Crown Castle reports an average of about 2.4 tenants per tower across its more than 40,000 US towers (Crown Castle 10-K, 2025), the highest tenancy figure among the major listed tower companies, and the number that explains why the shared-tower model works: the second and third tenant cost the owner almost nothing to host. Outside the US the ratios are lower but rising, with Cellnex at 1.63x across Europe (H1 2026), Indus Towers holding at 1.62 in India and China Tower at 1.78 across 2.172 million sites. Growth now comes from colocations rather than new steel, and the biggest risk is churn: DISH’s exit has put more than 3.5 billion dollars of Crown Castle payments into litigation. For the network upgrades driving those colocations, see our 5G adoption statistics. We aggregated data from SEC filings and earnings releases by American Tower, Crown Castle and SBA Communications, results from Cellnex, INWIT, Vantage Towers, Indus Towers, Helios Towers, IHS Towers and China Tower, plus the Wireless Infrastructure Association, CTIA and TowerXchange.
TL;DR
- Crown Castle averages about 2.4 tenants per tower across more than 40,000 US towers (Crown Castle 10-K, 2025).
- SBA Communications averages 1.8 tenants per site across 46,328 sites (SBA Communications 10-K, 2025).
- China Tower: 2.172 million sites, 3.871 million tenants, tenancy ratio 1.78 (China Tower H1 2026 results).
- Indus Towers: 267,600 macro towers, 432,300 colocations, tenancy ratio 1.62 (Indus Towers Q1 FY27 earnings call, July 2026).
- Cellnex tenancy ratio reached 1.63x, with organic PoP growth of 4.9% (Cellnex H1 2026 results).
- INWIT tenancy ratio reached 2.39x in Q1 2026 (2.35x a year earlier) and 2.4x in Q2 2026 (INWIT Q1 and Q2 2026 results).
- Helios Towers tenancy ratio climbed to 2.26x from 2.11x a year earlier (Helios Towers H1 2026 results).
- IHS Towers: 37,672 towers, 55,205 tenants, colocation rate 1.47x (IHS Holding Q2 2026 results).
- US has 158,500 purpose-built cellular towers and 254,850 macrocell sites (WIA, Wireless Infrastructure by the Numbers 2025).
- American Tower organic tenant billings grew 1.7% in Q2 2026, only 0.7% in US and Canada (American Tower Q2 2026 results).
- Crown Castle is seeking more than 3.5 billion dollars in remaining DISH payments (Crown Castle 8-K, January 2026).
- Tower companies own 71.8% of the world’s 5.59 million investible towers (TowerXchange Tower League Table, Q4 2024).
1. The Tenancy Ratio Leaderboard
Tenancy is the single best predictor of tower economics: a tower’s ground lease, maintenance and steel cost roughly the same whether it carries one operator or three, so every extra tenant flows almost straight to margin. Crown Castle’s average of about 2.4 tenants per US tower (Crown Castle 10-K, 2025) sits at the top of the listed peer group, while SBA Communications, with most of its sites now outside the US, averages 1.8 per site (SBA 10-K 2025 summary).
The spread between operators says more about history than skill. US towers were built by independent tower companies and marketed to four national carriers for decades; most European and Asian towers were carved out of a single operator’s network and start life at roughly one tenant. That is why a 1.5x ratio in Germany and a 2.4x ratio in Texas can both be signs of a healthy business.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Crown Castle average tenants per tower | About 2.4 (Dec 31, 2025) | Crown Castle 10-K, 2025 |
| INWIT tenancy ratio (Italy) | 2.4x (Q2 2026) | INWIT Q2 2026 earnings call |
| Helios Towers tenancy ratio (Africa, Middle East) | 2.26x (H1 2026) | Helios Towers H1 2026 results |
| SBA Communications average tenants per site | 1.8 (Dec 31, 2025) | SBA Communications 10-K, 2025 |
| China Tower tenancy ratio | 1.78 tenants per site (June 2026) | China Tower H1 2026 results |
| Cellnex tenancy ratio (Europe) | 1.63x (H1 2026) | Cellnex H1 2026 results |
| Indus Towers tenancy ratio (India) | 1.62 (June 2026) | Indus Towers Q1 FY27 earnings call |
| IHS Towers colocation rate (Africa) | 1.47x (Q2 2026) | IHS Holding Q2 2026 results |
Context note: American Tower, the world’s largest independent tower company, does not publish a tenancy ratio in its 10-K. Definitions also vary: Cellnex counts points of presence (PoPs) per site, IHS calls its figure a colocation rate, and China Tower counts tenants per site including non-telecom customers. Treat the table as directional, not as an apples-to-apples ranking.
