CommScope Will Benefit from Shift to Aluminum Cables at Wireless Towers

Implications: 1.      CommScope’s international sales of aluminum cable are obviously fueled by the growth in new wireless markets. 2.      However, there is undeniably a move away from copper in the U.S. as well. 3.      It appears that CommScope’s solution does offer unique advantages that match its marketing rhetoric.  

Analysis: Around the world, thieves are stealing copper, not aluminum from wireless carriers.  The black market substantially rewards the much more expensive metal.  

In the U.S., MetroPCS is taking up aluminum in all its installations in 2008, and Leap Wireless is deploying it as well.  In addition, Sprint is using aluminum for its WiMAX network – which could ultimately see as many 40,000 cell sites -- requiring lots of new cable.  

In general, workers at engineering and construction firms currently dislike working with aluminum because of its newness.  Familiarity with new prep tools and other elements is necessary.  Still, these are only short-term difficulties that do not impede any projects very much.  Although CommScope’s offering has been found to be hard to work with, it is still attractive when it comes to avoiding damage to cable installations from other tenants on the towers.