Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Jay Brown: Yes. On the tower side, I think we will see the second half of the other half of the towers be upgraded to mid-band spectrum. Took about 2 to 3 years to do the first half. So I think that’s probably a reasonable assumption that it will take that long to do the second half of the assets roughly on the tower side. I think the announcements that we’ve made previously with small cell commitments to be constructed are already a combination of overlaying on nodes that they were previously on with other technologies and upgrading those two technologies as well as infilling sites along the same fiber, increasing the number of nodes per mile, if you will, in a given geography. We’re already seeing infill and densification on that front.

We’ve talked about in the two large announcements that we made with the T-Mobile nodes, the committed T-Mobile nodes that the vast majority of those were co-located on existing fiber. So those largely represent upgrades and densification and then a mix of about 50-50 on the Verizon nodes, a combination of upgrades, co-location on existing fiber. And then the other component would be where we’re building new sites and new locations. So I think, we will continue to see a mix as we said in our comments. For 2023, we think the vast majority of the nodes that will turn on air will be on existing fiber.

Philip Cusick: Thanks, guys. And one more if I can. On services, talk about the current pace, is this sort of a normal level, do you think or are there particular projects driving the strength? Thank you.

Dan Schlanger: No, it’s a pretty normal pace, Phil. And the only thing I would point out is something I said in my prepared remarks that the second quarter will likely be the high watermark because we have some decommissioning work that comes with services activity that will hit in the second quarter, but a relatively normal pace where we are today.

Philip Cusick: That’s helpful. Thank you.

Operator: The next question is from Ric Prentiss of Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Ric Prentiss: Thanks. Good morning, everybody.

Jay Brown: Good morning, Ric.

Ric Prentiss: First, echo Mike’s comments. Thanks so much for the extra detail on the segments, but also hope you and the team are okay with all the weather issues in Houston.

Jay Brown: We’re doing well, came through the storm well, but there were a lot of damage in the city.

Ric Prentiss: Great to hear you’re okay. I want to follow-up on the small cell side, obviously, a comment today. I think previously, you had said the $30 million Sprint cancellation churn item was maybe $20 million small cells, $10 million fiber. How many more should we expect that $20 million equates to? And then was it a total of 5,000 nodes, they were going to turn off over a multiple year period, is that still the case?

Jay Brown: Yes, thanks. You are correct. We did say there is about $30 million of €“ I’m sorry, $40 million of churn that we expect in our fiber segment and split about equally between small cells and fiber solutions in calendar year €˜23. The churn expected, you correctly stated, of about 5,000, we expect about half of those to churn in calendar year 2023. The balance would be in €˜24 and beyond.

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