Part One of a Three-Part Series: JW Tower & Telecom's 2025 Outlook on Crown Castle's Tower & Land Acquisitions

With Crown Castle’s recent decision to divest its fiber and small cell business, the company has signaled a renewed commitment to becoming a pure "tower play" enterprise. In its Q4 2024 earnings call, Crown Castle emphasized a strategic shift toward land acquisitions, M&A-driven tower expansion, and new tower builds.

For landlords currently leasing land to Crown Castle, this shift means the company is likely to ramp up efforts to secure long-term control over its tower sites. Expect more aggressive pursuits of lease buyouts, land purchases, and easements as Crown Castle moves to solidify its real estate holdings. (In calendar year 2024, Crown Castle completed $58 million in land purchases, compared to competitor American Tower at $144.2 million).

This strategy isn't entirely unexpected. Steven Moskowitz, CEO, Crown Castle, was instrumental in developing American Tower’s "TAPP" (Tower Asset Protection Program) in the mid-2000s, a program designed to lock down ownership of land beneath existing towers. JW Tower & Telecom Consulting was an Asset Acquisitions Attorney on the team at that time, contributing to its success.

For existing cell tower owners it appears that Crown Castle will be re-entering the space with potential strategic acquisition opportunities. However, it remains to be seen how the company will execute its new vision, especially after scaling back its internal land acquisition team in recent years.

At JW Tower & Telecom Consulting, we remain committed to providing expert guidance and representation to landlords navigating Crown Castle’s renewed focus on lease extensions and land purchases, as well as to tower owners exploring potential sales opportunities in a shifting industry landscape.

Quotable quotes from Steven Moskowitz, CEO, Crown Castle from Crown Castle's 2024/Q4 Earnings Transcript:

Land Purchases

"Second, after the close, we will target about $150,000,000 to $250,000,000 of annual organic capital expenditures, opportunistically pursuing value enhancing growth. And this includes purchasing land under our towers, which is a key priority for us this year and in the future, selective new builds as we have opportunities and investing more in technology to enhance our margins for our revenue growth."

"In terms of the capital, a chunk of that capital is going to be going to land, which we’re trying to really gear up on because we think there’s some good opportunity there. Again, it helps secure the asset for us. It helps drive colocation more quickly and it helps improve our margins."

New Tower Builds & M&A

"The other thing I would say is, we havenʼt played in the new tower build game in a long time. We havenʼt played in the organic tower M&A game in a long time. So weʼre going to be putting more effort, more thought around that. There are some customers of ours who would like us to do building for them as theyʼre trying to expand in certain markets, where we have economies of scale also."

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