Wells Fargo Sees No Major Impact From AT&T, American Tower Legal Dispute
AT&T sued American Tower last week in a Delaware Chancery Court asserting that the tower company isn't complying with amendments to their tower leasing agreements. The lawsuit cites a 2010 agreement both companies signed to simplify their relationship and address…
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differences among past pacts. “There are no punitive damages being sought by AT&T but rather, AT&T is asking the court to interpret the language of the contract,” Wells Fargo’s Jennifer Fritzsche told investors Tuesday. “Our sense is this has been a point of discussion between the two [companies] for an extended period of time.” This "is a small number of leases and this issue will not have a revenue impact through Q2,” she said. American Tower didn't comment. The dispute concerns how to calculate the rent AT&T pays for space on 9,550 cellsites and whether leases on 550 of those, known as “prepayment sites,” remain. If so, AT&T would be on the hook to pay an estimated $270 million less in rent between now and 2028. AT&T and American Tower tried to resolve the issue through mediation and in further negotiations but were unable to do so. “We’ve tried unsuccessfully to resolve this business dispute with American Tower, and at this point felt we needed to take this action to protect our interests,” an AT&T spokesperson said.