--- title: "American Tower owns Dish's abandoned 5G radios; SpaceX may be the buyer as US property revenue falls 3%" description: "A bankruptcy abandonment order gave the tower operator its dead customer's radios the same week it guided US property revenue down 3%. About 400 basis points of that hole is one company, and the likeliest buyer of the gear is the company building a network to replace its remaining tenants." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Data Center" published: 2026-11-02T17:13:24.051Z modified: 2026-11-02T17:13:24.051Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/american-tower-owns-dish-s-abandoned-5g-radios-spacex-may-be-the-buyer-as-us-property-revenue-falls-3 language: en keywords: "American Tower, SpaceX, EchoStar, 5G, Telecom Infrastructure, Bankruptcy" --- # American Tower owns Dish's abandoned 5G radios; SpaceX may be the buyer as US property revenue falls 3% > A bankruptcy abandonment order gave the tower operator its dead customer's radios the same week it guided US property revenue down 3%. About 400 basis points of that hole is one company, and the likeliest buyer of the gear is the company building a network to replace its remaining tenants. On [the October 27 earnings call](https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/amt/transcripts/716915-q3-2026/), [American Tower](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/american-tower) chief executive Steven Vondran confirmed that a bankruptcy abandonment order has handed the tower operator ownership of Dish Wireless's abandoned 5G radios and antennas across its more than 42,000 US towers [1][6]. "There is an abandonment order in the bankruptcy. Yes, we own that equipment as of the date of that order," Vondran said, and pressed on whether anything blocks a sale: "We can do whatever we want to do with it." [1] [Light Reading](https://www.lightreading.com/5g/tower-companies-now-own-dish-s-abandoned-5g-radios-and-spacex-might-become-a-buyer) identified the abandoned gear the same week as the likeliest bargain for [SpaceX](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/spacex), which is building a terrestrial network under its satellite constellation and is reported to be [negotiating access to at least 80,000 US cell sites](https://theinference.org/article/spacex-is-negotiating-access-to-80-000-us-cell-sites-crown-castle-rose-9-as-at-t-verizon-and-t-mobile-fell) [2][3]. The radios are the remains of a collapse. After parent [EchoStar](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/echostar) sold spectrum to [AT&T](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/at-and-t) and SpaceX amid an FCC investigation, Dish Wireless stopped paying its tower landlords, argued the sales excused its contracts, and [filed Chapter 11 on June 30, 2026](https://www.techtimes.com/articles/320221/20260712/dish-wireless-bankruptcy-court-slows-fast-exit-tower-creditors-seek-55b.htm), leaving more than 144,000 radios across 24,000 sites and a $2 billion American Tower claim in the estate [4]. ## One customer explains the hole in the US numbers The churn explains the shape of American Tower's year. [Full-year guidance](https://business.am-news.com/am-news/article/bizwire-2026-10-27-american-tower-corporation-reports-third-quarter-2026-financial-results) puts US and Canada property revenue at $5,085 to $5,095 million, a midpoint decline of 3.0%, and third-quarter US and Canada property revenue fell 3.3% year over year [5]. Chief financial officer Rod Smith put full-year US organic tenant billings growth at about 50 basis points, including roughly 400 basis points of one-time Dish churn; strip the dead customer out and the tower business tracks about 4% [1]. Company-wide, third-quarter revenue rose 2.5% to $2,785 million and AFFO attributable to common stockholders rose 2.4% to $1,335 million [5]. *Chart: **In Q3 2026 the US tower book shrank 3.3% while data centers grew 17.4%** Bar chart of Q3 2026 year-over-year property revenue growth by American Tower segment: US and Canada down 3.3%, Europe up 5.9%, Latin America up 10.4%, Africa and APAC up 15.4%, Data Centers up 17.4%* *Year-over-year growth in segment property revenue, third quarter 2026 versus third quarter 2025, as reported by American Tower. Source: American Tower Q3 2026 results, October 27, 2026. [5]* *Chart: **Revenue growth peaked at 7.7% in Q3 2025 and slowed every quarter since** Line chart of American Tower total revenue year-over-year growth by quarter from Q4 2024 to Q3 2026, peaking at 7.7% in Q3 2025 and slowing each quarter since to 2.5%* *Total revenue, year-over-year growth by calendar quarter, from American Tower's SEC filings, retrieved November 2, 2026. [8]* ## The likely new tenant wants to replace the tenants already paying Bloomberg reported that the potential leasing agreements could reach into the billions of dollars, and the FCC has approved 15,000 satellites that beam service straight to ordinary phones [3]. [Crown Castle](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/crown-castle), which runs 40,000 US towers, confirmed it is talking to SpaceX [7]. Vondran was equally open: "Anybody who has wireless ambitions is probably somebody that we are talking to." [1] The tension sits in what the new tenant builds for. SpaceX's terrestrial network targets the same coverage the big three carriers rent an estimated 65,000 to 82,000 towers apiece to deliver [7], and American Tower keeps satellite demand out of its long-term growth framework: "we're not really building any of that into the long term," Rod Smith said [1]. SpaceX also plans to sell femtocells, small radio transmitters that can sit in homes and businesses, alongside tower leases [7]. ## Growth has moved to the data centers while the towers wait Data center cash revenue grew 16.3% in the quarter and the full-year data