What SBA Communications Corporation told the SEC could break it.

SBA's towers are regulated by the FCC and FAA (construction, lighting/marking, registration) and new builds require state/local zoning and NEPA/NHPA/Endangered Species Act compliance, constraining and adding cost to tower deployment.

“both the Federal Communications Commission (the “FCC”) and the Federal Aviation Administration (the “FAA”) regulate towers. ... 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.”

SBA must distribute ≥90% of REIT taxable income (after NOLs) to maintain REIT status, with corporate tax on undistributed income and a 4% excise tax if distributions fall below a minimum.

“To remain qualified as a REIT, we are required generally to distribute at least 90% of our REIT taxable income after the utilization of any available NOLs (determined without regard to the dividends paid deduction and excluding net capital gain) each year to our shareholders.”

SBA's revenue is concentrated in the three remaining U.S. nationwide carriers — T-Mobile 31.1%, AT&T 20.3%, Verizon 15.1% of 2025 total revenue (~66% combined) — and industry consolidation to three carriers has exacerbated this dependence.

“wireless service provider market has reduced to three nationwide wireless service providers, AT&T Wireless, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless, and our dependence on these three wireless service providers for our financial and operational growth has been exacerbated. ... T-Mobile 31.1% 30.5% 32.5% AT&T Wireless 20.3% 20.6% 19.5% Verizon Wireless 15.1%”

About 20% of revenue and 26.5% of operating expenses are in foreign currencies (notably Brazil, ~30% of international towers); a hypothetical 10% adverse Brazilian real move would cut revenue ~1.1% and operating income ~0.7%.

“For the year ended December 31, 2025, approximately 20.0% of our revenues and approximately 26.5% 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 December 31, 2025. The analysis indicated that such an adverse movement would have caused our revenues and operating income to decline by approximately 1.1% and 0.7%, respectively”