Item 1. BUSINESS

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Item 1. BUSINESS

General

We are a leading independent owner and operator of wireless communications infrastructure, including tower structures, rooftops, and other structures that support antennas used for wireless communications, which we collectively refer to as “towers” or “sites.” Our principal operations are in the United States and its territories. In addition, we own and operate towers in South America, Central America, Canada, South Africa, the Philippines, and Tanzania. Our primary business line is our site leasing business, which contributed 96.2% of our total segment operating profit for the year ended December 31, 2022. In our site leasing business, we (1) lease space to wireless service providers and other customers on assets that we own or operate and (2) manage rooftop and tower sites for property owners under various contractual arrangements. As of December 31, 2022, we owned 39,311 towers, a substantial portion of which have been built by us or built by other tower owners or operators who, like us, have built such towers to lease space to multiple wireless service providers. Our other business line is our site development business, through which we assist wireless service providers in developing and maintaining their own wireless service networks.

Business Strategy

Our primary strategy is to continue to focus on expanding our site leasing business through organic growth and expansion of our tower portfolio to create shareholder value. We believe that the long-term and repetitive nature of our site leasing business will permit us to maintain a stable, recurring cash flow stream and reduce our exposure to cyclical changes in customer spending which arises in our site development business. Key elements of our strategy include:

Organic Growth.

Maximizing our Tower Capacity. We generally have constructed or acquired towers that accommodate multiple tenants and a majority of our towers are high capacity tower structures. Most of our towers have significant capacity available for additional antennas, and we believe that increased use of our towers’ structural capacity can generate additional lease revenue and be achieved at a low incremental cost. We measure the available capacity of our existing sites to support additional tenants by assessing several factors, including tower height, tower type, wind loading, environmental conditions, existing equipment on the tower and zoning and permitting regulations in effect in the jurisdiction where the tower is located. We actively market space on our towers through our internal sales force. As of December 31, 2022, we had an average of 1.9 tenants per tower structure.

Capitalizing on our Scale and Management Experience. We are a large owner, operator and developer of towers, with substantial capital, human, and operating resources. We have been developing towers for wireless service providers in the U.S. since 1989 and owned and operated towers for ourselves since 1997. We believe our size, experience, capabilities, and resources make us a preferred partner for wireless service providers both in the U.S. and internationally. Our management team has extensive experience in site leasing and site development, with some of the longest tenures in the tower and site development industries. We believe that our industry expertise and strong relationships with wireless service providers will permit us to continue to organically grow our site leasing and site development services.

Systematic Tower Portfolio Growth. We believe that our tower operations are highly scalable. Consequently, we believe that we are able to materially increase our domestic and international tower portfolio without proportionately increasing selling, general, and administrative expenses. We intend to continue to grow our tower portfolio, domestically and internationally, through tower acquisitions and the construction of new tower structures. We believe that one of the best uses of our liquidity, including cash from operating activities and borrowings, is to acquire and/or build new towers at prices that we believe will be accretive to our shareholders both in the short and long term and which allow us to maintain our long-term target leverage ratios.

Disciplined Tower Acquisitions. In our tower acquisition program, we pursue towers from third parties that meet or exceed our internal guidelines regarding current and future potential returns. For each acquisition, we prepare various analyses that include projections of several different investment return metrics, review of available capacity, future lease up projections, and a summary of current and future tenant/technology mix.

New Build Program. We build new towers domestically and internationally. In our new build program, we construct tower structures (1) under build-to-suit arrangements or (2) in locations that are strategically chosen by us. Under build-to-suit arrangements, we build tower structures for wireless service providers at locations that they have identified. Under these arrangements, we retain ownership of the tower structure and the exclusive right to co-locate additional tenants. When we construct tower structures in locations chosen by us, we utilize our knowledge of our customers’ network requirements to identify locations where we believe multiple wireless service providers need, or will need, to locate antennas to meet capacity or service demands. We seek to identify attractive locations for new tower structures and complete pre-construction procedures necessary to secure the site concurrently with our leasing efforts. We generally will have at least

one signed tenant lease for each new build tower structure on the day that it is completed and expect that some will have multiple tenants.

International Tower Growth. The majority of our international markets typically have less mature wireless networks with limited wireline infrastructure and lower wireless data penetration rates than those in the United States. Accordingly, our tower growth in these markets is primarily driven by (1) wireless service providers seeking to increase the quality and coverage of their networks, (2) increased consumer mobile data traffic, such as media streaming, mobile apps and games, web browsing, and email, and (3) incremental spectrum auctions as well as incremental voice and data network deployments.

