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American Tower Corporation (also referred to as American Tower or ATC) is an American
American Tower Corporation (also referred to as American Tower or ATC) is an American real estate investment trust
A real estate investment trust (REIT, pronounced "reet") is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of real estate, including office and apartment buildings, studios, warehouses, hos ...
which owns, develops and operates wireless and broadcast communications infrastructure in several countries. It is headquartered in Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
.
the company owns 148,957 communications sites, including 42,222 sites in the U.S. and Canada, 26,642 sites in Asia-Pacific and Africa, 31,786 sites in Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
, and 48,307 sites in Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
.
History
The company was formed in 1995 as a unit ofAmerican Radio Systems
American Radio Systems Corporation was a radio company that existed from 1993 until 1998. Its predecessor, Atlantic Ventures, was founded by Steven B. Dodge, Eric Schultz, Joseph Winn, and Michael Milsom. American Radio Systems was formed from ...
. In 1998, American Radio Systems merged with CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation was an American multinational media company with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing and television production. It was split from Viacom on December 31, 2005, alongside an entirely new Viacom; both ...
and spun off of American Tower. Its first CEO was Steven B. Dodge, remaining in the position until resigning in 2004. Following the merger, American Tower began international expansion by establishing operations in Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
, in 1998, then in Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
, in 1999.
Around 2000, the company began purchasing numerous AT&T Long Lines
AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...
microwave telephone
A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...
relay towers from the since defunct AT&T Communications, Inc., and repurposing them as cell towers
A cell site, cell phone tower, cell base tower, or cellular base station is a cellular-enabled mobile device site where antennas and electronic communications equipment are placed (typically on a radio mast, tower, or other raised structure) ...
. American Tower also leased antenna space to various U.S. cell phone providers and to private industries. Most of the former AT&T Long Lines sites had their horn antenna
A horn antenna or microwave horn is an antenna (radio), antenna that consists of a flaring metal waveguide shaped like a horn (acoustic), horn to direct radio waves in a beam. Horns are widely used as antennas at Ultrahigh frequency, UHF and m ...
s removed, either by helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...
or by crane, to make room for more antennas. Since AT&T's Long Lines Program was decommissioned in the 1980s, and the company no longer had any use for the towers themselves, American Tower now owns most of these tower structures across the U.S., totaling 42,965 in 2022.
In 2004 James D. Taiclet was named CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization.
CEOs find roles in variou ...
and held the title until 2020.
In 2005, American Tower acquired SpectraSite Communications
American Tower Corporation (also referred to as American Tower or ATC) is an American real estate investment trust which owns, develops and operates wireless and broadcast communications infrastructure in several countries. It is headquartered ...
, expanding its global portfolio to over 22,000 owned communications sites, including over 21,000 wireless towers, 400 broadcast towers and 100 in-building DAS (Distributed Antenna System
A distributed antenna system (DAS) is a network of spatially separated Antenna (radio), antenna nodes connected to a common source via a transport medium that provides wireless service within a geographic area or structure. DAS antenna elevati ...
) sites. The merger helped establish the company as one of the largest tower owners and operators in North America.
Between 2007 and 2012, the company expanded internationally with operations in India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
, Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
, Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
, South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
, Ghana
Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
, and Uganda
Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...
.
In 2013, the company acquired Global Tower Partners for $4.8 billion. This acquisition added sites to the U.S. portfolio and added operations in Costa Rica
Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
and Panama
Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
.
In 2020, Tom Bartlett was named President and CEO after Taiclet left to become the CEO of Lockheed Martin
The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...
.
In 2021, the company agreed to acquire the European and Latin American tower divisions of Telxius
Telxius Telecom S.A. is a global telecommunications infrastructure company created in 2016, owned by Telefónica Infra, a subsidiary of Spanish telecommunications company Telefónica.
History
On February 21, 2017, Telefónica announced an agre ...
from parent company Telefonica, comprising approximately 31,000 communications sites in Spain, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru, for $9.6 billion. Later in 2021, American Tower acquired CoreSite
CoreSite, a subsidiary of American Tower, owns carrier-neutral data centers and provides colocation and peering services.
As of June 24, 2022 the company owned 27 operating data center facilities in 10 markets comprising over 4.6 million net ...
for $10.4 billion, with its carrier-neutral data center facilities in the U.S., to strengthen its position in 5G.
In early 2023, the company announced plans to erect 4,000 new towers worldwide, mainly in Africa, India and Latin America. Soon after, it divested from fiber optics in Mexico, selling subsidiary ATC Fibra México to Flō Network.
Bartlett retired as president, CEO, and a director of the company on February 1, 2024, and was succeeded by Steven Vondran.
American Tower divested from its largest international market, after 17 years, selling its ATC India operation to Brookfield Asset Management
Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. is a Canadian-American alternative asset manager. The company was founded in December 2022 as a spin-off of the asset management operations of Brookfield Corporation. At its inception, the company was headquarter ...
via Data Infrastructure Trust in September 2024, for $2.5 billion.
In 2025, American Tower topped the list of the "Top 100 Tower Companies in the U.S." and is ranked 363rd on the ''Fortune'' 500.
See also
*List of public REITs in the United States
There are over 225 publicly-traded REITs in the United States, in 2025. Only the largest public REITs are listed here.
Notable REITs
The five largest REITs in the United States by market capitalization, as of January 2025, according to S&P Glob ...
References
External links
* {{Authority control Companies based in Boston Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Real estate companies established in 1995 Telecommunications companies established in 1995 Telecommunications companies of the United States Real estate investment trusts of the United States Mobile telecommunications