Earnings Labs

SBA Communications Corporation (SBAC)

Q1 2018 Earnings Call· Mon, Apr 30, 2018

$216.78

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the SBA First Quarter Results Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session and instructions will be given to you at that time. [Operator Instructions] And as a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to the VP of Finance, Mark DeRussy. Please go ahead.

Mark DeRussy

Analyst · Barclays. Please go ahead

Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us for SBA's first quarter 2018 earnings conference call. Here with me today are Jeff Stoops, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Brendan Cavanagh, our Chief Financial Officer. Some of the information we will discuss on this call is forward-looking, including, but not limited to, any guidance for 2018 and beyond. In today's press release, and in our SEC filings, we detail material risks that may cause our future results to differ from our expectations. Our statements are as of today, April 30, and we have no obligation to update any forward-looking statement we may make. In addition, our comments will include non-GAAP financial measures and other key operating metrics. The reconciliation of and other information regarding these items can be found in our supplemental financial data package, which is located on the landing page of our Investor Relations website. With that, I will turn it over to Brendan.

Brendan Cavanagh

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Thanks Mark. Good evening. SBA began the year with a very solid quarter. We produced positive results in both our domestic and international leasing operations as well as realizing incremental contributions from our services business. Total GAAP site leasing revenues for the first quarter were $430.5 million and cash site leasing revenues were $425.1 million. Foreign exchange rates slightly weaker than our estimates for the first quarter, which we previously provided with our fourth quarter earnings release negatively impacting leasing revenue by point $0.2 million. Same tower recurring cast leasing revenue growth for the first quarter, which calculated on a constant currency basis was 5.2% over the first quarter of 2017, including the impact of 1.4% of churn. On a gross basis, same tower growth was 6.6%. Domestic same tower recurring cash leasing revenue growth over the first quarter of last year was 6.2% on a gross basis and 4.7% on a net basis, including 1.5% of churn, 53% of which was related to Metro/Leap and Clearwire terminations. As mentioned on our previous earnings call, our modest operational domestic leasing seen activity during the fourth quarter of 2017 will impact our reported leasing revenue and year-over-year gross same tower growth rate in early 2018, but we expect this growth rate to increase sequentially throughout 2018. Internationally, on a constant currency basis, same tower cash leasing revenue growth was 8.3^% including 80 basis points of churn or 9.1% on a gross basis. Gross organic growth in Brazil was 10.1%. Domestic operational leasing activity representing new revenue signed up during the quarter was up from the prior quarter as we began to convert some of our increased application backlog into signed agreements. Revenue from this tiny activity will begin to be recognized at various times throughout the year. Newly signed up domestic…

Mark DeRussy

Analyst · Barclays. Please go ahead

Thank you, Brendan. SBA ended the first quarter with 9.3 billion of net debt and our net debt to annualized adjusted EBITDA leverage ratio was 7.3 times, right in the middle of our targeted range of 7 to 7.5 times. Our first quarter net cash interest coverage ratio of adjusted EBITDA to net cash interest expense was 3.6 times. At the end of the quarter we had 235 million outstanding under our revolver. We were active in the debt capital markets during and subsequent to the first quarter with the completion of two large financings. On March 9, we issued to our tower trust 640 million of secured tower revenue securities at a fixed interest rate of 3.448% payable monthly. These securities have an anticipated repayment date of March 9, 2023 and a final maturity date of March 9, 2048. The proceeds of this offering in combination with borrowings under the revolving credit facility were used to repay in full our 2013-1C and 2013-1D tower securities as well as approved and unpaid interest. Additionally, on April 11, through a wholly owned subsidiary, we obtained a new $2.4 four billion seven year senior secured term loan. The term loan was issued at 99.75% of par and will mature on April 11, 2025. It bears interest that our election at either the base rate plus 1% per year or LIBOR plus 2% per year. We have typically used one month's LIBOR to determine our interest rate. The current interest rate under the term loan is 3.9%. The proceeds of the term loan were used to repay and retired our 1.93 billion of outstanding existing term loans to pay off the existing outstanding balances under our revolving credit facility and for general corporate purposes. We're very pleased with this transaction as we were…