The structural gap is older than any single company. TowerXchange estimated in 2019 that towers owned by tower companies averaged a tenancy ratio of almost exactly 2.0, versus less than 1.1 for towers still captive on operator balance sheets (TowerXchange via Capacity, December 2019). Most recent available data: TowerXchange, 2019. A year earlier the same tracker had put the global towerco average at 1.62x (TowerXchange via Capacity, October 2018); the two estimates may not use identical methodologies, but both put independent towers well ahead of captive ones.
2. The US Tower Base: Scale, Concentration and Who Pays
The US market is mature, concentrated and almost entirely dependent on three customers. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon accounted for about 90% of Crown Castle’s 2025 site rental revenues and 85% of American Tower’s US and Canada property revenue (American Tower 10-K, 2025). With a fourth national network gone, the ceiling for average US tenancy is effectively three anchor carriers plus regional, fixed wireless and private-network tenants.
The physical base keeps growing slowly. The Wireless Infrastructure Association counts 158,500 purpose-built cellular towers, up from 154,800 at the end of 2024, alongside 254,850 macrocell sites once rooftops and other structures are included (WIA, Wireless Infrastructure by the Numbers 2025). CTIA counted 447,605 operational cell sites, small cells included, at year-end 2024, after about 15,000 new cell towers were activated in 2024 (CTIA 2025 Annual Survey highlights).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| US purpose-built cellular towers | 158,500 | WIA, Wireless Infrastructure by the Numbers 2025 |
| US macro cell towers, end of 2024 / 2023 | 154,800 / 153,400 | WIA 2024 report via Light Reading |
| US macrocell sites (excluding small cells) | 254,850 | WIA, Wireless Infrastructure by the Numbers 2025 |
| US operational cell sites, year-end 2024 | 447,605 | CTIA 2025 Annual Survey |
| New US cell towers activated in 2024 | About 15,000 | CTIA 2025 Annual Survey |
| Crown Castle towers | More than 40,000 (56% in top 50 and 71% in top 100 US basic trading areas) | Crown Castle 10-K, 2025 |
| American Tower US and Canada communications sites | 42,224 (Dec 31, 2025) | American Tower 10-K, 2025 |
| SBA domestic sites | 17,362 (June 30, 2026) | SBA Communications Q2 2026 results |
Context note: the WIA 2024 tower and small-cell figures were reported by Light Reading. WIA counts towers and macro sites separately, so the gap between 158,500 towers and 254,850 macro sites is mostly rooftops and other non-tower structures, not extra tenants.
Contract length is what makes a 2.4x ratio bankable. Crown Castle reports a weighted-average remaining tenant contract life of about six years and $23.7 billion of expected future tenant cash inflows, while American Tower expects over $54 billion of non-cancellable tenant lease revenue across its global portfolio. Only about 40% of Crown Castle’s tower gross margin comes from towers on land it owns, which is why its new management lists increasing land ownership as a priority.
3. Colocations Are Outrunning New Builds
The growth engine has shifted from building towers to filling them. Indus Towers added about 4,200 colocations against roughly 3,100 new macro towers in the June 2026 quarter, for an incremental tenancy ratio of around 1.37x, while its total tenancy held at 1.62 (Indus Towers Q1 FY27 earnings call). In Europe, Cellnex reported that gross colocations added 3.6% to points of presence in H1 2026 against 1.8% from build-to-suit sites (Cellnex H1 2026 results).
