American Tower Earnings Increase

By Doug Lung
published


Total revenue at American Tower Corporation increased 11.2 percent in the first quarter of 2010 to $454.4 million, indicating that the demand for broadcast and wireless vertical real estate remains strong.

"During the first quarter of 2010 we remained focused on both maximizing the utilization of our legacy portfolio and making investments in further expanding our portfolio of assets," said Jim Taiclet, American Tower. "Our operational performance during the quarter provided us the ability to reinvest $55 million in capital expenditures and $89 million in acquisitions, while also returning $52 million to shareholders through our stock repurchase program."

He added that beginning in the first quarter of 2009, the company has added some 4,000 new sites to its portfolio and made investments in both personnel and systems to support its assets.

American Tower expects to close on its acquisition of Indian company Essar Telecom Infrastructure Private Limited in the second quarter of 2010.

American Tower acquired two new broadcast sites in the first quarter of 2010. It constructed 232 new wireless sites and acquired 162 wireless sites. American Tower owns 232 broadcast tower sites in the United States and 199 in Mexico.

Doug Lung
Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.