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Thanks Mark and good evening everyone. As you've heard we are off to a very good start in 2018. We delivered strong first quarter financial results, continued to see strength in both the domestic and international leasing environments, expanded our tower portfolio by 400 sites, reduced our outstanding share count through stock repurchases and completed two significant debt financings. We continue to be well positioned for 2018 and beyond. In the US all four major US wireless carriers have been very busy driving our domestic leasing application backlog to the highest level in several years. During the first quarter we saw an increase in contracted revenues signed up above levels we saw during any point over the last two years. This increase in signings has been in line with our expectations coming into the year and it will support solid growth in our future reported financial results as these executed agreements begin at various times throughout the year to produce revenue. During the first quarter, we saw solid leasing contributions from all of our customers including new leases and amendments signed with Sprint under the master lease agreement we entered into with them in the fourth quarter and amendment activity related to AT&T's FirstNet initiative. We expect to continue to see contributions from both of these projects as well as continued solid activity from our other US customers as we move through 2018, although we obviously will be monitoring any potential impacts on our operational activity levels as a result of the recently announced Sprint/ T-Mobile merger. With regard to this merger it is very new news. And thus there will be still a lot to be learned. Some things we found interesting in yesterday's presentation where the amount and speed of additional investment contemplated, the commitment to rural markets,…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Ric Prentiss with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Ric Prentiss

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Thanks, good afternoon guys. Obviously we had a busy Sunday with the Sprint/T-Mobile merger announcement, Jeffrey talked about there. Can you update us a little bit on also what the remaining life is that you have on your Sprint and T-Mobile leases and is the new MLA with Sprint, is that a take or pay, is that kind of a guarantee you were just trying to think through their synergies wise and what it means for you guys?

Brendan Cavanagh

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Yeah, hey Ric, it's Brendan. In the press release we actually did disclose some information regarding our Sprint and T-Mobile contracts including the stair of revenue that each represent for us as well as on the overlap site how much revenue comes from each. Just to give you those numbers quickly, on the sites where we have both Sprint and T-Mobile today, Sprint represented 5.9% of our total cash site leasing revenue and T-Mobile was 6.2%. In terms of the remaining terms, Sprint has on average approximately six years left and T-Mobile approximately three years left, but the range of those is quite broad, so in the case of sprint it's between one and thirteen years, in the case the T-Mobile it's between one and ten years.

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

We did get some nice average term elongation from that MLA Ric and that is in fact a hard obligation which will not be impacted by the news of yesterday.

Ric Prentiss

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

And I'm getting a lot of questions about acquired network churn, obviously it's coming down, but if you look back to the days when we Leap, Metro and Clearwire got acquired like in 2013 and 2014, how long was it before you - when the deals closed or when you started getting notification of churn and then the churn started occurring? I'm just trying gauge if the Sprint/T-Mobile deal is approved what sort of timeframe we should be thinking about given those average lives and your past history with other transactions?

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

It's hard to generalize what happened with those deals and with this deal, given the disparate spectrums and the large number of folks that need to be migrated over. I think the commentary that was given yesterday that talked about really making sure they had all the spectrum available at all the sites that were going to remain before they started any decommissioning, I think is going to take it at face value. I think that is going to make this a longer process than what we saw with certainly with AT&T and Leap for example and then even the case with T-Mobile and Metro. But even in those cases it was several years after closing before you really started to see any type of termination notices.

Ric Prentiss

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Okay, the final question for me is as you look at AT&T, FirstNet and Sprint starting to ramp their applications, how long is the process from application to revenue getting booked? I know you said varies, but just trying to gauge, is it three months still for amendments or is it six or nine, just what should we think about that timeframe?

Brendan Cavanagh

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Well, you left out a critical component which is the execution of the final document whether be an amendment or a lease and then the most critical element is the revenue commencement date, which can be as short as immediately upon an amendment to as long as the greater of a date in the future or installation, so that's really the missing link to your question Ric. But to generalize from - it's actually hard to generalize from application because there's a lot -

Ric Prentiss

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

I should have said execution. I really meant that lease up.

Brendan Cavanagh

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Yeah, from execution to six months or nine, usually the outside.

Ric Prentiss

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Great, thanks guys.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Next we go to Nick Del Deo at MoffettNathanson. Please go ahead.

