AGL Magazine's Tower Market Report

CLEVELAND, OH – (August, 2000) – The aches and pains of the private sector include finding capital for new growth, acquisitions and upgrades, but not all potential financers have pulled back into their shells for the duration of the recession.

"I like the tower sector because it is a way to capitalize on the macro trends in wireless," said Howard Mandel, president of Peppertree Capital Management, a company focused on financing for middle-tier tower companies. "Coverage issues continue to be a problem, but more importantly, the wireless carriers are now facing significant capacity issues due to increasing data usage."

With Peppertree having recently launched its seventh tower company investment, Mandel likes the nature of tower revenues over other telecom properties. "The noncyclicality of towers is an important advantage over other wireless-related opportunities," he said. "The carriers pay their contracted tower rent in good times and bad. This same predictability is not necessarily the case for revenue streams in other wireless sectors, such as handset sales. Frankly, I am more confident about lease-up today than I was 10 years ago."