasing revenues primarily from wireless service provider tenants. Wireless service providers enter into either (1) standalone individual tenant site leases with us, each of which relates to the lease or use of space at an individual site, or (2) master lease agreements (“MLA”) with us, which provide for the material terms and conditions that will apply to multiple sites; although, in most cases, each individual site under a MLA is also governed by its own site leasing agreement which sets forth pricing and other site specific terms.

Our tenant leases are generally for an initial term of five years to fifteen years with multiple renewal periods at the option of the tenant. Our tenant leases typically either (1) contain specific annual rent escalators, (2) escalate annually in accordance with an inflationary index, or (3) escalate using a combination of fixed and inflation adjusted escalators. In addition, our international site leases may include pass-through charges, such as rent related to ground leases and other property interests, utilities, property taxes, and fuel.

Cost of site leasing revenue primarily consists of:

•Cash and non-cash rental expense on ground leases, right-of-use, and other underlying property interests;

•Property taxes;

•Site maintenance and monitoring costs (exclusive of employee related costs);

•Utilities;

•Property insurance;

•Fuel (in those international markets that do not have an available electric grid at our tower sites); and

•Lease initial direct cost amortization.

Ground leases and other property interests are generally for an initial term of five years or more with multiple renewal periods, which are at our option. Our ground leases either (1) contain specific annual rent escalators, or (2) escalate annually in accordance with an inflationary index. As of December 31, 2024, approximately 72% of our tower structures were located on parcels of land that we own, land subject to perpetual easements, or parcels of land in which we have a leasehold interest that extends beyond 20 years. For any given tower, costs are relatively fixed over a monthly or an annual time period. As such, operating costs for owned towers do not generally increase as a result of adding additional customers to the tower. The amount of property taxes varies from site to site depending on the taxing jurisdiction and the height and age of the tower. The ongoing maintenance requirements are typically minimal and include replacing lighting systems, painting a tower, or upgrading or repairing an access road or fencing.

In Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panama, significantly all of our revenue, expenses, and capital expenditures arising from our activities are denominated in U.S. dollars. Specifically, most of our ground leases and other property interests, tenant leases, and tower-related expenses are paid in U.S. dollars. In most of our Central American markets, our local currency obligations are principally limited to (1) permitting and other local fees, (2) utilities, and (3) taxes. In Brazil, Canada, Chile, and South Africa, significantly all of our revenue, expenses, and capital expenditures, including tenant leases, ground leases and other property interests, and other tower-related expenses are denominated in local currency. In Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, and Tanzania, our revenue, expenses, and capital expenditures, including tenant leases, ground leases and other property interests, and other tower-related expenses are denominated in a mix of local currency and U.S. dollars.

As indicated in the table below, our site leasing business generates substantially all of our total segment operating profit. For information regarding our operating segments, see Note 15 of our Consolidated Financial Statements included in this annual report.

We believe that the site leasing business continues to be attractive due to its long-term contracts, built-in rent escalators, high operating margins, and low customer churn (which refers to a lease that is non-renewed, cancelled, or discounted prior to the end of its term) other than in connection with customer consolidation or cessations of specific technology. We believe that over the long-term, site leasing revenues will continue to grow as wireless service providers lease additional antenna space on our towers due to increasing minutes of network use and data transfer, network expansion, and network coverage requirements.

During 2025, we expect core leasing revenue in both our domestic and international segments to increase over 2024 levels, on a currency neutral basis, due in part to wireless carriers deploying unused spectrum, the full year impact of towers acquired and built during 2024, and the revenues from towers expected to be acquired and built during 2025. We believe our site leasing business is characterized by stable and long-term recurring revenues, predictable operating costs, and minimal non-discretionary capital expenditures. Due to the nature and mix of our tower portfolio, we expect future expenditures required to maintain these towers to be minimal. Consequently, we expect to grow our cash flows by (1) adding tenants to our towers at minimal incremental costs by using existing tower capacity or requiring wireless service providers to bear all or a portion of the cost of tower modifications and (2) executing monetary amendments as wireless service providers add or upgrade their equipment. Furthermore, because our towers are strategically positioned, we have historically experienced low tenant lease terminations as a percentage of revenue other than in connection with customer consolidation or cessations of a specific technology.