Nick Del Deo

Analyst

Hi, thanks for taking my question. First, now I recognize that you can't give us numbers, but are the monetization rates you're starting to get for FirstNet consistent with what you anticipated coming into the process and are they consistent with other amendments you've negotiated for comparable deployment in the past?

Mark DeRussy

Analyst · Barclays. Please go ahead

They are and I would say though that they're very greatly Nick. Wide variety of equipment loads are being requested. Given the wide variety of circumstances from which the sites that are being touched are coming from. And the averages are where we thought, but it's - the goalposts - the end zones are pretty wide.

Nick Del Deo

Analyst

Thanks got it. That makes sense. And then maybe one on Sprint/ T-Mobile, I mean, it seems like there's a potential for a healthy amount of amendment revenue involved in moving Sprint's spectrum onto T-Mobile sites and vice versa. Yeah, I know it's early and we don't know a lot, but given what we do know about their spectrum holdings and they're only sharing one band in common, is it appropriate to think that the rate for, I mean covering that sort of package would be a fair bit higher than average or do you think there are other factors we should take into consideration?

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Well, I think we have to see ultimately what the configurations look like. To my knowledge today and I'm not a product expert, but to my knowledge there is no single radio unit and certainly no single antenna unit that covers the spectrum, covers the range of spectrum that will be deployed by the combined company, so you're looking at multiple units to cover that full array of spectrum and then if you start to get to the desired MIMO configuration on the antennas that actually could add quite a bit of weight and that - obviously depending on the load of things like that that will impact the price, so that there that there could be a wide range of about outcomes there.

Nick Del Deo

Analyst

Okay, that's helpful. Thanks, Jeff.

Operator

Operator

And next we will go to Simon Flannery with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Simon Flannery

Analyst

Thanks a lot. Maybe you could just touch on International a little bit? You talked about good momentum in Brazil, can you just talk about Oi specifically what's the latest on their restructuring on the - their capital plans and then any other markets that you're seeing good momentum in and then I think you said 97% of the leasing was to big four, any interesting trends from Dish or others outside of the big four? Thanks.

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Yeah, the Oi restructuring plan continues to move forward as intended. June is a critical date where I believe the debtors will make some decisions on whether or not they will continue to insist on Oi reaching an agreement with the government of the outstanding Anatel fines, so that's something that we're watching. People expect there to be a resolution there that will allow Oi to move forward, be capitalized and emerge and start more greatly investing in its network and obviously that's something that we're optimistic and hopeful for as well. In terms of the markets, Central America not every country, but it seems like at any given time one or two countries in Central America is hot bearing the region we continue to see very good activity in Ecuador, starting to see good activity in Peru, although relatively new in that country. We think Brazil's going to be good all year long. We're just generally continued to be very pleased all in all Simon with Latin America. And in terms of the other US things, while there's a lot of initial discussions with Dish and others, certainly the lion's share of the leasing activity this year so far I'm sure with respect to the remainder of year will come from the big four.

Simon Flannery

Analyst

Okay, thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Next we'll go to Philip Cusick with JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Philip Cusick

Analyst

Hi guys, thanks. Brendan I noticed as you talked about your guidance, you said since it's only been two months since our last guide we're going to leave it unchanged, but it sounded like there may have been a little bit of a shift in how you were thinking about it within that sort of range. Can you give us any more visibility into sort of how you think about the guidance versus where you may have seen visibility over the last couple of months? Thanks.

Brendan Cavanagh

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Yeah, well, I mean that comment was specific to the organic growth component of it and while we've seen good activity and continue to see our application backlogs grow, there really hasn't been enough time go by where we could comfortably say we expect that to impact that number for 2018. So really the comment was just to kind of say, hey, it really hasn't been that long, but things are going well from an operational standpoint and so let's see how the rest of the year plays out.

Philip Cusick

Analyst

That's a fair.

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Phil, I just wanted to say that's really consistent with our guidance approach of well reported as incurred and not projected.

Philip Cusick

Analyst

Makes sense and then second if I can, the buyback you said was mostly in April. Was this driven by 10b5 due to the weakness in the share count or something that was under your control, weakness [ph] in the shares?

Brendan Cavanagh

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Was a little bit of both actually.

