SBA Communications 10-Q 2021-09-30

Filed 2021-11-05. 6 sections, 209K characters. Original on sec.gov · Markdown · JSON

Cover and table of contents

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

xQUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the quarterly period ended September 30, 2021

OR

¨TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from __________ to __________

Commission file number: 001-16853

SBA COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

Florida65-0716501
(State or other jurisdiction of(I.R.S. Employer
incorporation or organization)Identification No.)
8051 Congress Avenue
Boca Raton**,** Florida33487
(Address of principal executive offices)(Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code (561) 995-7670

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of Each ClassTrading SymbolName of Each Exchange on Which Registered
Class A Common Stock, $0.01 par value per shareSBACThe NASDAQ Stock Market LLC
(NASDAQ Global Select Market)

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes x No ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (Section 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes x No ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large Accelerated FilerxAccelerated Filer¨
Non-Accelerated Filer¨Smaller Reporting Company¨
Emerging Growth Company¨

If an emerging growth company, indicate by checkmark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act) Yes ¨ No x

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each issuer’s classes of common stock, as of the latest practicable date: 108,781,359 shares of Class A common stock as of October 27, 2021.

Table of Contents

Page
PART I – FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Item 1.Financial Statements
Consolidated Balance Sheets as of September 30, 2021 (unaudited) and December 31, 20201
Consolidated Statements of Operations (unaudited) for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 20202
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss) (unaudited) for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 20203
Consolidated Statement of Shareholders’ Deficit (unaudited) for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 20204
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (unaudited) for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 20206
Condensed Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (unaudited)8
Item 2.Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations22
Item 3.Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk40
Item 4.Controls and Procedures44
PART II – OTHER INFORMATION
Item 2.Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds44
Item 6.Exhibits44
SIGNATURES45

PART I – FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Item 1. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

SBA COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (in thousands, except par values)

September 30,December 31,
20212020
ASSETS(unaudited)
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents$187,806$308,560
Restricted cash63,73631,671
Accounts receivable, net76,07674,088
Costs and estimated earnings in excess of billings on uncompleted contracts40,86034,796
Prepaid expenses and other current assets35,31023,875
Total current assets403,788472,990
Property and equipment, net2,580,2622,677,326
Intangible assets, net2,906,8553,156,150
Operating lease right-of-use assets, net2,297,3722,369,358
Acquired and other right-of-use assets, net965,7804,202
Other assets514,025477,992
Total assets$9,668,082$9,158,018
LIABILITIES, REDEEMABLE NONCONTROLLING INTERESTS,
AND SHAREHOLDERS' DEFICIT
Current Liabilities:
Accounts payable$34,790$109,969
Accrued expenses69,97363,031
Current maturities of long-term debt24,00024,000
Deferred revenue184,340113,117
Accrued interest26,47754,350
Current lease liabilities238,706236,037
Other current liabilities13,73814,297
Total current liabilities592,024614,801
Long-term liabilities:
Long-term debt, net11,822,53611,071,796
Long-term lease liabilities2,013,0972,094,363
Other long-term liabilities183,553186,246
Total long-term liabilities14,019,18613,352,405
Redeemable noncontrolling interests15,17715,194
Shareholders' deficit:
Preferred stock - par value $0.01, 30,000 shares authorized, no shares issued or outstanding——
Common stock - Class A, par value $0.01, 400,000 shares authorized, 109,480 shares and
109,819 shares issued and outstanding at September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020,
respectively1,0951,098
Additional paid-in capital2,711,9342,586,130
Accumulated deficit(6,890,822)(6,604,028)
Accumulated other comprehensive loss, net(780,512)(807,582)
Total shareholders' deficit(4,958,305)(4,824,382)
Total liabilities, redeemable noncontrolling interests, and shareholders' deficit$9,668,082$9,158,018

The accompanying condensed notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

SBA COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(unaudited) (in thousands, except per share amounts)

