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Fair Value Measurements

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

3.FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS

Items Measured at Fair Value on a Recurring Basis—The Company’s asset retirement obligations are measured at fair value on a recurring basis using Level 3 inputs and are recorded in Other long-term liabilities in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. The fair value of the asset retirement obligations is calculated using a discounted cash flow model.

Refer to Note 20 for discussion of the Company’s redeemable non-controlling interests.

Items Measured at Fair Value on a Nonrecurring Basis— The Company’s long-lived and intangible assets are measured at fair value on a nonrecurring basis using Level 3 inputs. The Company considers many factors and makes certain assumptions when making this assessment, including but not limited to: general market and economic conditions, historical operating results, geographic location, lease-up potential and expected timing of lease-up. The fair value of the long-lived and intangible assets is calculated using a discounted cash flow model.

Asset impairment and decommission costs for all periods presented and the related impaired assets primarily relate to the Company’s site leasing operating segment. The following summarizes the activity of asset impairment and decommission costs (in thousands):



	For the year
	ended December 31,
	2020		2019		2018

Asset impairment ⁽¹⁾	$	31,552	$	18,794	$	14,350
Write-off of carrying value of decommissioned towers		7,456		11,155		10,795
Other (including third party decommission costs)		1,089		3,154		1,989
Total asset impairment and decommission costs	$	40,097	$	33,103	$	27,134

(1)Represents impairment charges resulting from the Company’s regular analysis of whether the future cash flows from certain towers are adequate to recover the carrying value of the investment in those towers.

Refer to Note 2 for discussion of the Company’s long term investments.

Fair Value of Financial Instruments— The carrying values of cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, restricted cash, accounts payable, and short-term investments approximate their estimated fair values due to the shorter maturity of these instruments. The Company’s estimate of its short term investments are based primarily upon Level 1 reported market values. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company had $0.7 million and $0.5 million, respectively, of short term investments. For the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company purchased and sold $1.2 billion of short-term investments.

The Company determines fair value of its debt instruments utilizing various Level 2 sources including quoted prices and indicative quotes (non-binding quotes) from brokers that require judgment to interpret market information including implied credit spreads for similar borrowings on recent trades or bid/ask prices. The fair value of the Revolving Credit Facility is considered to approximate the carrying value because the interest payments are based on Eurodollar rates that reset monthly or more frequently. The Company does not believe its credit risk has changed materially from the date the applicable Eurodollar Rate was set for the Revolving Credit Facility (112.5 to 175.0 basis points). Refer to Note 11 for the fair values, principal balances, and carrying values of the Company’s debt instruments.

For discussion of the Company’s derivatives and hedging activities, refer to Note 1 and Note 22.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the fair value of financial instruments (as defined), including financial assets and financial liabilities (collectively, as defined), and the measurements of those instruments as well as disclosures related to the fair value of non-financial assets and liabilities. Such disclosures about the financial instruments, assets, and liabilities would include: (1) the fair value of the required items together with their carrying amounts (as appropriate); (2) for items for which it is not practicable to estimate fair value, disclosure would include: (a) information pertinent to estimating fair value (including, carrying amount, effective interest rate, and maturity, and (b) the reasons why it is not practicable to estimate fair value; (3) significant concentrations of credit risk including: (a) information about the activity, region, or economic characteristics identifying a concentration, (b) the maximum amount of loss the entity is exposed to based on the gross fair value of the related item, (c) policy for requiring collateral or other security and information as to accessing such collateral or security, and (d) the nature and brief description of such collateral or security; (4) quantitative information about market risks and how such risks are managed; (5) for items measured on both a recurring and nonrecurring basis information regarding the inputs used to develop the fair value measurement; and (6) for items presented in the financial statement for which fair value measurement is elected: (a) information necessary to understand the reasons for the election, (b) discussion of the effect of fair value changes on earnings, (c) a description of [similar groups] items for which the election is made and the relation thereof to the balance sheet, the aggregate carrying value of items included in the balance sheet that are not eligible for the election; (7) all other required (as defined) and desired information.

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