Key Highlights

• Global mobile data traffic rose 23% year over year, but American Tower's US organic tenant billings growth slowed to 0.7% and Crown Castle's site rental Revenue fell 4.1% due to DISH churn.

• Crown Castle completed the $8.5 billion sale of its Fiber and Small Cell businesses in May 2026, becoming a pure-play US tower company and using proceeds to repay more than $7 billion of debt.

• American Tower's AFFO per share rose 4.2% to $2.71, helped by its diversified CoreSite data centre business, which grew revenue 13.4% to $297 million.

Both S&P 500 real estate Investment trusts, American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) and Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI), earn their rent from wireless carriers that must keep adding network capacity as mobile data traffic grows. When a carrier installs more equipment on a tower, the landlord collects more rent on an asset whose costs are largely fixed. The latest results, however, show that Demand is only one part of the picture: customer churn, divestments and Debt reduction are shaping reported numbers as much as traffic growth.

The Traffic Backdrop

Ericsson's quarterly traffic update says global mobile network data traffic rose 23% between the second quarter of 2025 and the second quarter of 2026, exceeding 220 exabytes a month. It attributes the growth mainly to more smartphone subscriptions and heavier use per person, largely driven by video, and names India and North America as major contributors.

Its June 2026 Mobility Report adds that 5G subscriptions reached 3.1 billion in the first quarter and that uplink traffic, data sent from devices, is growing faster than downlink at 43 of the 55 service providers studied. Heavier uplink use tends to require denser and more capable networks, which is the kind of investment tower owners hope to capture.

How Traffic Becomes Tower Rent

A tower REIT leases vertical space to carriers. Revenue rises in three main ways: new tenants on existing towers, amendments when an existing tenant adds antennas or radios, and contractual annual escalators. Because the steel, land and maintenance costs barely change when a second or third tenant arrives, incremental leasing tends to flow through at high margins.

Traffic growth does not translate one-for-one into rent, though. Carriers can also squeeze more capacity from spectrum and software upgrades, so leasing typically grows in the low-to-mid single digits even when data traffic grows far faster.

American Tower: Global Reach Plus Data Centres

In the three months to June 30, 2026, reported on July 28, 2026, American Tower generated total revenue of $2.75 billion, up 4.7% year on year, from a portfolio of more than 148,000 communications sites. Property revenue in its US and Canada segment fell 2.5%, and the company said a lower non-cash straight-line revenue adjustment weighed on that region's growth rates.

Organic tenant billings growth, the rent increase from existing sites excluding acquisitions, was 1.7% overall and 0.7% in the US and Canada, against 3.7% a year earlier in that segment. Chief executive Steve Vondran pointed to mid-single-digit growth in adjusted funds from operations per share once one-time DISH churn is normalised.

American Tower's Diversification matters here. Its CoreSite data centre Business grew revenue 13.4% to $297 million, and property revenue rose by double digits in Africa and Asia-Pacific, Europe and Latin America. Management raised the midpoint of its 2026 outlook by $110 million for property revenue and by $45 million for AFFO, and now guides to AFFO of $11.00 to $11.17 per share. In the quarter itself, AFFO per share rose 4.2% to $2.71.

Crown Castle: Now a Pure US Tower Landlord

Crown Castle completed the sale of its Fiber and Small Cell businesses on May 1, 2026, for $8.5 billion gross, with fibre going to Zayo and small cells to an EQT-backed buyer. It now describes itself as the only large, US-focused, publicly traded pure-play tower company, with roughly 40,000 towers.

For the second quarter, reported on July 22, 2026, site rental revenues fell 4.1% to $967 million, and Net Income dropped to $94 million, mainly because of a $280 million loss on the disposal. Yet AFFO per share rose 11% to $1.13, suggesting lower interest costs and a smaller share count are doing much of the work.

DISH Churn Blurs the Demand Signal

The biggest drag on both landlords is the loss of DISH, the EchoStar wireless business, as a tenant. Crown Castle said DISH terminations reduced site rental revenues by $49 million in the quarter, and its full-year outlook includes $220 million of DISH-related non-renewals.

Stripping out DISH and legacy Sprint cancellations, Crown Castle's organic contribution to site rental billings was $38 million, or 4.2%, made up of $15 million of core leasing, $25 million of escalators and $7 million of normal non-renewals, plus other billings. Escalators, in other words, contributed more than new carrier activity. That adjusted figure is the clearer read on underlying carrier demand, but it is a company-defined measure, and investors still bear the revenue that DISH no longer pays.

Different Capital Choices

American Tower continues to spread capital across geographies and data centres, with a 2026 Capital Expenditure outlook of $1.81 billion to $1.92 billion, including 1,700 to 2,300 new sites, and net Leverage of 4.9 times. It raised its quarterly Dividend to $1.79, up 5.3%.

Crown Castle has instead used sale proceeds to repay more than $7 billion of debt and complete $1 billion of share repurchases, while holding its quarterly dividend at $1.0625. Its 2026 guidance points to AFFO of about $4.59 per share at the midpoint.

Risks to the Interpretation

Carrier consolidation reduces the number of potential tenants, and the DISH exit shows how a single customer can reset growth. Spectrum efficiency may continue to let carriers handle more traffic without proportionally more tower equipment.

Higher interest rates raise refinancing costs for leveraged landlords. American Tower's international exposure brings currency risk: its quarterly net income of $868 million was helped by foreign currency gains after heavy losses a year earlier. Crown Castle's single-country focus concentrates its exposure to the three big US carriers.

Traffic and Leasing Signals Ahead

Watch US organic tenant billings at American Tower and Crown Castle's adjusted organic contribution, particularly core leasing activity beyond escalators. Track whether DISH-related non-renewals run in line with guidance, CoreSite's leasing momentum, and Crown Castle's use of remaining balance-sheet capacity.