Site Development

Our site development business, which is conducted in the United States only, is complementary to our site leasing business and provides us the ability to keep in close contact with the wireless service providers who generate substantially all of our site leasing revenue and to capture ancillary revenues that are generated by our site leasing activities, such as antenna and equipment installation at our tower locations. Site development revenues are earned primarily from providing a full range of end-to-end services to wireless service providers or companies providing development or project management services to wireless service providers. Our services include: (1) network pre-design; (2) site audits; (3) identification of potential locations for towers and antennas on existing infrastructure; (4) support in leasing of the location; (5) assistance in obtaining zoning approvals and permits; (6) tower and related site construction; (7) antenna installation; and (8) radio equipment installation, commissioning, and maintenance. We provide site development services at our towers and at towers owned by others on a local basis, through regional, market, and project offices. The market offices are responsible for all site development operations.

For information regarding our operating segments, see Note 15 of our Consolidated Financial Statements in this annual report.

Capital Allocation Strategy

Our capital allocation strategy is aimed at increasing shareholder value through investment in quality assets that meet our return criteria, stock repurchases when we believe our stock price is below its intrinsic value, and by returning cash generated by our operations in the form of cash dividends. In addition, in a high interest rate environment and when we believe interest rates may stay higher for longer, we believe that debt repayments, especially of our variable rate debt, may be an accretive use of our excess capital. While the addition of cash dividends and debt repayments have provided us with additional tools to return value to our shareholders, we continue to believe that our priority is to make investments focused on increasing Adjusted Funds From Operations per share. Key elements of our capital allocation strategy include:

Portfolio Growth. We intend to continue to grow our asset portfolio, domestically and internationally, primarily through tower acquisitions and the construction of new towers that meet our internal return on invested capital criteria.

Stock Repurchase Program. We currently utilize stock repurchases as part of our capital allocation policy when we believe our share price is below its intrinsic value. We believe that share repurchases, when purchased at the right price, will facilitate our goal of increasing our Adjusted Funds From Operations per share.

Dividend. Cash dividends are an additional component of our strategy of returning value to shareholders. We do not expect our dividend to require any changes in our leverage and believe that, due to our low dividend payout ratio, we can continue to focus on building and buying quality assets and opportunistically buying back our stock. While the timing and amount of future dividends will be subject to approval by our Board of Directors, we believe that our future cash flow generation will permit us to grow our cash dividend in the future.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

We have identified the policies and significant estimation processes below as critical to our business operations and the understanding of our results of operations. The listing is not intended to be a comprehensive list. In many cases, the accounting treatment of a particular transaction is specifically dictated by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, with no need for management’s judgment in their application. In other cases, management is required to exercise judgment in the application of accounting principles with respect to particular transactions. The impact and any associated risks related to these policies on our business operations is discussed throughout “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” where such policies affect reported and expected financial results. For a detailed discussion on the application of these and other accounting policies, see Note 2 of our Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2024. Our preparation of our financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amount of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of our financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting periods. Management bases its estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. There can be no assurance that actual results will not differ from those estimates and such differences could be significant.

During the first quarter of 2024, we completed our assessment on the remaining estimated useful lives of our towers and intangible assets. We concluded through our assessment that, for U.S. GAAP purposes, we should modify our current estimates for asset lives based on our historical operating experience and the findings obtained by our independent consultant. We previously depreciated our towers on a straight-line basis over the shorter of the (i) term of the underlying ground lease (including renewal options) taking into account residual value or (ii) estimated useful life of a tower, which we had historically estimated to be 15 years. Based on our assessment, we revised the estimated useful lives of our towers and certain related intangible assets (which are amortized on a similar basis to our tower assets, as their useful lives correlate to the useful life of the towers) from 15 years to 30 years, effective January 1, 2024. We accounted for the change in estimated useful lives as a change in estimate under ASC 250 “Accounting Changes and Error Corrections.” The impact of the change in estimate was accounted for prospectively effective January 1, 2024, resulting in a reduction in depreciation and amortization expense of approximately $411.5 million ($372.5 million after tax, or an increase of $3.45 per diluted share) for the year ended December 31, 2024. There have been no other material changes to our significant accounting policies during the year ended December 31, 2024.

