Community capability will probably be required to double within the subsequent few years with a view to address 5G adoption and AI demand, reckons American Tower – as its revenues rise on new 5G infrastructure investments
In sum – what to know:
Information to double – American Tower chief Steven Vondran reckons progress in 5G, FWA and AI would require a doubling of wi-fi community capability this decade.
New markets – Europe is seeing sturdy newbuild exercise, whereas rising markets stay 4G-led however are accelerating 5G rollouts in key metros.
2026 outlook – The corporate guides property revenues of $10.44–$10.59 billion and internet earnings of $2.94–$3.02 billion for 2026.
American Tower Company expects sustained income progress as rising cellular knowledge consumption, 5G growth, and future 6G deployments drive extra community funding, the agency’s president and chief exceutive, Steven Vondran, advised traders in the course of the firm’s earnings name. “The spine of our income progress is cellular knowledge consumption, which continues to develop quickly alongside progress in cellular clients, 5G adoption, and stuck wi-fi entry,” he mentioned.
He added: “This secular demand progress is anticipated to require a doubling in wi-fi community capability between now and 2030.” Vondran additionally pointed to the potential affect of AI on community demand. “On high of this, with trillions of {dollars} being deployed into AI, it’s possible that new AI functions will propel cellular knowledge consumption even increased and require larger bandwidth, decrease latency, and extra uplink capability than at present’s typical utilization,” the manager mentioned.
Within the U.S., American Tower sees carriers transferring deeper into the 5G funding cycle. “In our largest tower market, the U.S., carriers are within the center levels of the 5G cycle, the place they broadly accomplished their preliminary 5G coverage-oriented exercise and are shifting towards capacity-oriented exercise,” Vondran mentioned. “We anticipate carriers will densify their networks not solely to fulfill the capability calls for of 5G, but additionally to plan forward for the 6G cycle.”
Exterior the U.S., Vondran described related demand patterns. “Internationally, we see parallel tendencies of rising knowledge consumption driving sturdy community funding,” he mentioned. “In our European market, 5G progress lagged barely behind the U.S. and robust demand for brand new websites is prompting thrilling ranges of newbuild exercise with top-tier carriers,” he added.
“In our rising markets, 4G-related exercise continues to dominate, however we see growing ranges of 5G rollouts in key metros with vital runway for progress,” Vondran mentioned. “We proceed to count on our worldwide tower portfolio to ship quicker natural progress within the U.S. as our much less mature portfolios lease up over time.”
American Tower ended the fourth quarter of 2025 with a portfolio of roughly 150,000 communications websites. The corporate reported general revenues of $2.73 billion for the final quarter of 2025, surging 7.5% year-on-year. American Tower’s earnings for the interval amounted to $837 million, down 32% in comparison with the fourth quarter of 2025.
For the complete yr, American Tower recorded revenues of $10.64 billion, up 5.1% year-on-year. Annual earnings reached $2.63 billion, surging 15.3% year-on-year. Through the fourth quarter of 2025, whole capital expenditures had been roughly $592 million. For the complete yr 2025, whole capital expenditures had been roughly $1.7 billion
For full 2026, the corporate mentioned it anticipated its property revenues to succeed in $10.44-10.59 billion. American Tower Company additionally expects its internet earnings for the yr to be within the vary of $2.94-3.02 billion.
