Robert Bartolo: Yeah. So I would say on the sale of all or part, that’s a strategic priority where, as I said earlier, we’re engaged with third-parties, so that process is ongoing. And then on the operational review, maybe I’ll pass it to Tony.
Tony Melone: Yeah. Essentially, Richard, the work on the operational side with third parties has concluded. We’ve done the analysis with them and we’ve shared that work. Internally, we’ve analyzed the work and processed it, etc. And now we’ve passed all that work we’ve done to Steven, and he’s going to work with the management team, as we said earlier, to take that input and obviously add his own insight and apply that to the business.
Richard Choe: Great. And then with the services business, are you seeing any changes with the, I guess, ongoing services business?
Robert Bartolo: No. As we talked about, we think that the services, the contribution to margin that we have to service in the first quarter, when we talked about it last quarter, are generally going to be consistent across the quarters. So there’s nothing that would have changed our view of that consistency at this point.
Richard Choe: Great. Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. The next question is from Matt Niknam with Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.
Matt Niknam: Hey, guys. Thanks so much for taking the question. Just two quick ones, if I could. First, on the fiber business, is the strategic review affected pace of bookings any sort of customer behavior over the last several months at all, whether on the fiber solutions around the small cell side? That’s number one. And then secondly, just any color you can provide in terms of pacing of application volumes, carrier activity on the tower side, and whether there was any meaningful change or pickup across the four carriers intra quarter? Thanks.
Daniel Schlanger: Thank you, Matt. So on the booking side, the answer to your question is, that we have good line of sight as we talked about on the bookings for both small cells as well as fiber solution to give us comfort in the guides we provided both the 16,000 small cells for the year as well as the 3% growth for the year, so feel very comfortable with that. And so on your second question, in terms of pacing. No, there hasn’t been any evidence — any material change in terms of pacing within the quarter that would be of significance to comment on.
Matt Niknam: Great. Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. The next question is from Batya Levi with UBS. Please go ahead.
Batya Levi: Great. Thank you. A couple follow-ups. First, on the tower activity. Can you provide us an update on what percent of the towers have been upgraded with 5G equipment now? And if you’re seeing any change in the carrier activity to support fixed wireless? And a follow-up on the discretionary CapEx side, can you talk about how much of that is already committed to? Can we expect that you might pull back a bit as the strategic review is ongoing? Thank you.
Tony Melone: Regarding 5G, I think the last time we commented on 5G, we don’t regularly update on that number. I think it was 50% and we’ll provide an update at some point in the future. But we have no update for you today on that.
Robert Bartolo: Carrier activity on fixed wireless.
Tony Melone: Yeah. Carrier activity on fixed wireless, really it’s hard for us to – the activity. our activity, it’s hard for us to determine whether it’s being driven by fixed wireless or their general mobility services. And quite frankly, it’s hard for them to determine that themselves. Just the nature of the cell site, their capacity needs as dictated by both and which one triggers that relief requirement is difficult to predict. So it’s almost impossible for me to give you a feel for what’s driving that and how much of it is fixed wireless.
Daniel Schlanger: On discretionary capital and how much is committed. We do, as you know, have long term commitments based on the contracts that we’ve signed with our customers. Those commitments we intend to honor. We’ll continue to build the small cells we need to build, we’ll continue to build the fiber for our fiber solutions business. And as you saw, we have not changed guidance for 2024. So we still anticipate that we’ll spend that and can’t really comment on what the strategic review might do, for all the reasons that have been said before. So, as of — so, we continue to think that we will spend the money and generate the growth that we articulated in our outlook.
Batya Levi: Got it. Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. The next question is from Brendan Lynch with Barclays. Please go ahead.
Brendan Lynch: Great. Thank you for taking my question and congrats, Steven, on the new role. Maybe just another one, on the strategic review. Obviously, you’re considering what to do with the fiber and small cell business, but is there a component of the strategic review that is also considering how to manage the remaining business if you were to sell off those assets, whether that be to expand the tower business into new markets or enter a new vertical of some sort?