Revenue Recognition and Accounts Receivable

Site leasing revenues

Revenue from site leasing is recognized on a straight-line basis over the current term of the related lease agreements, which are generally five years to fifteen years. Receivables recorded related to the straight-lining of site leases are reflected in other assets on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. Rental amounts received in advance are recorded as deferred revenue on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. Revenue from site leasing represents 94% of our total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2024.

Site development revenues

Site development projects in which we perform consulting services include contracts on a fixed price basis that are billed at contractual rates. Revenue is recognized over time based on milestones achieved, which are determined based on costs incurred. Amounts billed in advance (collected or uncollected) are recorded as deferred revenue on our Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Revenue from construction projects is recognized over time, determined by the percentage of cost incurred to date compared to management’s estimated total cost for each contract. This method is used because management considers total cost to be the best available measure of progress on the contracts. These amounts are based on estimates, and the uncertainty inherent in the estimates initially is reduced as work on the contracts nears completion. Refer to Note 5 in our Consolidated Financial Statements included in this annual report for further detail of costs and estimated earnings in excess of billings on uncompleted contracts. Provisions for estimated losses on uncompleted contracts are made in the period in which such losses are determined to be probable.

The site development segment represents approximately 6% of our total revenues for the year ended December 31, 2024. We account for site development revenue in accordance with ASC 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers. Payment terms do not result in any significant financing arrangements. Furthermore, these contracts do not typically include variable consideration; therefore, the transaction price that is recognized over time is generally the amount of the total contract.

Accounts receivable

The accounts receivable balance for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 was $145.7 million and $182.7 million, respectively, of which $26.4 million and $32.3 million related to the site development segment, respectively. We perform periodic credit evaluations of our customers. In addition, we monitor collections and payments from our customers and maintain a provision for estimated credit losses based upon historical experience, specific customer collection issues identified, and past due balances as determined based on contractual terms. Interest is charged on outstanding receivables from customers on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the terms of the respective contracts or agreements with those customers. Amounts determined to be uncollectible are written off against the allowance for doubtful accounts in the period in which uncollectibility is determined to be probable. Refer to Note 15 in our Consolidated Financial Statements included in this annual report for further detail of the site development segment.

Lease Accounting

ASC 842, Leases, requires all lessees to recognize a right-of-use asset and a lease liability, initially measured at the present value of the lease payments. We have elected not to separate nonlease components from the associated lease component for all underlying classes of assets. In order to calculate our lease liability, we make certain assumptions related to lease term and discount rate. To determine the lease term, we consider all renewal periods that are reasonably certain to be exercised, taking into consideration all economic factors, including the communications site’s estimated economic life and the respective lease terms of our tenants under the existing lease arrangements on such site.

For the discount rate, we use the rate implicit in the lease when available to discount lease payments to present value. However, our ground leases and other property interests generally do not provide a readily determinable implicit rate. Therefore, we estimate the incremental borrowing rate to discount lease payments based on the lease term and lease currency. We use publicly available data for instruments with similar characteristics when calculating our incremental borrowing rates. Refer to Note 2 in our Consolidated Financial Statements included in this annual report for further discussion on lease accounting.

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

This report presents our financial results and other financial metrics on a GAAP basis and, with respect to our international and consolidated results, after eliminating the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates. We believe that providing these financial results and metrics on a constant currency basis, which are non-GAAP measures, gives management and investors the ability to evaluate the performance of our business without the impact of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. We eliminate the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates by dividing the current period’s financial results by the average monthly exchange rates of the prior year period, as well as by eliminating the impact of realized and unrealized gains and losses on our intercompany loans.

Year Ended 2024 Compared to Year Ended 2023

Revenues and Segment Operating Profit:

Revenues

Domestic site leasing revenues increased $14.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the prior year, primarily due to (1) organic site leasing growth, primarily from monetary lease amendments (due in part to our 2023 MLA with AT&T) and additional equipment added to our towers as well as new leases and contractual rent escalators and (2) revenues from 130 towers acquired and 39 towers built since January 1, 2023, partially offset by lease non-renewals.