International Market Expansion. We believe that we can create substantial value by expanding our site leasing services into select international markets which we believe have a high-growth wireless industry and relatively stable political and regulatory environments. We consider various factors when identifying a market for our international expansion, including:

oCountry analysis – We consider the country’s economic and political stability and whether the country’s general business, legal, and regulatory environment is conducive to the sustainability and growth of our business.

oMarket potential – We analyze the expected demand for wireless services and whether a country has multiple wireless service providers who are actively seeking to invest in deploying voice and data networks, as well as spectrum auctions that have occurred or that are anticipated to occur.

oRisk adjusted return criteria – We consider whether buying or building towers in a country and providing our management and leasing services will meet our return criteria. As part of this analysis, we consider the risk of entering into an international market (for example, the impact of foreign currency exchange rates and inflation, real estate, permitting, and taxation risks) and how our expansion meets our long-term strategic and financial objectives for the region and our business generally.

Using our Local Presence to Build Strong Relationships with Major Wireless Service Providers. Given the nature of towers as location-specific communications facilities, we believe that substantially all of what we do is done best locally. Consequently, we have a broad field organization that allows us to develop and capitalize on our experience, expertise, and relationships in each of our local markets which in turn enhances our customer relationships. We seek to replicate this operating model internationally. Due to our presence in local markets, we believe we are well positioned to organically grow our site leasing business and to capture new tower build opportunities in our markets and identify and participate in site development projects across our markets.

Controlling our Underlying Land Positions. We believe that a primary component of a strong site leasing business is the ability to control the underlying land positions. Consequently, we have acquired perpetual easements, long-term leases, or other property interests for the land that underlies our tower structures and intend to continue to do so to the extent available at commercially reasonable prices. We believe that these perpetual easements, long-term leases, and other property interests will increase our margins, improve our cash flow from operations, and minimize our exposure to increases in rents for property interests in the future. As of December 31, 2022, approximately 70% of our tower structures were located on land that we own or control for more than 20 years and the average remaining life under our ground leases and other property interests, including renewal options under our control, was 36 years. As of December 31, 2022, approximately 10.1% of our tower structures had ground leases or other property interests maturing in the next 10 years.

Exploring Opportunities in Evolving Technologies and Ancillary Services. In addition to our traditional tower-related services, we continue to explore ancillary services and evolving technologies that we believe will allow us to create additional value by leveraging our current assets, capabilities, and relationships with wireless service providers and others by expanding SBA’s business within the growing communications ecosystem. This includes supporting efforts for edge data centers and private networks utilizing cellular and Wi-Fi technologies. For example, we are exploring ways to participate in edge computing infrastructure to support existing and future customers’ increasing need to deploy computing capabilities to locations closer to their end users, such as regional data centers and smaller local data centers located at the base of our towers. SBA owns three regional data centers and multiple tower-based data centers in support of this initiative. With regard to open-access networks, SBA works with real estate developers in deploying networks that are accessible throughout a community’s various common areas and resident amenities. We have also partnered with carriers and high-traffic consumer retailers in developing systems for the offloading of data to wireless networks. Additionally, we are exploring opportunities to leverage tower assets and infrastructure to provide energy as a service, including through the deployment of on-site battery backup systems and solar energy solutions.

Industry Developments

We believe that growing wireless data traffic will require wireless service providers to continue to increase the capacity of their networks, and we believe that the continued capacity increases will require our customers to install equipment at new sites and

add new equipment at existing sites. We expect that the wireless communications industry will continue to experience growth as a result of the following trends:

Consumers are increasing their demand for wireless connectivity due to the adoption of bandwidth-intensive wireless data applications, such as high-definition streaming, banking, gaming, social networking, enhanced web browsing, and machine-to-machine applications. According to a report published by Ericsson in November 2022, global total mobile data traffic was estimated to reach around 90 exabytes per month by the end of 2022 and is projected to grow by nearly a factor of 3.6x to reach 324 exabytes per month in 2028.

The velocity of spectrum development is expected to remain dynamic as carriers continue to deploy new bands and optimize bands that are currently in service, both of which activities we expect will require carriers to install equipment at new sites and add new equipment at existing sites. For example, recent and future spectrum auctions, such as the C-Band auction, Auction 108, and Auction 110 in the U.S. are expected to continue to contribute to growth in the upcoming years. In addition, the continued deployment of 5G wireless technologies is expected to increase equipment installation at existing sites.