For the three monthsFor the nine months
ended September 30,ended September 30,
2021202020212020
Revenues:
Site leasing$535,492$486,765$1,564,814$1,461,523
Site development53,81336,175148,88285,708
Total revenues589,305522,9401,713,6961,547,231
Operating expenses:
Cost of revenues (exclusive of depreciation, accretion,
and amortization shown below):
Cost of site leasing98,66692,722289,510280,120
Cost of site development41,35728,797116,17268,417
Selling, general, and administrative expenses (1)51,00048,152156,546146,856
Acquisition and new business initiatives related
adjustments and expenses5,7304,12417,52512,557
Asset impairment and decommission costs9,8608,50618,56029,103
Depreciation, accretion, and amortization170,916180,302530,266541,587
Total operating expenses377,529362,6031,128,5791,078,640
Operating income211,776160,337585,117468,591
Other income (expense):
Interest income9457562,1242,340
Interest expense(89,199)(89,791)(269,839)(281,329)
Non-cash interest expense(11,820)(8,323)(35,436)(13,066)
Amortization of deferred financing fees(4,934)(4,883)(14,690)(15,211)
Loss from extinguishment of debt, net—(2,599)(13,672)(19,463)
Other expense, net(69,804)(42,262)(49,390)(300,144)
Total other expense, net(174,812)(147,102)(380,903)(626,873)
Income (loss) before income taxes36,96413,235204,214(158,282)
Benefit (provision) for income taxes10,8349,441(15,494)76,143
Net income (loss)47,79822,676188,720(82,139)
Net (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests—(108)—461
Net income (loss) attributable to SBA Communications
Corporation$47,798$22,568$188,720$(81,678)
Net income (loss) per common share attributable to SBA
Communications Corporation:
Basic$0.44$0.20$1.72$(0.73)
Diluted$0.43$0.20$1.70$(0.73)
Weighted average number of common shares
Basic109,577111,783109,487111,809
Diluted111,565113,703111,329111,809

(1)Includes non-cash compensation of $16,589 and $16,606 for the three months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively, and $57,249 and $50,291 for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

The accompanying condensed notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

SBA COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS)

(unaudited) (in thousands)

For the three monthsFor the nine months
ended September 30,ended September 30,
2021202020212020
Net income (loss)$47,798$22,676$188,720$(82,139)
Adjustments related to interes

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Item 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

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, and South Africa. Our primary business line is our site leasing business, which contributed 97.5% of our total segment operating profit for the nine months ended September 30, 2021. In our site leasing business, we (1) lease antenna space to wireless service providers on towers that we own or operate and (2) manage rooftop and tower sites for property owners under various contractual arrangements. As of September 30, 2021, we owned 34,072 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.

Site Leasing

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, and South Africa. As of September 30, 2021, 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 nine months ended September 30, 2021. In addition, as of September 30, 2021, approximately 30% of our total towers are located in Brazil and no other international markets (each country is considered a market) represented more than 4% of our total towers. We derive site leasing revenues primarily from wireless service provider tenants, including T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Oi S.A., Telefonica, Claro, Tigo, and TIM. Wireless service providers enter into tenant leases with us, each of which relates to the lease or use of space at an individual site. In the United States and Canada, 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 rent escalators, which average 3-4% per year, including the renewal option periods. Tenant leases in South Africa and our Central and South American markets typically have an initial term of 10 years with multiple renewal periods. In Central America, we have similar rent escalators to that of leases in the United States and Canada while our leases in South America and South Africa escalate in accordance with a standard cost of living index. Site leases in South America typically provide for a fixed rental amount and a pass through charge for the underlying rent related to ground leases and other property interests.

Cost of site leasing revenue primarily consists of:

Cash and non-cash rental expense on ground leases and other underlying property interests;

Property taxes;

Site maintenance and monitoring costs (exclusive of employee related costs);

Utilities;

Property insurance; and

Lease initial direct cost amortization.

