Consolidated Statements of Income - USD ($) shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
Revenues:
Total revenues	$ 916,032	$ 770,408
Costs and Expenses:
Interest expense	305,994	275,394
Depreciation and amortization	434,205	375,970
General and administrative expense	72,045	35,402
Operating expense (exclusive of depreciation, accretion and amortization)	102,176	49,668
Transaction related costs	38,005	33,669
Other expense	11,284
Total costs and expenses	963,709	770,103
(Loss) income before income taxes	(47,677)	305
Income tax (benefit) expense	(38,849)	517
Net (loss) income	(8,828)	(212)
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	611
Net (loss) income attributable to shareholders	(9,439)	(212)
Participating securities' share in earnings	(1,509)	(1,557)
Dividends declared on convertible preferred stock	(2,624)	(1,743)
Amortization of discount on convertible preferred stock	(2,980)	(1,985)
Net (loss) income attributable to common shareholders	$ (16,552)	$ (5,497)
(Loss) earnings per common share (Note 12):
Basic	$ (0.10)	$ (0.04)
Diluted	$ (0.13)	$ (0.04)
Weighted-average number of common shares outstanding
Basic	168,693	152,473
Diluted	168,989	152,473
Dividends declared per common share	$ 2.40	$ 2.40
Leasing
Revenues:
Total revenues	$ 685,099	$ 676,868
Costs and Expenses:
Depreciation and amortization	347,999	343,368
Fiber Infrastructure
Revenues:
Total revenues	202,791	70,568
Costs and Expenses:
Depreciation and amortization	78,307	28,629
Tower
Revenues:
Total revenues	10,055	500
Consumer CLEC
Revenues:
Total revenues	18,087	22,472
Costs and Expenses:
Depreciation and amortization	$ 2,607	$ 3,258