The same pattern shows up in the US, for a different reason. Midband 5G signals travel less far than lowband, so operators are filling coverage gaps by adding equipment to existing towers rather than deploying the small cells once forecast. WIA counted 197,850 outdoor small cells at the end of 2024, down from 202,100 a year earlier, even as tower counts rose. SBA management said on its Q2 2026 call that the bulk of its leasing activity continues to come from new colocations as carriers densify and expand their network footprints (SBA Q2 2026 earnings call).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Indus Towers colocation vs tower additions | About 4,200 vs 3,100 (Q1 FY27) | Indus Towers Q1 FY27 earnings call |
| Indus Towers incremental tenancy ratio | About 1.37x | Indus Towers Q1 FY27 earnings call |
| Cellnex PoP growth from gross colocations / BTS | +3.6% / +1.8% (H1 2026) | Cellnex H1 2026 results |
| Cellnex PoP growth from gross colocations / BTS | +3.6% / +2.2% (FY 2025) | Cellnex FY 2025 results |
| Helios Towers tenancy additions / of which new sites | 2,511 / 524 (H1 2026) | Helios Towers H1 2026 results |
| INWIT new PoPs vs new towers | 380 vs 50 (Q2 2026) | INWIT Q2 2026 earnings call |
| US outdoor small cells, end of 2024 / 2023 | 197,850 / 202,100 | WIA 2024 report via Light Reading |
| SBA domestic new lease and amendment billings | About $9 million (Q2 2026) | SBA Q2 2026 earnings call |
Helios’s split implies 1,987 colocations and amendments on existing sites (2,511 total additions minus 524 new sites) in a single half-year, about four tenancies on existing steel for every new site built. Small cells have not disappeared: WIA’s 2025 report still counts 198,100 outdoor small cells and 830,350 indoor nodes, a market that overlaps with the dark fiber leasing that connects them.
4. Emerging Markets: Where Ratios Still Have Room to Run
The biggest tenancy gains are in Africa and India, where operator-built networks were sold to tower companies and are now being shared. Helios Towers lifted its tenancy ratio from 2.11x to 2.26x in twelve months, on 34,455 tenancies across 15,270 sites (Helios Towers H1 2026 results), and raised its 2026 guidance to 3,500 to 4,000 tenancy additions. Its Central and Southern Africa region already runs at 2.39x, above Crown Castle’s US average.
IHS Towers, which shareholders approved for acquisition by MTN Group in August 2026, ran a 1.47x colocation rate on 37,672 towers and 55,205 tenants (IHS Holding Q2 2026 results). The tenancy count understates activity: IHS also carried 46,766 lease amendments, where an existing tenant adds equipment and pays more without counting as a new tenant.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Helios Towers sites / tenancies | 15,270 / 34,455 (H1 2026) | Helios Towers H1 2026 results |
| Helios Towers tenancy ratio | 2.26x (vs 2.11x in H1 2025) | Helios Towers H1 2026 results |
| Helios Central and Southern Africa / East and West Africa / MENA ratio | 2.39x / 2.31x / 1.83x | Helios Towers H1 2026 results |
| Helios 2026 tenancy additions guidance | 3,500 to 4,000 (raised from 3,000 to 3,500) | Helios Towers H1 2026 results |
| IHS Towers towers / tenants / colocation rate | 37,672 / 55,205 / 1.47x (Q2 2026) | IHS Holding Q2 2026 results |
| IHS Towers lease amendments | 46,766 | IHS Holding Q2 2026 results |
| Indus Towers macro towers / colocations | 267,600 / 432,300 (June 2026) | Indus Towers Q1 FY27 earnings call |
| American Tower Africa and APAC organic tenant billings growth | 10.6% (Q2 2026) | American Tower Q2 2026 results |
India shows both the scale and the ceiling. Indus counts about 446,300 towers including lean towers, with tenancy flat at 1.62 for several quarters (Indus Towers Q4 FY26 earnings call); management says colocation additions have outpaced tower additions as its second-largest customer expands. Helios also reports US$5.9 billion of contracted future revenue with an average remaining life of 6.5 years, the emerging-market equivalent of the long US lease books.
5. China and Europe: Sharing by Design
China Tower is the purest test of mandated sharing: it owns the passive infrastructure of all three state operators. It reported 2.172 million sites and 3.871 million tenants at the end of June 2026, a ratio of 1.78, down 1.7% year on year as operators rationalize overlapping equipment (China Tower H1 2026 results, via Investing.com earnings call coverage). Over 95% of its 5G base stations were built on existing shared sites, which is why 5G added 3.31 million base stations without a matching surge in towers.