In the United States and our international markets, ground leases and other property interests are generally for an initial term of five years to 10 years with multiple renewal periods, at our option, and provide for rent escalators which typically average 2-3% annually, or in our South American markets and South Africa, adjust in accordance with a standard cost of living index. As of September 30, 2021, approximately 72% of our tower structures were located on parcels of land that we own, land subject to perpetual easements, or parcels of land in which we have a leasehold interest that extends beyond 20 years. For any given tower, costs are relatively fixed over a monthly or an annual time period. As such, operating costs for owned towers do not generally increase as a result of adding additional customers to the tower. The amount of property taxes varies from site to site depending on the taxing jurisdiction and the height and age of the tower. The ongoing maintenance requirements are typically minimal and include replacing lighting systems, painting a tower, or upgrading or repairing an access road or fencing.

In our Central American markets and Ecuador, 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, and South Africa 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 Colombia, Argentina, and Peru, 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.

As indicated in the table below, our site leasing business generates substantially all of our total segment operating profit. For information regarding our operating segments, see Note 14 of our condensed notes to consolidated financial statements included in this quarterly report.

For the three months endedFor the nine months ended
Segment operating profit as a percentage ofSeptember 30,September 30,
total operating profit2021202020212020
Domestic site leasing80.5%81.4%80.6%81.2%
International site leasing16.7%16.8%16.9%17.4%
Total site leasing97.2%98.2%97.5%98.6%

We believe that the site leasing business continues to be attractive due to its long-term contracts, built-in rent escalators, high operating margins, and low customer churn (which refers to when a customer does not renew its lease or cancels its lease prior to the end of its term) other than in connection with customer consolidation or cessation of a particular technology. We believe that over the long-term, site leasing revenues will continue to grow as wireless service providers lease additional antenna space on our towers due to increasing minutes of network use and data transfer, network expansion and network coverage requirements. During the remainder of 2021, we expect organic site leasing revenue in both our domestic and international segments to increase over 2020 levels due in part to wireless carriers deploying unused spectrum. We believe our site leasing business is characterized by stable and long-term recurring revenues, predictable operating costs and minimal non-discretionary capital expenditures. Due to the relatively young age and mix of our tower portfolio, we expect future expenditures required to maintain these towers to be minimal. Consequently, we expect to grow our cash flows by (1) adding tenants to our towers at minimal incremental costs by using existing tower capacity or requiring wireless service providers to bear all or

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Item 3. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

We are exposed to certain market risks that are inherent in our financial instruments. These instruments arise from transactions entered into in the normal course of business.

‎

The following table presents the future principal payment obligations and fair values associated with our long-term debt instruments assuming our actual level of long-term indebtedness as of September 30, 2021:

20212022202320242025ThereafterTotalFair Value
(in thousands)
2018 Term Loan$6,000$24,000$24,000$24,000$2,244,000$—$2,322,000$2,301,683
2013-2C Tower Securities (1)(2)——575,000———575,000586,420
2014-2C Tower Securities (1)———620,000——620,000649,097
2018-1C Tower Securities (1)——640,000———640,000654,970
2019-1C Tower Securities (1)————1,165,000—1,165,0001,186,366
2020-1C Tower Securities (1)—————750,000750,000754,163
2020-2C Tower Securities (1)—————600,000600,000609,546
2021-1C Tower Securities (1)—————1,165,0001,165,0001,160,503
2016 Senior Notes (3)———1,100,000——1,100,0001,113,761
2020 Senior Notes—————1,500,0001,500,0001,553,505
2021 Senior Notes—————1,500,0001,500,0001,455,000
Total debt obligation (3)$6,000$24,000$1,239,000$1,744,000$3,409,000$5,515,000$11,937,000$12,025,014

(1)For information on the anticipated repayment date and final maturity date for each tower security, refer to “Debt Instruments and Debt Service Requirements” above.

(2)On October 14, 2021, we repaid the entire aggregate principal amount of the 2013-2C Tower Securities ($575.0 million). For further discussion, refer to “Secured Tower Revenue Securities” above.

(3)Total debt service excludes interest payments on the $895.0 million 2021-2C Tower Securities and the $895.0 million 2021-3C Tower Securities issued October 27, 2021, proceeds from which were used to repay amounts outstanding under the Revolving Credit Facility and remaining proceeds will be used to redeem the entire aggregate principal amount of the 2016 Senior Notes ($1.1 billion). For further discussion, refer to “Debt Instruments and Debt Service Requirements” above.

