Latin America towercos: Where investments and growth opportunities lie

Investor appetite and network expansion continue to reshape Latin America's telecom tower market, with most operators accelerating construction, refinancing portfolios and pursuing acquisitions even as leasing trends remain under pressure in some countries.

The region's tower industry has remained active in terms of consolidation and opportunities involving the sale of assets by operators to tower companies and between towercos, with more than US$14bn in deals closed since 2019 as of May 2025, according to BNamericas estimates based on 25 known transactions involving over 72,000 sites.

Churn aside, the sector's investment appeal is being supported by long-term contracts, inflation-linked revenues and rising connectivity demand tied to 5G deployment and digital infrastructure growth.

According to Fitch Ratings, Latin America already has more than 80,000 telecom towers and organic growth continues to be driven mainly by the coverage requirements of new-generation mobile networks.

At the same time, financing activity has intensified.

In Brazil alone, tower operators have raised more than 4.8bn reais (US$960mn) in local debt since 2024, reflecting investor appetite for infrastructure assets with stable and predictable cash flows.

One of the main pillars of the business model is the contractual structure, Fitch said. Contracts with operators usually last 10-15 years and are mostly indexed to Brazil's inflation index IPCA, which helps preserve margins.

The current investment cycle is also being shaped by carrier consolidation, particularly in Brazil, where tower companies expect network rationalization to peak this year before growth resumes.

Brazil remains key market

American Tower, the largest tower operator in Latin America, expects property revenue in the region of US$1.73bn-US$1.75bn in 2026, supported by foreign exchange gains and accounting effects despite weaker leasing activity.

Regional revenue rose 20.3% year-on-year to US$480mn in Q1 2026.

However, organic tenant billings declined 2.0% and total tenant billings also fell during the quarter amid cancellations and limited new leasing activity.

For full-year 2026, American Tower expects tenant billings growth in Latin America to decline around 3%.

“In Latin America, organic growth declined approximately 2%, primarily driven by elevated churn in Brazil,” CFO Rod Smith told investors during the company’s Q1 earnings call. Smith said some of the churn expected in 2027 had accelerated into 2026 as consolidation progresses.

“Because we're accelerating some of the churn from 2027 into 2026… we do expect to get back to accelerated Organic Tenant Billings Growth into 2027,” he said.

Executives said Brazil remains the main driver of both current weakness and future recovery.

“We do think that it is the beginning of… seeing much better results across Latin America as there are a rational number of carriers, three solid, well-capitalized carriers in Brazil,” Smith said.

CEO Steve Vondran also pointed to stronger demand indicators.

“The three carriers in Brazil have all talked about investing more in their networks. We're absolutely seeing an increase in demand across the ecosystem there,” he said.

American Tower's Latin American footprint totaled 46,948 sites at the end of March, down by 1,322 year-over-year.

Brazil accounted for 22,377 towers and communication structures, followed by Mexico with 8,892. Colombia had 4,815 sites, Peru 4,412, Chile 3,781, Paraguay 1,450, Costa Rica 713 and Argentina 508.

Globally, the company expects capex of US$1.5bn-US$2bn in 2026, including the construction of 1,700-2,300 communications sites.

SITES accelerates construction

Mexican operator SITES Latam has continued expanding aggressively across the region and, more importantly narrowing the gap with American Tower.

Over the past 12 months, the company built 1,108 new sites, bringing its portfolio to 37,625 across 15 countries.

At the current pace, SITES could surpass American Tower as the region’s largest tower operator around late 2029 or early 2030.

Brazil again led SITES' expansion, with 432 new sites added over the past year, followed by the Andean region – Chile, Ecuador and Peru – with 290 sites and Central America with 228.

The company said the expansion reflects sustained demand for passive telecom infrastructure linked to connectivity requirements, infrastructure investment and 5G deployment.

“Brazil remains our largest market, accounting for approximately one-third of our total site portfolio,” SITES said.

By the end of March, SITES had 12,316 sites in Brazil, 9,714 in the Andean region and 8,387 in Central America.

The company added 186 new sites during Q1 alone, including 91 in Brazil.

SITES also recorded 175 new co-locations during the quarter and reported a tenancy ratio of 1.26x.