Europe is climbing from a lower base. Cellnex manages 111,752 sites with 180,856 PoPs (Cellnex FY 2025 results), and its ratio reached 1.63x in H1 2026. Vantage Towers reported a 1.53x average across its consolidated markets at 31 March 2025, with Germany at just 1.30x on 20,138 macro sites (Vantage Towers FY2025 group report). Italy’s INWIT, formed by merging two operators’ grids, leads the region at 2.4x.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| China Tower sites / tenants | 2.172 million (+2.5%) / 3.871 million (+0.7%) | China Tower H1 2026 results |
| China Tower telecom operator tenants / ratio | 3.565 million / 1.69 | China Tower H1 2026 results |
| 5G base stations built on shared existing sites | Over 95% (3.31 million cumulative) | China Tower H1 2026 results |
| Cellnex sites / PoPs | 111,752 / 180,856 | Cellnex FY 2025 results |
| Cellnex organic PoP growth / churn | +4.9% / -0.6% (H1 2026) | Cellnex H1 2026 results |
| Vantage Towers consolidated tenancy ratio | 1.53x (vs 1.50x), March 2025 | Vantage Towers FY2025 group report |
| Vantage Towers Germany macro sites / ratio | 20,138 / 1.30x (vs 1.26x), March 2025 | Vantage Towers FY2025 group report |
| INWIT tenancy ratio / towers | 2.39x in Q1 2026 (vs 2.35x) / around 26,000 | INWIT Q1 2026 results |
Context note: Vantage’s report also lists INWIT at 2.32x on about 25,000 sites and the UK’s Cornerstone at 1.90x on about 15,844 sites, both as of March 2025 (most recent available data for Vantage, whose fiscal 2026 figures were not public at the time of writing). INWIT’s own Q1 2026 release puts it at 2.39x, and says about 75% of its network consists of non-replicable sites.
6. Churn and Consolidation: The Other Side of the Ratio
A tenancy ratio can fall as fast as it rises when operators merge or exit. DISH’s withdrawal from building its own network led Crown Castle to terminate their agreement in January 2026 and seek more than 3.5 billion dollars in remaining payments (Crown Castle 8-K, January 2026). In Q2 2026, DISH terminations reduced Crown Castle’s site rental billings by 49 million dollars, with 220 million dollars expected for the full year (Crown Castle Q2 2026 results).
The impact shows up across the US peer group. American Tower’s consolidated organic tenant billings grew 1.7% in Q2 2026, but just 0.7% in US and Canada, with a full-year US and Canada outlook of about 0.5% (American Tower Q2 2026 results). SBA’s 2026 outlook includes 55 to 56 million dollars of Sprint consolidation churn and 56 million dollars of EchoStar churn on top of 57 to 64 million dollars of regular churn (SBA Q2 2026 results). The Brattle Group estimated DISH leases at 5.1% to 7.0% of the major tower companies’ annual rental revenues across roughly 25,000 sites (Wireless Estimator, 2026).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Crown Castle remaining DISH payments sought | More than $3.5 billion | Crown Castle 8-K, January 2026 |
| Crown Castle DISH termination impact | $49 million (Q2 2026), $220 million (FY 2026) | Crown Castle Q2 2026 results |
| American Tower organic tenant billings growth | 1.7% total, 0.7% US and Canada (Q2 2026) | American Tower Q2 2026 results |
| American Tower Latin America / Europe organic billings | -2.4% / +4.1% (Q2 2026) | American Tower Q2 2026 results |
| American Tower churn, 2025 | Approximately 2% | American Tower 10-K, 2025 |
| SBA 2026 churn outlook: Sprint / EchoStar / regular | $55-56M / $56M / $57-64M | SBA Communications Q2 2026 results |
| SBA domestic vs international site leasing revenue | $452.5M (-3.7%) vs $211.4M (+30.5%), Q2 2026 | SBA Communications Q2 2026 results |
| DISH share of major towercos’ rental revenues | 5.1% to 7.0% (estimate) | The Brattle Group via Wireless Estimator, 2026 |
Context note: churn is not unique to the US. Cellnex reported -1.2% PoP churn in FY 2025, IHS cited carrier consolidation in its results, and INWIT is in a legal dispute with anchor tenants over contract terms. For how operators are routing some coverage around towers entirely, see our satellite direct-to-cell statistics, and for the IMS voice layer those towers carry, our VoLTE and VoNR deployment statistics.