Our current primary market risk exposure is (1) interest rate risk relating to our ability to refinance our debt at commercially reasonable rates, if at all, and (2) interest rate risk relating to the impact of interest rate movements on the variable portion of our 2018 Term Loan and any borrowings that we may incur under our Revolving Credit Facility, which are at floating rates. We manage the interest rate risk on our outstanding debt through our large percentage of fixed rate debt, including interest rate swaps. On August 4, 2020, we, through our wholly owned subsidiary, SBA Senior Finance II, entered into an interest rate swap for $1.95 billion of notional value accruing interest at one month LIBOR plus 175 basis points for a fixed rate of 1.874% per annum through the maturity date of the 2018 Term Loan. While we cannot predict our ability to refinance existing debt or the impact interest rate movements will have on our existing debt, we continue to evaluate our financial position on an ongoing basis. The IBA intends to cease the publication of USD LIBOR as follows: the 1 week and 2 month tenors on December 31, 2021 and all other tenors on June 30, 2023. The discontinuation of LIBOR and the replacement with an alternative reference rate may adversely impact interest rates and our interest expense could increase. On July 7, 2021, we amended our Revolving Credit Facility to provide mechanics relating to a transition away from LIBOR as a benchmark interest rate and the replacement of LIBOR by an alternative benchmark rate.

We are exposed to market risk from changes in foreign currency exchange rates in connection with our operations in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Colombia, South Africa, and to a lesser extent, our markets in Central America. In each of these countries, we pay most of our selling, general, and administrative expenses and a portion of our operating expenses, such as taxes and utilities incurred in the country in local currency. In addition, in Brazil, Canada, Chile, and South Africa, we receive significantly all of our revenue and pay significantly all of our operating expenses in local currency. In Colombia, Argentina, and Peru, we receive our revenue and pay our operating expenses in a mix of local currency and U.S. dollars. All transactions denominated in currencies other than the U.S. Dollar are reported in U.S. Dollars at the applicable exchange rate. All assets and liabilities are translated into U.S. Dollars at exchange rates in effect at the end of the applicable fiscal reporting period, and all revenues and expenses are translated at average rates for the period. The cumulative translation effect is included in equity as a component of Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss). For the nine months ended September 30, 2021, approximately 13.5% of our revenues and approximately 17.7% of our total operating expenses were denominated in foreign currencies.

We have performed a sensitivity analysis assuming a hypothetical 10% adverse movement in the Brazilian Real from the quoted foreign currency exchange rates at September 30, 2021. As of September 30, 2021, the analysis indicated that such an adverse movement would have caused our revenues and operating income to decline by approximately 0.9% and 0.5%, respectively, for the nine months ended September 30, 2021.

As of September 30, 2021, we had intercompany debt, which is denominated in a currency other than the functional currency of the subsidiary in which it is recorded. As settlement of this debt is anticipated or planned in the foreseeable future, any changes in the foreign currency exchange rates will result in unrealized gains or losses, which will be included in our determination of net

income. A change of 10% in the underlying exchange rates of our unsettled intercompany debt at September 30, 2021 would have resulted in approximately $81.2 million of unrealized gains or losses that would have been included in Other income (expense), net in our Consolidated Statements of Operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2021.

Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This quarterly report contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. These statements concern expectations, beliefs, projections, plans and strategies, anticipated events or trends and similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. Specifically, this quarterly report contains forward-looking statements regarding:

our expectations on the future growth and financial health of the wireless industry and the industry participants, the drivers of such growth, the demand for our towers, the future capital investments of our customers, future spectrum auctions, the trends developing in our industry, and competitive factors;

our ability to capture and capitalize on industry growth and the impact of such growth on our financial and operational results;

our expectations regarding consolidation of wireless service providers and the impact of such consolidation on our financial and operational results;

our intent to grow our tower portfolio domestically and internationally and expand through acquisitions, new builds, and organic lease up on existing towers;

