Crown Castle Agrees to Acquire Lightower Fiber for $7.1 Billion

Crown Castle International Corp. agreed to buy Lightower Fiber LLC for $7.1 billion to expand its broadband infrastructure assets.

The cash deal will double Crown Castle’s fiber footprint, company said July 18 in a statement, as well as add to profit and increase its ability to pay dividends.

Houston-based Crown Castle owns, operates and leases towers and other equipment for wireless communications. The company bills itself as the largest U.S. provider of wireless infrastructure and manages and provides services to about 40,000 cell towers across the country, according to its website.

Lightower is owned by investors including Berkshire Partners ...