ATC sees increase in leasing volumes from Latin American operations during H1

US broadcast and wireless communications sites operator American Tower Corporation (ATC) (NYSE: AMT) saw an increase in leasing volume from Latin American operations during the first half of the year, company executive VP and CFO Thomas Bartlett told a conference call with investors. "In Latin America, we've seen recent 3G spectrum auctions increase demand for our legacy sites as our customers plan their next generation network deployments, driving an expected improvement in consolidated leasing volumes for the first half of the year versus the same period last year," the executive said. Bartlett also said that during the second quarter, the company spent US$275mn in acquisitions, mainly in international markets, including 170 sites in Chile, 15 sites in Colombia, 23 sites in Brazil, 400 sites in Ghana and 37 sites in the US. "Our growth from new sites reflects the impact of our acquisitions, our construction of over 10,000 sites since the beginning of the second quarter of 2010," the executive added. "Over 90% of these new sites are located in our international markets, where we have focused on diversifying our portfolio across three key regions - Latin America, Asia and EMEA." Globally, American Tower posted net profits of US$115mn in 2Q11, compared to US$100mn one year before, while Q2 revenues climbed 27.1% to US$597mn. American Tower owns and operates more than 38,000 communications sites in the US, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ghana, India, Mexico, Peru and South Africa.