Crown Castle on Thursday announced that it has agreed to pay US$1 billion in cash for Sunesys, which owns or holds rights to almost 10,000 miles of fibre network in major metropolitan areas in the U.S.
The move will help towers and infrastructure specialist Crown Castle boost its position in the small cells market, as well as expanding its presence in key metro markets. Sunesys’ network coverage areas include LA, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, Silicon Valley and northern New Jersey, it said.
"The Sunesys fibre assets are both complementary to our existing footprint and located where we expect to see significant investment by wireless c arriers," said Crown Castle CEO Ben Moreland.
"Based on current small cell activity, including awarded and proposed small cell deployments, we have visibility into more than 3,500 small cell opportunities on or near the Sunesys fibre," he added. "Given the seemingly limitless consumer demand for mobile data and the wireless carriers’ need to meet such demand, we believe there is a significant opportunity for us to grow small cells well beyond the activity we see today."
Crown Castle said the deal will more than double its fibre footprint for addressing the small cells market.
At present, it owns or has rights to 7,000 miles of fibre supporting around 14,000 nodes, which contribute 7% to its site rental revenues and gross margin.
The firm expects the deal to close by the end of the year.