Consumers list network quality as a key contributor when terminating or changing service. To remain competitive and to decrease subscriber churn rates, wireless carriers have made substantial capital investments into their wireless networks to improve service quality and expand coverage. We expect wireless carriers to continue to expend capital to differentiate their product offerings.

We believe that the worldwide wireless industry will continue to grow and is reasonably well-capitalized, highly competitive and focused on quality and advanced services. Therefore, we expect that we will see a multi-year trend of additional demand for tower space from our customers, which we believe will translate into steady leasing growth for us.

Our Businesses

Site Leasing Services

Our primary focus is the leasing of antenna space on our multi-tenant towers to a variety of wireless service providers under long-term lease contracts in the United States, South America, Central America, Canada, South Africa, the Philippines, and Tanzania. We derive site leasing revenues primarily from wireless service provider tenants. Wireless service providers enter into tenant leases with us, each of which relates to the lease or use of space at an individual site. Our site leasing business generates substantially all of our total segment operating profit, representing 96.2% or more of our total segment operating profit for the past three fiscal years. Our site leasing business is classified into two reportable segments, domestic site leasing and international site leasing.

Domestic Site Leasing

As of December 31, 2022, we owned 17,416 sites in the United States and its territories. For the year ended December 31, 2022, we generated 76.1% of our total site leasing revenue from these sites. We derive domestic site leasing revenues primarily from T-Mobile, AT&T Wireless, Verizon Wireless, and DISH Wireless. In the United States, our tenant leases are generally for an initial term of five years to 10 years with multiple renewal periods at the option of the tenant. These tenant leases typically contain specific annual rent escalators, including renewal option periods. Our ground leases and other property interests in the United States are generally for an initial term of five years or more with multiple renewal periods, which are at our option, and provide for specific annual rent escalators. As of December 31, 2022, no U.S. state or territory accounted for more than 10% of our total tower portfolio by tower count, and no U.S. state or territory accounted for more than 10% of our total revenues for the year ended December 31, 2022.

International Site Leasing

We currently own and operate towers in 15 international markets throughout South America, Central America, Canada, South Africa, the Philippines, and Tanzania. As of December 31, 2022, we owned 21,895 sites in our international markets, of which approximately 30% of our total towers are located in Brazil and no other international markets (each country is considered a market) represented more than 5% of our total towers. Our operations in our international markets are primarily in the site leasing business, and we continue to focus on growing our international site leasing business through the acquisition and development of towers and organic growth.

We derive international site leasing revenues from all the major carriers in each of the 15 countries in which we operate. In our international markets, our tenant leases are either individual leases by tower site or governed by master lease agreements, which provide for the material terms and conditions that will govern the terms of the use of the site. Our tenant leases are generally for an initial term of five years to 15 years with multiple renewal periods at the option of the tenant. Our tenant leases either (1) contain

specific annual rent escalators, (2) escalate annually in accordance with an inflationary index, or (3) escalate using a combination of fixed and inflation adjusted escalators. In addition, our international site leases may include pass-through charges, such as rent related to ground leases and other property interests, utilities, and fuel.

In our international markets, ground leases and other property interests are generally for an initial term of five years or more with multiple renewal periods, which are at our option. Our ground leases typically either (1) contain specific annual rent escalators or (2) escalate annually in accordance with an inflationary index.

In Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panama, significantly all of our revenue, expenses, and capital expenditures arising from our new build activities are denominated in U.S. dollars. Specifically, most of our ground leases and other property interests, tenant leases, and tower-related expenses are paid in U.S. dollars. In our Central American markets, our local currency obligations are principally limited to (1) permitting and other local fees, (2) utilities, and (3) taxes. In Brazil, Canada, Chile, South Africa, and the Philippines, significantly all of our revenue, expenses, and capital expenditures, including tenant leases, ground leases and other property interests, and other tower-related expenses are denominated in local currency. In Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, and Tanzania, our revenue, expenses, and capital expenditures, including tenant leases, ground leases and other property interests, and other tower-related expenses are denominated in a mix of local currency and U.S. dollars.

