SBA Communications recently reported earnings for Q4/2025 and full year 2025 results. The company recently signed a 10 year master lease agreement (MLA) with Verizon this past November and has similarly followed other members of the wireless industry with a lawsuit against DISH recently. It remains active in purchasing ground leases via perpetual easement, prepaid leases, and land purchases, however has not set a goal for 2026 forecast spend, with it being part of their discretionary CapEx of $430 million to $450 million, discussed in further detail below.
Overall Highlights:
- Signed 10 year master lease agreement (MLA) with Verizon for access to its cell tower infrastructure
- +$10M added from domestic new leases and amendment billing in Q4
- Services revenue grew 13% in Q4/2025 vs. Q4/2024
- $500M share buyback in 2025
- As of 12/31/2025 – owned 17,394 sites in the United States and its territories
Quotable: re: DISH Network and their contractual default to property owners and tower owners
“So we did actually file a lawsuit just recently. And as part of that, because of their default lack of payment, we did terminate and accelerate the rents that were due under that contract. I mean I can’t really get into too much in terms of the details around that and what we foresee happening there, but the basic gist of it is that they defaulted on the agreements and we filed suit. We tried to get them to comply with the agreement, they did not. We filed suit. We’re going to go after enforcing our rights under the agreement as best we can”
Brendan Cavanaugh | CEO, President & Director, SBA Communications
Quotable: re: Impact of satellites on the cell tower business
“So I don’t think it’s going to have much of an impact, Ric, and there are clearly limitations, both financial and just physical properties, in terms of the ability to deliver speeds and latency levels at a level that it’s going to be required, particularly with the newer technologies that are coming. I think as we move towards 6G and there’s greater uplink, it’s going to be much harder to provide anywhere close to the same solution through a satellite product. But that will all play out over time. But for now, we haven’t seen anything that indicates a threat from that.”
Brendan Cavanaugh | CEO, President & Director, SBA Communications
Quotable: re: Future of 6G and impact to cell tower owners
“Now looking beyond the near term, we’re increasingly excited about 6G. We’ve already seen legislative tailwinds, including restoring the FCC’s auction authority and 800 megahertz of spectrum to be studied and eventually auctioned, including the aforementioned 100 megahertz of upper C-band in 2027. Other bands currently being evaluated include 2.7 to 2.9 gigahertz, 4.4 to 4.9 gigahertz and 7.25 to 7.4 gigahertz. These new bands will require new radios and likely a denser footprint given the higher band properties, creating future growth opportunities for SBA.”
Brendan Cavanaugh | CEO, President & Director, SBA Communications
Quotable: re: Are there any other land – large land portfolios underneath your sites you might look to acquire in the future?
“I mean we have a constant program to look at the land under our towers, first of all, just generally speaking. We do that in the U.S. and internationally and look for opportunities to buy land where we can for 2 reasons: one, because typically, we’re able to negotiate deals that are very accretive. So there’s a financial reason. But the other reason is that it secures those properties and removes a risk that could exist at some point as they near the end of terms.”
Brendan Cavanaugh | CEO, President & Director, SBA Communications
SBA Communications Land Buyout Program:
- SBA Communications year over year was down 15% in its investing activities in 2025 in its land buyouts, compared to the previous year.
- This strategic investment reached a total of $48.8 billion as the company moved to solidify long-term control over its tower sites from property owners
- SBA made a large investment recently in land under its towers internationally in Guatemala
Chart: 10K
- 14.5% of SBA Communications towers have final lease expirations of 10 years or less
- These are the assets that SBA Communications and its vendors will be contacting property owners the most, with heavy focus in order to secure future revenue
Chart: 10K
- Through securing the land beneath their telecom infrastructure via lease extension, land purchase, or easement transactions, SBA is able to protect long-term tower economics, ensuring that there aren’t sudden rent spikes that could erode their margins
- The partnership between property owners and SBA Communications is critical to their success
- It often requires less capital to buy control now, then renegotiate later
Chart: 10K
If you’re reviewing an easement offer or lease extension, JW Tower & Telecom Consulting offers landowners a rare vantage point: a lead consultant who’s worked inside a tower company, inside a wireless carrier, and as an attorney—so your decisions are grounded in real industry insight.
