From the Ground Up: Comm Infra Weekly

Research evidence excerpt

From the Ground Up: Comm Infra Weekly

Equity Research

Industry Update — May 17, 2026

Communications Infrastructure & Telecom Services

Our Call Eric Luebchow, CFA

What's on the Agenda? This week, we'll be in New York meeting with REIT investors, while Equity Analyst | Wells Fargo Securities, LLC Eric.Luebchow@wellsfargo.com | 312-630-2386

many of our TMT clients will be at a competitor conference in Boston. We have one last

Caleb Steinearnings print left - DY - which will report on 5/27.

Equity Analyst | Wells Fargo Securities, LLC

Caleb.Stein@wellsfargo.com | 704-410-1823

Recent Investor Commentary: When Can Towers Catch a Break? There was a flurry of

wireless and tower-related news last week which brought down the tower sector, which in

general felt quite overdone, in our view. A sell-side report suggested that the SBAC deal is

under exclusivity with KKR, but there are ongoing negotiations on valuation. We still think

the SBAC deal gets done, but at a price around $250 vs. the $300+ targets we have heard

thrown around by some buy-siders.

Then we had a handful of satellite announcements as well, including the formation of a JV

between TMUS, VZ and T to pool spectrum assets and create unified operating standards

for D2D partnerships between satellite and wireless. It clearly feels like a defensive strike

against the D2D industry in an attempt to open up competition among satellite players

and try to level the playing field. Again, this JV is an attempt to tackle dead zone coverage,

not a potential threat to the towers.

And the FCC approval of the SATS spectrum transfer should ultimately be viewed as a

positive, in our view, to towers. While waiving the terrestrial build requirements, the FCC is