Financially, the company posted revenue of 4.14bn pesos (US$210mn), while consolidated EBITDAaL reached 2.24bn pesos.

Net debt stood at 5.23x EBITDAaL at the end of March, although the company said leverage continued to decline as part of its deleveraging strategy.

SITES aims to reduce net leverage to 5.0x by end-2026 while maintaining investment-grade ratings from Fitch, Moody’s and S&P.

During the quarter, SITES also announced a capital increase of 2.88bn pesos through the issuance of 576.8 million shares.

Central America gains momentum for SBA

SBA Communications is also increasing construction activity, particularly in Central America.

During Q1 2026, SBA acquired 10 communication sites and the rights to land underneath approximately 3,900 communication sites in Guatemala for US$133mn.

The company built 80 towers during the quarter, 60 of them in Central America.

“We anticipate seeing this production grow steadily throughout 2026,” CEO Brendan Cavanagh told analysts.

Last year, SBA acquired nearly 7,000 Millicom towers in Central America and committed to developing at least 2,500 sites over the next five years.

By March, SBA owned or operated 46,358 communication sites globally, including 28,980 internationally.

Central America accounted for 10,905 sites, while South America, mainly Brazil, represented 14,347.

Meanwhile, international site leasing revenue reached US$206mn during the quarter. Total investment during Q1 reached US$191.9mn.

Noteworthy, Millicom has become SBA’s largest international customer, accounting for 20.9% of international revenue.

New investors, new exits and financing

Beyond the largest operators, regional tower infrastructure continues attracting investment funds, multilaterals and private capital.

Macquarie, for example, expanded its digital infrastructure presence in Latin America through the acquisition of IHS Towers' remaining operations in the region for approximately US$952mn. The transaction included around 8,590 towers in Brazil and 270 in Colombia.

Among other players, Brazilian operator Highline, controlled by DigitalBridge, currently operates around 7,500 sites across all 27 Brazilian states and says it has hundreds more under construction.

The company reported an average of 1.4 clients per site at the end of 2025 and said it maintains a “robust project pipeline” for 2026-2027.

Other investors in Highline include Canadian pension manager AIMCo, insurer Allianz and IFC.

Meanwhile, IDB Invest is considering an equity investment of up to US$10mn in Atis Group Latam, which operates more than 1,000 sites across Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Atis acquired Millicom’s Paraguayan tower subsidiary Lati Paraguay in 2025 through a sale-and-leaseback transaction involving around 300 sites under a new 15-year lease agreement with Tigo.

“This acquisition – along with prior ones from Telefónica Uruguay and SBA in Argentina – underscores Atis' commitment to the Southern Cone region of Latin America,” CEO Juan Pablo Blanco said at the time.

At the end of 2025, Atis operated 1,012 sites across Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

In Brazil, CL Sites plans to raise up to 60mn reais (US$11.5mn) in incentivized debentures to finance expansion.

The transaction reflects a broader trend of telecom infrastructure companies turning to capital markets to fund network expansion outside major urban centers.

“Connectivity expansion increasingly depends on access to long-term financing instruments,” Ricardo Frizera, managing partner at Apex Partners, said when announcing the operation.

Tower operators are also diversifying into adjacent digital infrastructure segments. The convergence between towers, fiber and edge computing is expected to become increasingly relevant as mobile data traffic and artificial intelligence applications grow.

Mexico Telecom Partners, one of Mexico’s largest private tower companies, has doubled down on edge data centers. 

The company, which is another firm in DigitalBridge's portfolio  leases tower space, rooftop infrastructure and distributed antenna systems to major Mexican carriers supporting 4G and 5G networks.

The company is also developing edge facilities across its infrastructure network and advanced phase two of its edge data center in Mérida, Yucatán. MTP operates more than 60 edge data centers across its network.

Consolidation and recovery

Despite near-term pressure from carrier consolidation and churn, the sector’s medium-term outlook remains tied to structural connectivity demand. At the same time, towercos continue expanding footprints, refinancing balance sheets and positioning themselves for the next wave of digital infrastructure demand.

Overall, executives and investors expect leasing activity to recover as consolidation effects normalize and operators resume network investment cycles.

(The original version of this content was written in English)