center revenue growth outlook [rose to about 16% from 15% a quarter earlier](https://theinference.org/article/american-tower-s-55-million-guidance-raise-is-all-data-centers-as-tower-revenue-falls-3-3); more than $700 million of this year's capital plan goes to data center projects [5][1]. The Canada towers sold for about $202 million, roughly 26 times expected 2026 EBITDA, and the board added $2 billion to the buyback after $315 million of repurchases in the quarter [5][1]. Management calls 2026 the trough: reported AFFO per share growth of about 3%, about 6% excluding the Dish churn and refinancing costs and about 7% if the services step-down is also non-recurring, against net leverage of 4.9x [1]. ## No shortcut, says the incumbent that would lose the most The counterargument belongs to [Verizon](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/verizon) chief executive Dan Schulman: "[There's no magic wand. There's no secret sauce. There's no shortcut.](https://theinference.org/article/musk-s-phone-plan-is-not-viable-says-the-ceo-whose-price-target-just-got-cut)" He points to a four-to-six-year build costing $300 billion to $500 billion [2]. LightShed Partners, a telecom research firm, answers that buying the already-installed radios would gut that estimate and would take EchoStar chairman and chief executive Charlie Ergen, a notoriously tough negotiator, out of the deal, since SpaceX can now bargain with tower companies directly [2]. MoffettNathanson analyst Nick Del Deo doubts all 80,000 sites would be macro towers, given the femtocell plan and satellite coverage [2]. There is also the leverage theory: Ken Schmidt of Steel in the Air, a firm that tracks cell lease negotiations, suspects the 80,000-site number is designed to push one of the big three into a resale deal, which all three have so far refused [7]. ## SpaceX is assembling the spectrum those radios carry The radios also fit a puzzle SpaceX is building. On October 8 SpaceX [agreed to buy the nationwide 800 MHz portfolio](https://satnews.com/2026/10/11/spacex-acquires-grain-managements-800-mhz-spectrum-portfolio-to-launch-standalone-starlink-mobile-carrier/) held by Grain Management, a digital infrastructure investment firm, the low-band airwaves that penetrate buildings and that LightShed says match the abandoned hardware [9][2]. The would-be tenant arrives levered too: The Inference has tracked the record default-insurance spread behind SpaceX's [$40 billion Nvidia chip bill](https://theinference.org/article/spacex-wants-40-billion-more-for-nvidia-chips-as-its-default-insurance-hits-a-record-194-basis-points) [9][2]. ## The churn vanishes from the math in 2027 The Dish estate still owes the force majeure fight, where unsecured creditors were offered 1.4 to 2.2 cents on the dollar before American Tower took the customer out of every projection anyway [4]. The tower arbitration ruling on AT&T Mexico lands in early 2027 [1], and the churn disappears from the math the same year: the 50 basis point US book either refills or does not. American Tower has already priced the year without Dish. Whether SpaceX turns the abandoned radios into paid leases decides whether 2027 brings the inflection management has promised. [2] ## Takeaway A bankruptcy abandonment order made American Tower the owner of Dish's abandoned 5G radios just as it priced 2026 without Dish: about 400 basis points of US churn to refill, and SpaceX, already buying the matching spectrum, as the likeliest buyer of the gear. ## Sources 1. [StockAnalysis, American Tower (AMT) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript, 27 October 2026](https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/amt/transcripts/716915-q3-2026/) 2. [Light Reading, Jeff Baumgartner, Tower companies now own Dish's abandoned 5G radios, and SpaceX might become a buyer, 28 October 2026](https://www.lightreading.com/5g/tower-companies-now-own-dish-s-abandoned-5g-radios-and-spacex-might-become-a-buyer) 3. [Yahoo Finance (Investing.com, reporting Bloomberg News), SpaceX in talks over 80,000 cell sites to build new wireless network, 22 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/articles/spacex-talks-80-000-cell-222051612.html) 4. [Tech Times, Brandon Fisher, Dish Wireless Bankruptcy: Court Slows Fast Exit as Tower Creditors Seek $5.5B, 12 July 2026](https://www.techtimes.com/articles/320221/20260712/dish-wireless-bankruptcy-court-slows-fast-exit-tower-creditors-seek-55b.htm) 5. [American Tower Corporation via Business Wire, Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results, 27 October 2026](https://business.am-news.com/am-news/article/bizwire-2026-10-27-american-tower-corporation-reports-third-quarter-2026-financial-results) 6. [Data Center Dynamics, American Tower CEO: We own abandoned Dish equipment on our towers, 29 October 2026](https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/american-tower-ceo-we-own-abandoned-dish-equipment-on-our-towers/) 7. [PCMag, Michael Kan, Report: SpaceX wants 80,000 cell sites for Starlink Mobile, 23 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/general/report-spacex-wants-80-000-cell-sites-for-starlink-mobile/ar-AA2fXjYk) 8. [American Tower, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 2 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001053507) 9. [SatNews, SpaceX Acquires Grain Management's 800 MHz Spectrum Portfolio to Launch Standalone Starlink Mobile Carrier, 11 October 2026](https://satnews.com/2026/10/11/spacex-acquires-grain-managements-800-mhz-spectrum-portfolio-to-launch-standalone-starlink-mobile-carrier/) --- American Tower owns Dish's abandoned 5G radios; SpaceX may be the buyer as US property revenue falls 3% — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/american-tower-owns-dish-s-abandoned-5g-radios-spacex-may-be-the-buyer-as-us-property-revenue-falls-3