Lead Bid Emerges in T-Mobile Tower Sale

Cellphone tower operator Crown Castle International Corp. has emerged as the lead bidder for the towers being sold by T-Mobile USA, and a deal for more than $2 billion could be struck soon, people familiar with the matter said. Rival bidders American Tower Corp. and Global Tower Partners, which is owned by Macquarie Group, are still in the mix, but talks with Crown Castle are more advanced after final bids landed in early July, the people said. The negotiations with Crown Castle could still falter, they said. It is unclear exactly how any deal would be structured, and tower deals tend to be particularly complicated.