International site leasing revenues decreased $5.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the prior year. On a constant currency basis, international site leasing revenues increased $32.5 million. These changes were primarily due to (1) lease early termination fees, (2) organic site leasing growth from new leases, amendments, and contractual escalators, and (3) revenues from 147 towers acquired and 783 towers built since January 1, 2023, partially offset by lease non-renewals and a decrease in reimbursable pass-through expenses. Site leasing revenue in Brazil represented 15.0% of total site leasing revenue for the period. No other individual international market represented more than 5% of our total site leasing revenue.

Site development revenues decreased $41.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the prior year, as a result of decreased carrier activity.

Operating Profit

Domestic site leasing segment operating profit increased $14.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the prior year, primarily due to higher domestic site leasing revenue as noted above, partially offset by the incremental costs associated with towers acquired and built since January 1, 2023.

International site leasing segment operating profit increased $5.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the prior year. On a constant currency basis, international site leasing segment operating profit increased $31.8 million. These changes were primarily due to higher international site leasing revenues as noted above, partially offset by the incremental costs associated with towers acquired and built since January 1, 2023.

Site development segment operating profit decreased $20.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the prior year, as a result of decreased carrier activity.

Selling, General, and Administrative Expenses:

Selling, general, and administrative expenses decreased $9.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the prior year. On a constant currency basis, selling, general, and administrative expenses decreased $6.2 million. These changes were driven primarily by a decrease in non-cash compensation expense as well as the $3.1 million Oi reserve recorded in 2023, partially offset by an increase in personnel, and other support related costs.

Acquisition and New Business Initiatives Related Adjustments and Expenses:

Acquisition and new business initiatives related adjustments and expenses increased $4.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the prior year. On a constant currency basis, acquisition and new business initiatives related adjustments and expenses increased $4.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. These changes were primarily as a result of an increase in our third party acquisition and integration costs as well as higher new business initiative activity as compared to the prior year.

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Asset Impairment and Decommission Costs:

Domestic site leasing asset impairment and decommission costs decreased $88.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the prior year. This change was primarily as a result of a decrease in impairment charges resulting from our regular analysis of whether the future cash flows from certain towers are adequate to recover the carrying value of the investment in those towers and a decrease in tower and equipment related decommission costs. The prior year included increased impairment charges resulting from the planned abandonment of identified sites with minimal expectations of future economic benefit (primarily from Sprint churn).

International site leasing asset impairment and decommission costs increased $28.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the prior year. On a constant currency basis, international site leasing asset impairment and decommission costs increased $32.7 million. These changes were primarily as a result of an increase in impairment charges resulting from our regular analysis of whether the future cash flows from certain towers are adequate to recover the carrying value of the investment in those towers and an increase in tower decommission costs.

Depreciation, Accretion, and Amortization Expenses:

Depreciation, accretion, and amortization expense decreased $446.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the prior year. On a constant currency basis, depreciation, accretion, and amortization expense decreased $440.9 million. These changes were primarily due to the change in estimated useful lives of our towers and certain related intangible assets from our historical estimate of 15 years to a revised estimate of 30 years (effective January 1, 2024) and the impact of assets that became fully depreciated since the prior year period, partially offset by an increase in the number of towers we acquired and built since January 1, 2023.

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Operating Income (Expense):

Domestic site leasing operating income increased $400.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the prior year, primarily due to decreases in depreciation, accretion, and amortization expense and asset impairment and decommission costs and higher segment operating profit, partially offset by increases in selling, general, and administrative expenses and acquisition and new business initiatives related adjustments and expenses.

International site leasing operating income increased $113.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the prior year. On a constant currency basis, international site leasing operating income increased $126.9 million. These changes were primarily due to a decrease in depreciation, accretion, and amortization expense and higher segment operating profit, partially offset by an increase in asset impairment and decommission costs.

Site development operating income decreased $12.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the prior year, primarily due to lower segment operating profit driven by less carrier activity, partially offset by a decrease in selling, general, and administrative expenses.

Other operating expense decreased $11.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to the prior year, primarily due to decreases in selling, general, and administrative expenses and asset impairment and decommission costs.

Other Income (Expense):