Robert Bartolo: Yeah. This is Rob. Thanks for the question, Brendan. The strategic review right now is focused just on the fiber business. So to answer your question directly, we’re not focused at this point in time on what would happen after the strategic review, and the future course and strategy of the company in terms of capital allocation in those — in that nature. I think Steven is going to be a huge part of that, along with the board. So yeah, the strategic review is just focused on the fiber business right now.
Brendan Lynch: Okay. Thank you. That’s helpful. And maybe one follow up, with the higher for longer rate environment, do you anticipate that this will affect carrier spending this year or next, or are they primarily responding to network needs when considering their deployment pace?
Tony Melone: Brendan, this is Tony. I would — based on my experience there, there’s always potential for some movement along the edges, but principally, they’re responding to capacity needs, quality of service needs, etc. So I would say, the vast majority of their decision making in year is based on that.
Brendan Lynch: Okay. Very good. Thank you for taking my questions.
Operator: Thank you very much. The last question this evening is from Brandon Nispel with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Brandon Nispel: Hey. Thanks for getting me in and taking the questions. I was hoping to go back to the tower business. You obviously called out, your first quarter results were right in line with guidance. But I think, big picture, your level of leasing is well below historical levels that you’ve seen, and much closer to the trough than any sort of peak. So I was hoping you could talk about the confidence you have in terms of reacceleration. It didn’t sound like that was in the guidance for this year, but something to get back to your 5% long term growth guidance? And I’ll leave it at that. Thanks.
Tony Melone: Yes, Brandon. Thanks. It’s Tony again. I think I just reiterate what I had said earlier when I said last quarter. I know what’s needed to cover 5G at the speeds that are promised, again, with fixed wireless and that activity, and just overall growth in data demand in that business, that requires either more spectrum or more densification. And as you know, in the past few years, the carriers have been focused on utilizing spectrum and deploying 5G. And I believe at some point in the future, densification efforts will pick up, but it’s very hard to predict exactly when that timing will start. But as Steven said, I believe in the U.S. market. I believe in our shared infrastructure model. And so, I’m optimistic that those types of growth levels will be back at some point.
Steven Moskowitz: Hey, Brendan. It’s Steven. Yeah. I just say that there’s always phases of builds, right, all the G’s that we’ve seen over the years, Phase 1 is pretty much massive building over two, three years. And then, there’s kind of a pause, right? They still spend capital, they’re still filling holes in their network and doing overlays, etc. And that takes typically, could take a year, could take a year and a half. In this market maybe it’s taking a little bit longer, but then Phase 3 kicks in, and then there’s a reacceleration. And so I think what we’re saying is we’re kind of in that Phase 2. And I think the good news for me, at least, is I’m coming in new here. But my goal is, again, to work with the team to make sure that we’re exceptionally prepared so when Phase 3 comes, which we’re anticipating, hopefully at some point in 2025 that we’re able to really maximize our unfair share of business going forward.
Brandon Nispel: Thanks for taking the question.
Operator: Thank you. This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the call back over to Tony Melone for closing remarks.
Tony Melone: Thank you, M.J. I’d like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to the Crown Castle team throughout the country. Over the past three months, I’ve had the opportunity to spend time with many of you, and I’ve been impressed by your dedication to our customers and shareholders. You have made my time at Crown Castle something I will look back on fondly. And I thank you for all you do. And I’d also like to say that, like Rob, I’m really excited to have Steven here. When I worked at Verizon, I had the benefit of being one of Steven’s largest customers. And I got to see his professionalism, customer focus, and strong operational acumen first-hand. I believe Steven’s skills, experience and proven track record of improving financial performance will help the great team we have across the company, take advantage of the growing demand for communications infrastructure.
I look forward to working with Steven over the next month and staying actively engaged on the board. Thank you and have a good evening.
Steven Moskowitz: Thanks, everybody.
Operator: The conference has now concluded. Thank you very much for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines.