Site Development Services

Our site development business, which is conducted in the United States only, is complementary to our site leasing business and provides us the ability to keep in close contact with the wireless service providers that generate substantially all of our site leasing revenue and to capture ancillary revenues that are generated by our site leasing activities, such as antenna and equipment installation at our tower locations. Site development services revenues are earned primarily from providing a full range of end-to-end services to wireless service providers or companies providing development or project management services to wireless service providers. Our services include: (1) network pre-design; (2) site audits; (3) identification of potential locations for towers and antennas on existing infrastructure; (4) support in leasing of the location; (5) assistance in obtaining zoning approvals and permits; (6) tower and related site construction; (7) antenna installation; and (8) radio equipment installation, commissioning, and maintenance. We provide site development services at our towers and at towers owned by others on a local basis through regional, market, and project offices. These market offices are responsible for all site development operations.

Customers

We depend on a relatively small number of customers for our site leasing and site development revenues. The following customers represented at least 10% of our total revenues during the last three years:

For the year ended December 31,
Percentage of Total Revenues202220212020
T-Mobile36.4%36.2%34.5%
AT&T Wireless19.6%22.2%24.1%
Verizon Wireless14.5%14.7%14.1%

In addition to the Big 4 wireless carriers (T-Mobile, AT&T Wireless, Verizon Wireless, and DISH Wireless), we have also provided services or leased space to a number of customers including:

Airtel TanzaniaMTNTigo
Cellular SouthNII HoldingsTIM
ClaroOi S.A.Telefonica
Freedom MobileSouthernLincU.S. Cellular
Liberty TechnologiesTelkomVodacom

Sales and Marketing

Our sales and marketing goals are to:

use existing relationships and develop new relationships with wireless service providers to lease antenna space on and sell related services with respect to our owned towers or managed properties, enabling us to grow our site leasing business; and

successfully bid and win those site development services contracts that will contribute to our operating margins and/or provide a financial or strategic benefit to our site leasing business.

We approach sales on a company-wide basis, involving many of our employees. We have a dedicated sales force that is supplemented by members of our executive management team. Our dedicated salespeople are based regionally as well as in our corporate office. We also rely on our vice presidents, directors, and other operations personnel to sell our services and cultivate customer relationships. Our strategy is to delegate sales efforts by geographic region or to those employees of ours who have the best relationships with our customers. Most wireless service providers have national corporate headquarters with regional and local offices. We believe that wireless service providers make most decisions for site development and site leasing services at the regional and local levels with input from their corporate headquarters. Our sales representatives work with wireless service provider representatives at the regional and local levels and at the national level when appropriate. Our sales staff’s compensation is heavily weighted to incentive-based goals and measurements.

Competition

Domestic Site Leasing – In the U.S., our primary competitors for our site leasing activities are (1) large independent tower companies including American Tower Corporation and Crown Castle International; (2) a number of regional independent tower owners; (3) wireless service providers that own and operate their own towers and lease, or may in the future decide to lease, antenna space to other providers; and (4) owners and operators of alternative facilities such as rooftops, outdoor and indoor distributed antenna system (“DAS”) networks, billboards, utility poles, and electric transmission towers.

International Site Leasing – Internationally, our competition consists of wireless service providers that own and operate their own tower networks, large multinational, national, and regional independent tower companies, and alternative facilities such as rooftop, outdoor and indoor networks, billboards, utility poles, and electric transmission towers.

We believe that tower location and capacity, quality of service, density within a geographic market, and price historically have been and will continue to be the most significant competitive factors affecting the domestic and international site leasing business.

Site Development – The site development business is competitive and price sensitive. We believe that the majority of our competitors in the U.S. site development business operate within local region and market areas, while some firms offer their services nationally. The market includes participants from a variety of market segments offering individual, or combinations of, competing services. The field of competitors includes site development companies, zoning consultants, real estate firms, wireless construction companies, tower owners, telecommunications equipment vendors, which provide end-to-end site development services through multiple subcontractors, and wireless service providers’ internal staff. We believe that providers base their decisions for site development services on a number of criteria, including company experience, price, track record, local reputation, geographic reach, and time for completion of a project.

Human Capital

Our corporate offices are located in Boca Raton, Florida. We also have employees located in our international, regional, and local offices. We consider our employee relations to be good. As of December 31, 2022, we had 1,834 employees of which 625 were based outside of the U.S. and its territories.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We recognize and appreciate the impact that our employees have on the success of our company, our customers, and the communities we serve. We pride ourselves in promoting an inclusive environment that celebrates and encourages all forms of diversity. We also value all those who serve our country and are proud to support military veterans and their families as they transition out of the military. As of December 31, 2022, women represented 41% of our global workforce and 41% of our U.S. employees identified as a racial or ethnic minority.

