Crown Castle Shares Rise More Than 7% on Report of 80,000 Cell Sites Target
Key Facts
Crown Castle shares jumped more than 7% by 05:45 ET on October 23, after a report said SpaceX is seeking to secure at least 80,000 cell sites in the United States. Investing.com, citing Bloomberg, reported that the company is in talks with at least one major cell infrastructure company, including Crown Castle. The discussions concern potential access to existing sites, and the report does not say a contract or final agreement has been reached. The move comes as SpaceX seeks to expand its presence in wireless communications services. Investors have also turned their attention to tower companies whose sites could be part of the effort.
Crown Castle CEO Chris Hillabrant did not confirm details of the discussions with SpaceX during the company's earnings call on Wednesday, but pointed to the breadth of its outreach. "You can assume that we are talking to all parties," he said, adding that the company would not discuss details involving specific customers. The response reflects the company's willingness to engage with multiple parties, without confirming an agreement with SpaceX. The report said potential agreements could strengthen the company's path to building a fourth U.S. wireless carrier. Such agreements could be worth billions of dollars, according to the report, but that remains tied to talks whose outcome has not been announced.
SpaceX's target of 80,000 sites is about half of the 158,500 dedicated cell towers operating in the United States during the previous year, according to data the report attributed to the Wireless Infrastructure Association. Crown Castle operates about 40,000 U.S. towers, making it one of the market's larger infrastructure companies. Its competitors also have large portfolios: American Tower owns about 42,000 sites in the United States, while private company Vertical Bridge owns about 18,000 sites, according to Reuters. These figures put SpaceX's sought access in context, without implying that the targeted sites will be made available to it or that the talks involve every operator. Providing sites is also different from building a fully operational national network.
The news also affected sector stocks in early trading. Alongside Crown Castle's gain of more than 7%, American Tower shares rose 6% by 05:45 ET, while Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile shares each fell more than 3%. In late trading on October 22, Crown Castle shares rose as much as 10% after the Bloomberg report, while shares of the three telecom companies fell about 5%. These moves reflect two separate points in time in the market's reaction and should not be combined into a single measure of the gain. The comparison reflected possible investor interest in tower owners, against pressure on incumbent telecom companies.
Building a national terrestrial network would involve substantial requirements beyond access to towers. TD Cowen analysts estimated that a network of this kind could cost more than $80 billion, take years and require billions of dollars in additional spending. In a move tied to expanding satellite phone services, SpaceX on October 8 agreed to acquire a portfolio of low-band spectrum covering the United States, but the deal remains subject to approval by the Federal Communications Commission. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the deal could open the door to more investment and opportunities for service providers. Verizon spokesman said, however, that spectrum alone is not enough without a network to use it: "This company can own abundant spectrum, but if it doesn't have the network to use it, that won't matter."
The market jump came against the backdrop of mixed quarterly results from Crown Castle. The company said site rental revenue was $966 million in the third quarter of 2026, down 5% from $1,012 million in the same period of 2025, while net income fell 12% to $283 million from $323 million. But adjusted funds from operations per share rose 11% to $1.24 from $1.12 a year earlier. The company attributed the increase in this measure to lower interest expense and a reduced share count following the sale of its fiber and small-cell businesses. It also said organic billing growth was 3.8% excluding Dish revenue from the comparison base, versus comparable growth of 4.1% in the third quarter of 2025.
Crown Castle raised the midpoint of its 2026 site rental revenue forecast to $3,875 million, from $3,855 million in its forecast issued on July 22. It also raised the midpoint of its adjusted funds available for distribution forecast to $1,980 million from $1,975 million. The company said contractual extensions are expected to increase revenue recognized on a straight-line basis by $20 million, contributing the same amount to the increase in the midpoint of its site rental revenue forecast. The CEO said the company completed an agreement with a major customer during the third quarter, while focusing on operational efficiency, systems upgrades and increasing land ownership beneath its towers. The company's shares closed at $78.83 on October 22, before the moves that followed reports of SpaceX talks.