Philip Cusick

Analyst

Great, thank you.

Operator

Operator

And our next question will come from Amir Rozwadowski at Barclays. Please go ahead.

Amir Rozwadowski

Analyst · Barclays. Please go ahead

Thank you, very much. Just doctoring on Phil's prior question in terms of thinking about the organic growth rate, if we think about sort of some of the build in activity levels that you're seeing, do you believe that that organic growth rate has room for improvement based on the activity levels that you guys are seeing at this point?

Mark DeRussy

Analyst · Barclays. Please go ahead

Well, first of all to be clear when we talk about growth rates, the same tower growth rate that we report is indicative of a year-over-year, so the number that we gave for the first quarter was growth that really represented the previous trailing twelve month. So as we move forward through the year based on what's happening now, which is an increased level of leasing activity compared to where we've been over the last year, we certainly expect to see that increase sequentially as we move through the year and we would expect to exit the year at a much higher rate. But in terms of isolated to an individual quarter, we're not assuming that it gets better than where it is today, but that it continues at a similar level to where we are now, so to Jeff's earlier comment, we're not stretching out on something that we haven't seen yet get signed up.

Amir Rozwadowski

Analyst · Barclays. Please go ahead

Thanks very much, Jeff. That's helpful and then going back to the deal of the day with Sprint and T-Mobile, one of the things that they did talk about it sort of a material expansion of their small cells. I believe they have decided the number of 50,000. If we think about sort of the opportunity set between some of the deployment of new spectrum versus some of the capital that will go towards small cells, how do you think about sort of the allocation or opportunity set when it comes to macro versus small cells now? Have anything really changed from your perception of the market or the opportunity set that's taking place with how these networks are going to get constructed for 5G network?

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Barclays. Please go ahead

Not really. I mean we always assume that there would be a very healthy numeric sampling of small cells out in these networks and for us it continues to be a ROIC issue, Amir.

Amir Rozwadowski

Analyst · Barclays. Please go ahead

That's very helpful. That's very much for the incremental color.

Operator

Operator

And now we go to Walter Piecyk with BTIG. Please go ahead.

Walter Piecyk

Analyst

Thanks. I think you provided some color on amendments in [indiscernible] domestic $44 million for the year and I think it was - was it here for escalations $39 million for 2018? Are those still targets that I missed whether there was an update on that?

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

They haven't changed. That's in our supplemental financial package of the bridge there of the domestic growth. Those numbers are the same. The only organic number domestically that we shifted was the churn which we actually reduced by $1 million from last quarter.

Walter Piecyk

Analyst

Got it, so this churn rate that it's just you just gave it in terms of the absolute level as opposed to just saying like, okay, it's going to be a 1.5% going forward?

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Yeah. Well, in the bridge we gave an absolute dollar amount. Yeah, but we did give - given the same tower growth rates, we gave the churn rate, which is for the first quarter as compared to the first quarter of the prior year was 1.5% domestically which is basically indicative of the last 12 months. So that should be generally where we are although at the end of the year there is a little bit of item churn expected that may be slightly higher, but -

Walter Piecyk

Analyst

When we look at the 62 versus kind of prior growth periods, is any of that from escalations? Like is there any deviation that could have occurred in escalations in the first quarter?

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

No. It is from - it does include escalations, but any variance in it is really not due to escalations. It's due to having less leasing activity in the latter part of last year. So as mentioned in the prepared comments, that's expected to increase as we move through the year because we are obviously signing up more organic business now in the first quarter and into the second quarter.

Walter Piecyk

Analyst

Got you and then I think again maybe something I missed a bunch of stuff in the supplemental bridges, but I didn't see any reference to the $10 target of the FFO for 2020. Does that still hold for you guys or what's the update on that?

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

That's still the goal, still the goal.

Walter Piecyk

Analyst

Still the goal?

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Still the goal, we are still striving towards that. The results through the EBITDA line and with the backlogs we continue to march towards that goal, Walter.

Walter Piecyk

Analyst

But there is no change. I mean it sounds like I mean I don't know, is there any change in the body language on that? I mean there is one thing to strive to something to get a goal as opposed to being like, hey, we are confident, we are going to hit this $10 in 2020?