Summary: Cell Tower Colocation and Tenancy by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Crown Castle average tenants per tower | About 2.4 | Crown Castle 10-K, 2025 |
| INWIT tenancy ratio | 2.4x (Q2 2026) | INWIT, 2026 |
| Helios Towers tenancy ratio | 2.26x (from 2.11x) | Helios Towers, H1 2026 |
| SBA average tenants per site | 1.8 | SBA Communications 10-K, 2025 |
| China Tower tenancy ratio | 1.78 on 2.172 million sites | China Tower, H1 2026 |
| Cellnex tenancy ratio | 1.63x | Cellnex, H1 2026 |
| Indus Towers tenancy ratio | 1.62 | Indus Towers, Q1 FY27 |
| Vantage Towers consolidated tenancy ratio | 1.53x | Vantage Towers, March 2025 |
| IHS Towers colocation rate | 1.47x | IHS Holding, Q2 2026 |
| Towerco share of investible towers worldwide | 71.8% (4.02M of 5.59M) | TowerXchange, Q4 2024 |
| Captive operator tower tenancy | Less than 1.1 | TowerXchange, 2019 |
| US purpose-built cellular towers | 158,500 | WIA, 2025 |
| US operational cell sites | 447,605 | CTIA, year-end 2024 |
| Big three carriers’ share of Crown Castle revenue | About 90% | Crown Castle 10-K, 2025 |
| Indus colocations vs towers added | 4,200 vs 3,100 | Indus Towers, Q1 FY27 |
| 5G base stations built on shared sites in China | Over 95% | China Tower, H1 2026 |
| Crown Castle DISH payments sought | More than $3.5 billion | Crown Castle, January 2026 |
| American Tower US and Canada organic billings growth | 0.7% | American Tower, Q2 2026 |
| SBA international site leasing growth | +30.5% | SBA Communications, Q2 2026 |
Methodology and Sources
Every figure was traced to a company filing, earnings release or call, or an industry association report. Several primary documents (China Tower’s results announcement, Indus Towers’ BSE and NSE filings, the Helios and Cellnex results PDFs) either blocked automated access or were not text-readable, so those figures were read from the named company’s own words in earnings call transcripts or regulatory news feeds; each still names the company and reporting period. Blog listicles quoting tower counts without a filing were excluded.
- American Tower: 10-K for 2025, Q2 2026 earnings release (8-K)
- Crown Castle: 10-K for 2025, DISH termination release (January 2026), Q2 2026 earnings release
- SBA Communications: 10-K 2025 summary, Q2 2026 results (8-K), Q2 2026 earnings call
- Cellnex: H1 2026 results, FY 2025 results
- INWIT: Q1 2026 results, Q2 2026 earnings call
- Vantage Towers: FY2025 group management report (Oak Holdings 1)
- Indus Towers: Q1 FY27 earnings call, Q4 FY26 earnings call
- Helios Towers: H1 2026 results (RNS)
- IHS Holding: Q2 2026 results (SEC exhibit 99.1)
- China Tower: H1 2026 results earnings call coverage
- Wireless Infrastructure Association: Wireless Infrastructure by the Numbers 2025; 2024 report via Light Reading
- CTIA: 2025 Annual Survey highlights
- TowerXchange: The new shape of the global telecom tower industry (2019), A brief history of the global tower market (2018); Tower League Table Q4 2024 figures as published by TowerXchange
- The Brattle Group DISH exposure estimate, via Wireless Estimator (2026)
- Data watch: Tenancy ratios are not standardized. Crown Castle and SBA report tenants per tower or site, Cellnex divides PoPs by sites, IHS reports a colocation rate, and China Tower includes non-telecom tenants in its headline ratio (1.78) versus 1.69 for telecom operators only; American Tower publishes no tenancy ratio. The Vantage Towers figures date from March 2025 and its fiscal 2026 data is expected. TowerXchange’s 2.0 versus 1.1 comparison is from 2019 and its 1.62x global average from 2018 (most recent available data); the 71.8% towerco share is from the Q4 2024 Tower League Table and was read from its published summary, not the full table. Indus Towers’ incremental tenancy was stated as about 1.37x in one call summary and 1.3 to 1.4 in another; we cite the approximate figure. SBA’s earnings call mentioned 99 new towers built in the quarter, while its press release reports 109 towers built; we use the press release figure. The Brattle estimate of DISH exposure is a third-party estimate reported in trade press, not a company disclosure. WIA’s 2025 tower count and its 2024 count come from different report editions.
Last updated: October 3, 2026. We update this roundup quarterly, and the next refresh is expected when American Tower, Crown Castle and SBA Communications report Q3 2026 results and Indus Towers publishes its Q2 FY27 results.