I would like to remind everyone that having an agreement to sell our fiber segment means that the fiber segment results are required to be reported within Crown Castle's financial statements as discontinued operations. Consistent with last quarter, the company's full year 2026 outlook and fourth quarter results do not include contributions from what we previously reported under the fiber segment, except as otherwise noted. We delivered the full year 2025 guide, exceeding the midpoint across all key metrics as we focused on operational execution across our portfolio. Finally, I would like to reaffirm our capital allocation framework and update our expected use of proceeds from the small cell and fiber business sale.
Thereafter, we intend to grow the dividend in line with AFFO, excluding the impact of amortization of prepaid rent. Third, we plan to utilize the cash flow we generate to repurchase shares while maintaining our investment-grade credit rating. As I look forward to a full year 2026 and beyond, I'm excited by Crown Castle's opportunity as the only large, publicly traded tower operator with an exclusive focus on the U.S. I believe that these characteristics will be supported by continued mobile data demand growth and a significant volume of spectrum being made available to motivated mobile network operators.
To maximize revenue growth and profitability, we are focusing on becoming the best operator of U.S. We believe that these strategic priorities, combined with our disciplined capital allocation framework and investment-grade balance sheet, will drive attractive risk-adjusted returns. With that, I'll turn it over to Sunit to walk us through the details of the quarter and our full year 2026 outlook. Our full year 2025 results were highlighted by 4.9% organic growth, excluding the impact of Sprint churn, as our customers continue to augment their 5G networks.
| Metric | Period | Current guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Full year 2026 site rental revenues (midpoint) | FY2026 | approximately $3.9 billion (new 2026 guide) |
| Full year 2026 adjusted EBITDA (midpoint) | FY2026 | approximately $2.7 billion (new 2026 guide) |
| Full year 2026 AFFO (midpoint) | FY2026 | approximately $1.9 billion (new 2026 guide) |
| Organic growth excluding Sprint and DISH (full year 2026) | FY2026 | 3.5% at midpoint (low point) (-0.3 pts vs 2025 comparable) |
| AFFO for 12 months following close (midpoint) | post-close 12 months | $2.1 billion (-$240 million (DISH removal partially offset by interest savings)) |
| Annualized run-rate operating cost reduction | run-rate | $65 million ($55M in-year 2026, $10M incremental 2027) (new restructuring savings) |
| Dividend per share (annualized) | ongoing | $4.25 maintained until reaching 75%-80% payout target (unchanged) |
| Debt repayment from sale proceeds | post-close | approximately $7 billion (+$1 billion) |
| Share repurchases from sale proceeds | post-close | approximately $1 billion (set) |
| Metric | YoY | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Full year 2025 organic growth excluding Sprint churn | 4.9% | Customers continuing to augment their 5G networks, with DISH contributing roughly $50 million of contractual organic growth in 2025. |
| Full year 2025 adjusted EBITDA and AFFO | exceeded high end of guidance range | Revenue outperformance combined with higher-than-expected services contribution, ongoing efficiency initiatives, and lower interest expense. |
| DISH organic growth contribution (2025) | approximately $50 million | Contractual step-ups rather than activity-driven, the difference between 4.9% reported and 3.8% comparable growth excluding DISH. |
| Topic | Previous mention | Current period | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| DISH default and recovery | expected to be paid per contract terms | DISH defaulted in January; agreement terminated; seeking in excess of $3.5 billion; legal resolution potentially a year or more out | Deteriorated |
| Fiber/small cell sale | on track for first half 2026 | DOJ HSR review closed; only a handful of state and federal approvals remaining; still on track for first half 2026 | Advancing |
| Cost restructuring | gradual efficiency focus | accelerated and expanded ~20% workforce reduction, $65 million annualized run-rate savings | Accelerating |
| Organic growth outlook | prior 4%-5% growth framing through 2027 | 3.5% for 2026 expected to mark the low point, with growth improving thereafter | Trough then improving |
| Capital allocation and leverage | framework with mix of debt paydown and buybacks | ~$7 billion debt repayment and ~$1 billion buybacks, leverage held at 6-6.5x | Reaffirmed with more debt paydown |