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Well, let's go through some of the headwinds and the tailwinds there. I mean the tailwinds have been I think through the EBITDA line are going to be really, really good as we see this operational activity. From the time we first put forth the 10 by '20, probably 100 basis points higher on interest rates where we assume things and we are three multiples higher I believe on our actual stock repurchases versus our assumed. So those are the two headwinds or about where we were on FX. So ahead on operations, a little bit of headwind below the line, but all in all that's still the goal and we are still confident of getting there.

Walter Piecyk

Analyst

Great, thank you very much.

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Yeah.

Operator

Operator

And our next question will come from Spencer Kurn at New Street Research. Please go ahead.

Spencer Kurn

Analyst · New Street Research. Please go ahead

Hey guys. Thanks for taking the question. I just have a question on long-term strategy. So as you think about laying out the next five to 10 to 15 years of growth, it looks like some of your competitors are laying their groundwork in small cells and some are developing innovation strategies. I'm just curious if - how do you think about laying a slowdown in domestic macro activity versus other sources of growth which may carry slightly lower ROIC?

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · New Street Research. Please go ahead

Well, we've kind of looked at that previously, Spencer, and that's what drove us to pursue international activity and that continues to be where we are today. And where our stock has traded that continues to be the preferred capital allocation in growing our FFO per share through that way is kind of our view of growth. Some folks want to see that growth on the revenue line. I continue to submit to you that the ROIC that we can produce by doing what we are doing is better and the value created for our shareholders will be better. I think our historical results have borne that out. So we will continue to do what we are doing, looking for good investment opportunities. But in terms of feeling like we have to find a new trick to grow the revenue line, we don't feel any pressure to be down at all.

Spencer Kurn

Analyst · New Street Research. Please go ahead

Excellent, thanks so much.

Operator

Operator

Next we will go to Jonathan Atkin at RBC. Please go ahead.

Jonathan Atkin

Analyst

Thanks, a couple of questions. I wanted to ask about the lag time between signings or executions and revenue generation on the international side. I think you gave a good domestic answer, but seeing if there's any difference in Brazil? Secondly on FirstNet and the pacing's of both signings and the pacing's of deployments, any kind of commentary on whether there has been any change this quarter versus last and specifically interested in whether you have noticed any changes in light of the Crown Castle M&A with that customer? Thanks.

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

I'll take the last one first. The FirstNet backlogs continue to grow. So we have - that gives us good feelings for the future. Timing is a little more difficult to predict. But the application backlogs continue to grow and that's a good sign. In terms of the international timing, I don't know that there is much difference. Is there Brendon?

Brendan Cavanagh

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

It's not materially different. There are times certain deals that we sign up where there are maybe more lenient commencements timeframes, but generally…

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

That would be specifically negotiated.

Brendan Cavanagh

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Specifically negotiated as part of maybe a larger agreement, but otherwise they are basically the same.

Jonathan Atkin

Analyst

So FirstNet signings, so FirstNet deployments, nothing to speak of FirstNet signings continuing any change in the pace since mid-quarter when the M&A was good upon between Crown and AT&T?

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Not material, no.

Jonathan Atkin

Analyst

And then secondly -

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

That's specific - that's to the signings. Now the backlogs are continuing to grow.

Jonathan Atkin

Analyst

Got it and then I think AT&T wireless, you didn't comment on that. Is that any more applicable than some of the other deals that you talked about in terms of how integration might unfold?

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

I think that would be the least applicable given the almost totally similar spectrum and technologies that those two companies had.

Jonathan Atkin

Analyst

Okay. And then finally on M&A multiples, any commentary on domestic multiples, international multiples that you receive in the market and any more or less competition for deals that you are seeing in, say, Brazil or Latin versus the US?

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Yeah, multiples in general stay high or high, have stayed high which is why we are selective, which is why we will continue to most likely not invest all of our investible dollars in portfolio growth. And there remains a healthy bid both internationally and domestically and we feel we are, but you have to be very, very selective.

Jonathan Atkin

Analyst

Thanks very much.