our belief that over the long-term, site leasing revenues will continue to grow as wireless service providers increase their use of our towers due to increasing minutes of network use and data transfer, network expansion and network coverage requirements;

our expectation regarding site leasing revenue growth, on an organic basis, in our domestic and international segments, and the drivers of such growth;

our focus on our site leasing business and belief that our site leasing business is characterized by stable and long-term recurring revenues, reduced exposure to changes in customer spending, predictable operating costs, and minimal non-discretionary capital expenditures;

our expectation that, due to the relatively young age and mix of our tower portfolio, future expenditures required to maintain these towers will be minimal;

our expectation that we will grow our cash flows by adding tenants to our towers at minimal incremental costs and executing monetary amendments;

our expectations regarding churn rates;

our election to be subject to tax as a REIT and our intent to continue to operate as a REIT;

our belief that our business is currently operated in a manner that complies with the REIT rules and our intent to continue to do so;

our plans regarding our distribution policy, and the amount and timing of, and source of funds for, any such distributions;

our expectations regarding the use of NOLs to reduce REIT taxable income;

our expectations regarding our capital allocation strategy, including future allocation decisions among portfolio growth, stock repurchases and dividends, the impact of our election to be taxed as a REIT on that strategy, and our goal of increasing our Adjusted Funds From Operations per share;

our expectations regarding dividends and our ability to grow our dividend in the future and the drivers of such growth;

our expectations regarding our future cash capital expenditures, both discretionary and non-discretionary, including expenditures required for new builds and to maintain, improve, and modify our towers, ground lease purchases, and general corporate expenditures, and the source of funds for these expenditures;

our expectations regarding the timing for closing of refinancing transactions;

our expectations regarding our business strategies, including our strategy for securing rights to the land underlying our towers, and the impact of such strategies on our financial and operational results;

our intended use of our liquidity;

our intent to maintain our target leverage levels, including in light of our dividend;

our expectations regarding our debt service in 2021 and our belief that our cash on hand, capacity under our Revolving Credit Facility, and our cash flows from operations for the next twelve months will be sufficient to service our outstanding debt during the next twelve months; and

our expectations and estimates regarding certain tax and accounting matters, including the impact on our financial statements.

These forward-looking statements reflect our current views about future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. We wish to caution readers that certain important factors may have affected and could in the future affect our actual results and could cause actual results to differ significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. The most

important factors that could prevent us from achieving our goals, and cause the assumptions underlying forward-looking statements and the actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by those forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the following:

the impact of consolidation among wireless service providers, including the impact of T-Mobile and Sprint;

the ability of DISH Network to become and compete as a nationwide carrier;

our ability to continue to comply with covenants and the terms of our credit instruments and our ability to obtain additional financing to fund our capital expenditures;

our ability to successfully manage the risks associated with international operations, including risks relating to political or economic conditions, inflation, tax laws, currency restrictions and exchange rate fluctuations, legal or judicial systems, and land ownership;

our ability to successfully manage the risks associated with our acquisition initiatives, including our ability to satisfactorily complete due diligence on acquired towers, the amount and quality of due diligence that we are able to complete prior to closing of any acquisition, our ability to accurately anticipate the future performance of the acquired towers, our ability to receive required regulatory approval, the ability and willingness of each party to fulfill their respective closing conditions and their contractual obligations, and, once acquired, our ability to effectively integrate acquired towers into our business and to achieve the financial results projected in our valuation models for the acquired towers;

the health of the South Africa economy and wireless communications market, and the willingness of carriers to invest in their networks in that market;

developments in the wireless communications industry in general, and for wireless communications infrastructure providers in particular, that may slow growth or affect the willingness or ability of the wireless service providers to expend capital to fund network expansion or enhancements;

our ability to secure as many site leasing tenants as anticipated, recognize our expected economies of scale with respect to new tenants on our towers, and retain current leases on towers;

our ability to secure and deliver anticipated services business at contemplated margins;

