The global supply chain crunch has hit almost every major product, including smartphones. Now it’s getting in the way of building the antennas that provide their signals.

Vantage Towers AG, the mobile mast company spun out of Vodafone Group Plc, said its efforts to build new towers are being hindered by a squeeze on technology supply chains.

"Whilst the build-to-suit program accelerated in the third quarter, the macro site build year-to-date has been challenged mainly by supply chain issues,” the company said in an earnings report Tuesday. "We expect these challenges to persist beyond the fourth quarter of 2022 into 2023, and will require continued management.”

Vantage splits its operations between increasing the number of companies that use existing towers, like a landlord increasing tenancies of a building, upgrading those sites with newer technology such as 5G and connecting them into wider networks, and building entirely new wireless infrastructure - known as Built-To-Suit or BTS.

Although timings have been hit, Vantage said the issues didn’t affect its overall 2022 financial guidance or its planned delivery of 7,100 build-to-suit sites by 2026.

 - Bloomberg