Operator

Operator

We'll go now to David Barden with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

David Barden

Analyst

Hey, guys. Thanks a lot. So two questions, I guess, Jeff, just thinking back to the Sprint network shutdown as we kind of think ahead, the potential Sprint T-Mobile combo, there were a couple of different approaches that the tower companies took. One was the American tower approach where they kind of traded off a little near-term opportunity for longer-term churn certainly and I think you guys kind of did it a little differently kind of monetize as much as you could and then you kind of took the churn paying later. It would be helpful to kind of get your reflection on your experience to that period and kind of what if any new approaches you might consider as you look ahead to a potential combination there. And then second, Brendon, just in this kind of rising rate environment, could you kind of talk through why 20% to 25% variable debt exposure is the right one? If you kind of look at the most recent financings, it seems like you got maybe a 60 basis point better financing rate on the term loan versus the fixed loan, but in a rising rate environment that's not going to last. Is there sort of circumstances that would change your view there? That would be helpful to kind of think that through. Thanks.

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Yeah. Looking back at the deal with Sprint, Dave, that was - it had many different components to which they had a term extension component. It had a network vision component. It had a LightSquared component which of course did not come to pass. It had - and then it had an iDEN churn component. So it was really the totality of all four that made that deal for us. So it's hard to say is that the right recipe going forward. There is a right recipe for sure. We've done these deals before and we would do them again. But it really is a very much of facts and circumstances type test. That was the right deal for us at that time based on those four variables and the agreements that we go through, in fact, the each –whether or not those circumstances will present themselves again. We'll see. But it's certainly something more amenable to and we would be very open too under the right circumstances.

Brendan Cavanagh

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

And, David, on the term loan, we have historically targeted that 20% to 25% range excluding rate debt and that is still where we are focused. But we are constantly evaluating whether or not that is the right mix. I would tell you a lot of that comes from kind of looking at the alternative. It's one thing that is to say, well, we are going to do more fixed rate debt when you have to look at what that cost of that fixed rate debt would be. In addition, there is also factors that go beyond just the interest rate which include the ability to collateralize for instance our international assets in the US here. The bank market is one of the markets that allows us to do that. And so it's a logical place for us to do a portion of our financing. Not all of our assets are well-suited for instance for the securitization market. So when we look at our different alternatives, we are looking for the most cost effective, but also the most efficient in terms of our capital structure and we'll continue to do that. And also bear in mind that we do have always the flexibility to fix some component of that floating rate debt through swaps or even through refinancing that debt because it is freely pre-payable after six months with debt from a fixed rate market if we see that as a better alternative.

David Barden

Analyst

Got it and there is no absolute rate that - velocity of rate increase that's informing that decision right now?

Brendan Cavanagh

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Not specifically. But obviously if they were to continue to accelerate at a fairly rapid pace that might affect the way we view it, but it also might affect our overall views on our leverage levels in totality, so all those factors would fit together.

David Barden

Analyst

Alright, great, thanks guys.

Operator

Operator

Next we will go to Brett Feldman with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Brett Feldman

Analyst

Thanks for taking the question. Two, the first one is quick. On the average remaining lease term under the Sprint leases of six years, as you noted, the term is actually 1 to 13, I'm just curious is it concentrated around six years? Is it very spread out? And then just a bigger question, it's been a long time since domestic tower construction was a primary source of your capital allocation. And there are some operators out there newer or private; you have a view that there is a considerable number of new towers that need to be constructed in the US for a range of products including 5G and others. And so I'm just curious whether you think there may be an opportunity to start putting more dollars towards that type of construction or whether the terms that are being asked for that continue to be attractive of relative to your alternatives? Thanks.

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Yeah, I will take the last one first. I think there are going to be some opportunities. There are going to be in many cases in more rural areas which pose their own challenges, but I also do continue to believe, Brett, that there will be some terms and conditions challenges that go with that work as well.

Brendan Cavanagh

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Yeah. And, Brett, in terms of the concentration of the terms, there are some fairly well spread out. There are certain years that are more than others. I would say the bigger years are in the six and seven-year timeframe, so that's why the average kind of ends up there.