Talent Management. We recognize the value of attracting, developing, engaging, and retaining our talent. We invest in our employees’ professional growth and development by providing resources and opportunities to develop their skills and expand their expertise. We see diversity of thought and experiences as critical factors to the long-term success of SBA. As such, we are committed to building a pipeline of future business leaders by strategically recruiting and retaining diverse candidates.

Employee Well-Being. The well-being of our employees is a critical element of our culture, employee engagement, and productivity. Our global compensation and benefits strategy provides programs and resources focused on overall well-being. We offer a competitive total rewards package which includes market-based pay, performance-based annual incentive awards, healthcare and retirement benefits, holiday and paid time off, and tuition assistance.

Health and Safety*.* At SBA, providing a safe and healthy work environment for the protection of our employees is paramount. The safety of our tower climbers has been a key focus of the company since its founding. In 2013, we opened our internal facility "Tower U" which provides a rigorous multi-day safety certification program that is required for our employed tower climbers. We are proud that our average lost-day incident rate in the U.S. (days away from work due to workplace incidents) for 2022 was below the 2021 Bureau of Labor benchmark.

Regulatory and Environmental Matters

Federal Regulations. In the U.S., which accounted for 76.1% of our total site leasing revenue for the year ended December 31, 2022, both the Federal Communications Commission (the “FCC”) and the Federal Aviation Administration (the “FAA”) regulate towers. Many FAA requirements are implemented in FCC regulations. These regulations govern the construction, lighting, and painting or other marking of towers, as well as the maintenance, inspection, and record keeping related to towers, and may, depending on the characteristics of particular towers, require prior approval and registration of towers before they may be constructed, altered or used. Wireless communications equipment and radio or television stations antennas operating on towers are separately regulated and may require independent customer licensing depending upon the particular frequency or frequency band used. In addition, any applicant for an FCC tower structure registration (through the FCC’s Antenna Structure Registration System) must certify that, consistent with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, neither the applicant nor its principals are subject to a denial of federal benefits because of a conviction for the possession or distribution of a controlled substance. New tower construction also requires approval from the state or local governing authority for the proposed site, compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act (“NHPA”), compliance with the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), and may require notification to the FAA and registration with the FCC.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, the FCC, in conjunction with the FAA, has developed standards to consider proposals involving new or modified towers. These standards mandate that the FCC and the FAA consider the height of the proposed tower, the relationship of the tower to existing natural or man-made obstructions, and the proximity of the tower to runways and airports. Proposals to construct or to modify existing towers above certain heights must be reviewed by the FAA to ensure the structure will not present a hazard to air navigation. The FAA may condition its issuance of a no-hazard determination upon compliance with specified lighting and/or painting requirements. Towers that meet certain height and location criteria must also be registered with the FCC. A tower that requires FAA clearance will not be registered with the FCC until it is cleared by the FAA. Upon registration, the FCC may also require special lighting and/or painting. Owners of wireless communications towers may have an obligation to maintain painting and lighting or other marking in conformance with FAA and FCC regulations. Tower owners and FCC spectrum licensees that operate on those towers also bear the responsibility of monitoring any lighting systems and notifying the FAA of any lighting outage or malfunction.

Owners and operators of towers may be subject to, and therefore must comply with, environmental laws, including NEPA, NHPA, and ESA. Any licensed radio facility on a tower is subject to environmental review pursuant to NEPA, among other statutes, which requires federal agencies to evaluate the environmental impact of their decisions under certain circumstances. The FCC has issued regulations implementing NEPA. These regulations place responsibility on applicants to investigate potential environmental effects of their operations and to disclose any potential significant effects on the environment in an environmental assessment prior to constructing or modifying a tower and prior to commencing certain operations of wireless communications or radio or television stations from the tower. In the event the FCC determines the proposed structure or operation would have a significant environmental impact based on the standards the FCC has developed, the FCC would be required to prepare an environmental impact statement, which will be subject to public comment. This process could significantly delay the registration of a particular tower.

We generally indemnify our customers against any failure to comply with legal and regulatory compliance requirements applicable to tower owners or operators relating to the construction, modification, or placement of towers. Failure to comply with the applicable requirements may lead to civil penalties.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 amended the Communications Act of 1934 by preserving state and local zoning authorities’ jurisdiction over the construction, modification, and placement of towers. The law, however, limits local zoning authority by prohibiting any action that would discriminate among different providers of personal wireless services or ban altogether the construction, modification or placement of radio communication towers. Finally, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the FCC’s rules implementing that Act require the federal government to help licensees for wireless communications services gain access to preferred sites on federal property for their facilities. This may require that federal agencies and departments work directly with licensees to make federal property available for tower facilities.