our ability to build new towers, including our ability to identify and acquire land that would be attractive for our customers and to successfully and timely address zoning, permitting, weather, availability of labor and supplies and other issues that arise in connection with the building of new towers;

competition for the acquisition of towers and other factors that may adversely affect our ability to purchase towers that meet our investment criteria and are available at prices which we believe will be accretive to our shareholders and allow us to maintain our long-term target leverage ratios while achieving our expected portfolio growth levels;

our capital allocation decisions and the impact on our ability to achieve our expected tower portfolio growth levels;

our ability to protect our rights to the land under our towers, and our ability to acquire land underneath our towers on terms that are accretive;

our ability to sufficiently increase our revenues and maintain expenses and cash capital expenditures at appropriate levels to permit us to meet our anticipated uses of liquidity for operations, debt service and estimated portfolio growth;

the impact of rising interest rates on our results of operations and our ability to refinance our existing indebtedness at commercially reasonable rates or at all;

the extent and duration of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the global economy, on our business and results of operations, and on foreign currency exchange rates;

our ability to successfully estimate the impact of regulatory and litigation matters;

natural disasters and other unforeseen damage for which our insurance may not provide adequate coverage;

a decrease in demand for our towers;

the introduction of new technologies or changes in a tenant’s business model that may make our tower leasing business less desirable to existing or potential tenants;

our ability to qualify for treatment as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes and to comply with and conduct our business in accordance with such rules;

our ability to utilize available NOLs to reduce REIT taxable income; and

our ability to successfully estimate the impact of certain accounting and tax matters, including the effect on our company of adopting certain accounting pronouncements and the availability of sufficient NOLs to offset future REIT taxable income.

‎

Item 4. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

Disclosure Controls and Procedures

In order to ensure that the information we must disclose in our filings with the Commission is recorded, processed, summarized and reported on a timely basis, we have formalized our disclosure controls and procedures. Our principal executive officer and principal financial officer have reviewed and evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures, as defined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(e) as of September 30, 2021. Based on such evaluation, such officers have concluded that, as of September 30, 2021, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective.

PART II – OTHER INFORMATION

ITEM 2. UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

The following table presents information related to our repurchases of Class A common stock during the third quarter of 2021:

TotalTotal Number of SharesApproximate Dollar Value
NumberAveragePurchased as Part ofof Shares that May Yet Be
of SharesPrice PaidPublicly AnnouncedPurchased Under the
PeriodPurchasedPer SharePlans or Programs (1)Plans or Programs
7/1/2021 - 7/31/2021—$——$475,132,492
8/1/2021 - 8/31/2021158,055$347.27158,055$420,245,455
9/1/2021 - 9/30/2021282,219$337.02282,219$325,132,548
Total440,274$340.70440,274$325,132,548

(1)Our Board of Directors authorizes us to purchase, from time to time, outstanding Class A common stock through open market repurchases in compliance with Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act, and/or in privately negotiated transactions at management’s discretion based on market and business conditions, applicable legal requirements, and other factors. Once authorized, the repurchase plan has no time deadline and will continue until otherwise modified or terminated by our Board of Directors at any time in its sole discretion. Shares repurchased are retired.

Item 6. EXHIBITS

Exhibit No.Description of Exhibits
31.1Certification by Jeffrey A. Stoops, Chief Executive Officer, pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
31.2Certification by Brendan T. Cavanagh, Chief Financial Officer, pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
32.1Certification by Jeffrey A. Stoops, Chief Executive Officer, pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
32.2Certification by Brendan T. Cavanagh, Chief Financial Officer, pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
101.INSXBRL Instance Document – the instance document does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document.
101.SCHXBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document.
101.DEFXBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document.
101.CALXBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document.
101.LABXBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document.
101.PREXBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document.
104Cover Page Interactive File (formatted in Inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101).

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

SBA COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION
November 5, 2021/s/ Jeffrey A. Stoops
Jeffrey A. Stoops
Chief Executive Officer
(Duly Authorized Officer)
November 5, 2021/s/ Brendan T. Cavanagh
Brendan T. Cavanagh
Chief Financial Officer
(Principal Financial Officer)