Comcast majority-owned CTI Towers has acquired 120 towers from Vyve Broadband in what could be another signal it intends to move into wireless. The towers’ tenants include all four national wireless carriers.
Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) majority-owned CTI Towers has acquired 120 towers from Vyve Broadband in what could be another signal it intends to move into wireless.
Boston-based CTI said in a statement that the towers’ tenants include national wireless carriers Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile US and Sprint as well as broadcasters, utility companies and government entities. The deal value was not disclosed.
Comcast, which owns the CTI stake via its Silicon Valley-based venture capital arm Comcast Ventures, has been seeking out growth opportunities since abandoning its takeover of Time Warner Cable, now set to be bought by rival Charter Communications, in April. In late October, the cable giant’s chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said during an earnings call that the company planned to trial a wireless service after activating an agreement with Verizon Wireless to use its network. He was, however, unclear about the timing of the trial.
Commenting on the CTI deal, Comcast Ventures managing director David Zilberman (pictured) said he was “excited for the company’s strong and growing portfolio”.
CTI said the deal expands its footprint into Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas and Wyoming, describing it as its largest single tower transaction.
CTI CEO Tony Peduto noted that the company has been helping Vyve with its tower leasing for the past year and added that the company looks forward to reaching out to all carriers and service providers in its new markets.
Established with an investment from Comcast Ventures in 2011, CTI says it owns and manages more than 500 towers in 39 states.
On the October conference call, Roberts said the company planned “to trial some things and test some things” after it activates the agreement with Verizon, adding “it is an opportunity to take the network and the investments we made, the successful investments that we have made, and try and see if we can continue relationships and product information that the team is working on.”
He said the company considers wireless “an important area” for consumers and that it has seen “incredible success” with its Wi-Fi network.
Comcast’s Q3 revenues were up 11.2% year-on-year to US$18.7bn. The Cable Communications unit generated revenues of US$11.7bn, up 6.3% year-on-year, which Comcast said was driven by increases of 10.2% in high-speed internet, 19.5% in business services and 3.3% in video.