Brett Feldman

Analyst

If you don't mind, I just have a follow-up question around sort of the build-to-suit. You noted in the past that because recently developers have been building towers under terms that you didn't find particularly attractive that it was also going to reduce your appetite potentially picking up these portfolios down the road, which you've done a lot of in the past in the US. I'm curious have you actually bought any of those portfolios and if so are you actually paying maniacally lower amounts or are you just finding that there aren't portfolios out there right now that look attractive to you in part because of the terms they decided to construct the towers under?

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

We have had some very interesting conversations with some folks who have taken those terms and then very disappointed at the amounts of money we will prepare to pay.

Brett Feldman

Analyst

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Next we will go to Colby Synesael with Cowen and Company. Please go ahead.

Colby Synesael

Analyst

Great, two questions if I may. I think investors, in their accounts for that matter look at the overlap revenue as the potential risk when we see a deal like Sprint and T-Mobile now and so I'm just curious when you saw that 35000 tower decommission number that they put up, does that align with that logic or is that higher or lower than what you would have otherwise anticipated? And then also when they mentioned 85000 towers on a per forma basis going forward, you look at that compared to what Verizon or AT&T have that's meaningfully higher than where both of those companies are today, do you think that there is something unique about T-Mobile and Sprint are intending to do that would support where they need to have so many years? Do you think that that's a number ultimately that the sector itself is going to have to go towards? Thank you.

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

I don't know. That's a very interesting question, Colby, on your last one. The combined Sprint, T-Mobile clearly wants to make great use of the 2.5G spectrum which everybody knows doesn't promulgate thus far. So that's my layman's potential answer. But that and a nickel will get you a cup of coffee. That's - so I don't really know the answer to that or maybe it's just there more nuanced view of the capacity, intensity requirements of 4 or 5G network that others will ultimately have to get to once they get to that level of thinking. And in terms of the 35000, it would be nice to see the detail on all that and whether the - some of that consists of Clearwire and Metro and iDEN and things that everyone already has kind of thought is going away anyway. I happen to think it does, but I'm not quite sure of that myself. But at the end of the day I think this is going to be much as prior integrations have gone and decommissioning except this one has the added positive offset of knowing that every single site that remains has to have potentially significant equipment attitude to satisfy the combined company's ongoing needs.

Colby Synesael

Analyst

If I could just slightly adjust the question, do you still think that us looking at the overlap revenue in this case 6% for SPA is the best way to think about the worst-case scenario in terms of ultimate churn risk from this deal?

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Raymond James. Please go ahead

Yes.

Colby Synesael

Analyst

Great, thanks.

Operator

Operator

And our next question will be from Matthew Niknam of Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

Matthew Niknam

Analyst · Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead

Hi, thank you for - thanks for getting me in. Just one on 5G, I think Jeff, you may have mentioned seeing more early 5G activity in some of the rural markets. Is there any more color you can give on what's driving this and whether it's from a single carrier or across a number of carriers? Thanks.

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead

I didn't say rural, I said, non-urban and it's basically the use of the MIMO antennas which was highlighted in the Sprint/T-Mobile call yesterday as the way to use the lower the non - given the millimeter wave spectrum a way to get to 5G. So we're starting see applications for that and so it is happening, what they actually talked about.

Matthew Niknam

Analyst · Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead

Thank you.

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead

Operator we have time for one more question.

Operator

Operator

Certainly and that final question will come from Batya Levi at UBS. Please go ahead.

Batya Levi

Analyst · UBS. Please go ahead

Great, thank you. I think you mentioned that you expected to grow the portfolio at the low end of the 5% to 10% range outlook that you have for the year. Is that more of a function for the multiples you see for the opportunity or leaving more room for the buyback?

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · UBS. Please go ahead

No, if that was the impression - I said, that would be as we - we're going to do at least that given how much we've already done at this point in the year. So we have the opportunity to grow the portfolio more than what the low end of the range. We will surpass the low end of the range assuming we close everything we have under contract, which I've no reason to doubt that we will. And the only thing that will hold us back Batya is what I discussed earlier about price sensitivity and getting good deals.

Batya Levi

Analyst · UBS. Please go ahead

Okay, thank you.

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · UBS. Please go ahead

Thank you.

Jeff Stoops

Analyst · UBS. Please go ahead

I want to thank everyone for joining us and we look forward to our next call.

Operator

Operator

That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for your participation and for using AT&T Teleconference. You may now disconnect.