Operating Segments

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Operating Segments

Operating Segments

The Company's operating segments consist of (1) Towers and (2) Fiber. The Towers segment provides access, including space or capacity, to the Company's more than 40,000 towers geographically dispersed throughout the U.S. The Towers segment also reflects certain ancillary services relating to the Company's towers, predominately consisting of site development services and installation services. The Fiber segment provides access, including space or capacity, to the Company's more than 80,000 route miles of fiber primarily supporting small cell networks and fiber solutions geographically dispersed throughout the U.S.

The measurements of profit or loss used by the Company's chief operating decision maker ("CODM") to evaluate the performance of its operating segments are (1) segment site rental gross margin, (2) segment services and other gross margin and (3) segment operating profit. The Company defines segment site rental gross margin as segment site rental revenues less segment site rental costs of operations, excluding stock-based compensation expense and amortization of prepaid lease purchase price adjustments recorded in consolidated site rental costs of operations. The Company defines segment services and other gross margin as segment services and other revenues less segment services and other costs of operations, excluding stock-based compensation expense recorded in consolidated services and other costs of operations. The Company defines segment operating profit as segment site rental gross margin plus segment services and other gross margin, and segment other operating (income) expense, less selling, general and administrative expenses attributable to the respective segment. All of these measurements of profit or loss are exclusive of depreciation, amortization and accretion, which are shown separately.

The following tables set forth the Company's segment operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021. Costs that are directly attributable to Towers and Fiber are assigned to those respective segments. Additionally, certain costs are shared across segments and are reflected in the Company's segment measures through allocations that management believes to be reasonable. The "Other" column (1) represents amounts excluded from specific segments, such as asset write-down charges, acquisition and integration costs, depreciation, amortization and accretion, amortization of prepaid lease purchase price adjustments, interest expense and amortization of deferred financing costs, gains (losses) on retirement of long-term obligations, interest income, other income (expense), income (loss) from discontinued operations, and stock-based compensation expense, and (2) reconciles segment operating profit to income (loss) before income taxes, as the amounts are not utilized in assessing each segment’s performance. The "Other" total assets balance includes corporate assets such as cash and cash equivalents which have not been allocated to specific segments. There are no significant revenues resulting from transactions between the Company's operating segments.

	Three Months Ended March 31, 2022								Three Months Ended March 31, 2021
	Towers		Fiber		Other		Consolidated Total		Towers		Fiber		Other		Consolidated Total
Segment site rental revenues	$	1,075	$	501			$	1,576	$	895	$	474			$	1,369
Segment services and other revenues	163		3				166		111		5				116
Segment revenues	1,238		504				1,742		1,006		479				1,485
Segment site rental costs of operations	225		162				387		212		161				373
Segment services and other costs of operations	109		2				111		76		3				79
Segment costs of operations(a)(b)	334		164				498		288		164				452
Segment site rental gross margin	850		339				1,189		683		313				996
Segment services and other gross margin	54		1				55		35		2				37
Segment selling, general and administrative expenses(b)	28		47				75		25		45				70
Segment operating profit (loss)	876		293				1,169		693		270				963
Other selling, general and administrative expenses					$	74	74						$	66	66
Stock-based compensation expense					39		39						33		33
Depreciation, amortization and accretion					420		420						408		408
Interest expense and amortization of deferred financing costs					164		164						170		170
Other (income) expenses to reconcile to income (loss) before income taxes(c)					45		45						158		158
Income (loss) before income taxes							$	427							$	128
Capital expenditures	$	47	$	222	$	12	$	281	$	51	$	237	$	14	$	302
Total assets (at period end)	$	22,330	$	15,839	$	882	$	39,051	$	22,080	$	15,771	$	901	$	38,752

(a)Exclusive of depreciation, amortization and accretion shown separately.

(b)Segment cost of operations excludes (1) stock-based compensation of $7 million and $5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, and (2) prepaid lease purchase price adjustments of $4 million and $5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Selling, general and administrative expenses exclude stock-based compensation expense of $32 million and $28 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

(c)See condensed consolidated statement of operations for further information.