Richard Choe
JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division

My name is Richard Choe. I cover Communications Infrastructure for JPMorgan. I'd like to thank Rod Smith, EVP and CFO of American Tower, for being with us here today.

Richard Choe
JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division

I'd like to just start off. It was nice to hear John Stankey earlier talk about there's not any easy way to build and invest in your -- in networks. And in the end, I think long term, you need to have the best network to eventually win. And I think people forget kind of the critical part American Tower and other tower companies play in this kind of evolving modern world. So, in just, kind of, resetting expectations and, kind of, reminding people where you sit in the infrastructure, how do you feel your assets are in this ecosystem of, kind of, our increasing digital economy?

Rodney Smith
Executive VP, CFO & Treasurer

Yes. Good morning, Richard. It's great to be with you. And thanks, everyone, for joining. I think there's a couple of keys there that I heard you mention. One is the network quality. It's really network coverage, quality and capacity. That is critical for the networks, not only in the U.S. but around the globe, to keep up with and perform well in an environment where mobile data consumption continues to grow rapidly. That really is the key to everything.

The other word that you used, which I think is a key word is the critical