Operators of towers must also take into consideration certain radio frequency (“RF”) emissions regulations that impose a variety of procedural and operating requirements. Certain proposals to operate wireless communications and radio or television

stations from tower structures are also reviewed by the FCC to ensure compliance with requirements relating to human exposure to RF emissions.

Environmental Regulation. As an owner and operator of real property, we are subject to certain environmental laws that impose strict, joint and several liability for the cleanup of on-site or off-site contamination and related personal injury or property damage. We are also subject to certain environmental laws that govern tower placement and may require pre-construction environmental studies. Our screening for environmental impacts includes evaluation of those of our tower site locations (1) that might be located in a wilderness area or a wildlife preserve, (2) that might affect threatened and endangered species or their habitat (ESA), (3) that might affect properties included in, or eligible for inclusion, in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) or Indian religious and cultural sites, (4) that might affect World Heritage areas and IUCN Category I-IV protected areas, (5) that will be located in a floodplain and where facility equipment will not be placed at least one foot above the base flood elevation of the floodplain, (6) whose construction will involve significant changes in surface features (e.g., in wetlands, water diversions, considerable ground disturbance, deforestation), (7) that might affect migratory birds if the towers are over 450 feet, (8) that involve high-intensity lighting in a residential area or would cause RF radiation over FCC-established limits, and (9) that would involve similar considerations under the laws or best practices of our international markets. When a tower site is impacted by any of the listed categories, we promptly complete an environmental assessment and obtain approval from the appropriate regulatory agency, which may include steps to mitigate the impact of construction or operation of the site. Our regional site managers typically inspect our tower sites annually and report on the presence of new bird nests. This ensures we minimize our impact and remain environmentally compliant during the operational life of our assets.

We believe that we are in substantial compliance with and we have no material liability under any applicable environmental laws. These costs of compliance with existing or future environmental laws and liability related thereto may have a material adverse effect on our prospects, financial condition or results of operations.

State and Local Regulations. Most states regulate certain aspects of real estate acquisition, leasing activities, and construction activities. Where required, we conduct the site acquisition portions of our site development services business through licensed real estate brokers’ agents, who may be our employees or hired as independent contractors, and conduct the construction portions of our site development services through licensed contractors, who may be our employees or independent contractors. Local regulations include city and other local ordinances, zoning restrictions, and restrictive covenants imposed by community developers. These regulations vary greatly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but typically require tower owners to obtain approval from local officials or community standards organizations, or certain other entities prior to tower construction and establish regulations regarding maintenance and removal of towers. FCC rules establish presumptively reasonable time periods for state and local authorities to act on applications to collocate a facility or deploy a facility, such as a tower. In addition, many local zoning authorities require tower owners to post bonds or cash collateral to secure their removal obligations. Local zoning authorities generally have been unreceptive to construction of new towers in their communities because of the height and visibility of the towers, and have, in some instances, instituted moratoria. However, in August 2018, the FCC issued a declaratory ruling stating that express and de facto moratoria on deployment of telecommunications facilities violate the Communications Act. This FCC ruling has been affirmed by a federal appellate court.

International Regulations. Regulatory regimes outside of the U.S. and its territories vary by country and locality; however, these regulations typically require tower owners and/or licensees to obtain approval from local officials or government agencies prior to tower construction or modification or the addition of a new antenna to an existing tower. Additionally, some regulations include ongoing obligations regarding painting, lighting, and maintenance. Our international operations may also be subject to limitations on foreign ownership of land in certain areas. Based on our experience to date, these regimes have been similar to, but not more rigorous, burdensome or comprehensive than, those in the U.S. Non-compliance with such regulations may lead to monetary penalties or deconstruction orders. Our international operations are also subject to various regulations and guidelines regarding employee relations and other occupational health and safety matters. As we expand our operations into additional international geographic areas, we will be subject to regulations in these jurisdictions.

Availability of Reports and Other Information

SBA Communications Corporation was incorporated in the State of Florida in March 1997 and is a real estate investment trust (“REIT”) for federal income tax purposes. Our corporate website is www.sbasite.com. We make available, free of charge, access to our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A and amendments to those materials filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), on our website under “Investors – SEC Filings,” as soon as reasonably practicable after we file electronically such material with, or furnish it to, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”).

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