Demand For Wireless Keeps Optasite Growing
Revenues have quadrupled in the last three years
By Taryn Plumb
When researching potential cell tower sites, Optasite analysts scour zoning maps, track carriers' coverage areas, create structural analysis and environmental impact reports, and perform "drive testing" armed with sophisticated equipment to determine capacity.
James Eisenstein, CEO of the Westborough-based cell tower company, says tireless commitment to getting every detail has allowed for successful site acquisitions, positive relationships with carriers and, subsequently, significant growth.
Over the last three years, Optasite's revenues have quadrupled, jumping from $2,170,000 in 2004 to $11,850,000 last year, making it the No. 3 fastest growing private company on the WBJ Top Growth list. The company, which acquires, develops and manages cell towers, currently owns 511 sites in 29 states and the Virgin Islands.
With those holdings, Optasite is the fifth largest tower management company in the country, Eisenstein said, after such established giants as Crown Castle (23,500 towers), American Tower (14,000), SBA (11,000) and Global Tower Partners (8,250).
Acquisitions To Fuel Growth
Optasite's success comes largely from an aggressive acquisition strategy, Eisenstein said. Its employees - of which there are 19, stationed in Massachusetts, Texas and the southeast - consistently seek out prime development sites or already-built towers managed by smaller companies. Every potential site is then heavily researched as it pertains to zoning, development, cell carriers' existent coverage areas and signal strength.
In addition, the company maintains tight relationships with its customers, the carriers. Optasite staff frequently interview representatives from T-Mobile, Nextel and Sprint, among others, to see how they plan to expand their coverage areas and where they'd like to see more towers.
Optasite leases space on its towers - on average, there are two providers to each structure.
That manifests in new technologies, too, including devices with higher bandwidth, better roaming capability and enhanced multimedia; WIMAX wide-reaching wireless Internet; and what Eisenstein calls "all-you-can-eat" plans that have a fixed monthly fee no matter how many minutes subscribers use.
"Wireless continues to grow significantly," said Eisenstein. "That is only an upside for us."
The Right Leaders
Since that shift, Optasite's significant growth has been due largely to one factor, said Tripp Peake, managing partner of the company's lead investor, Long River Ventures.
"Management, management, management," he said. "That's the underlying strength of the company. They've been good at identifying the right properties, good at analyzing them, good at negotiating them."
But the challenge in the next few years, he said, will be to continue buying the right towers to remain competitive with smaller companies that are now rebounding from the recession earlier in the decade.
Eisenstein agreed. He said Optasite will continue to aggressively acquire, develop and buy more towers, and will also add additional leases to its current structures. Earlier this month, the company closed on $85 million in debt and equity financing and acquired an additional 210 cell towers.
Taryn Plumb is a freelance writer based in Worcester.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments