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HOUSTON and WARWICK, England, Feb. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Crown Castle International Corp. (Nasdaq: TWRS) today announced that its subsidiary, Crown Castle UK Limited, has signed a definitive agreement with Hutchison 3G UK Limited ("Hutchison") whereby Hutchison will lease space on a minimum of 4,000 Crown Castle sites throughout the United Kingdom. Hutchison plans to use the space to deploy its 3G wireless network in the UK.

Under terms of the agreement, Hutchison has committed to lease space on a minimum of 1,000 sites per year, for the years 2001 - 2004. The lease term at each site will be 25 years, with provisions for annual increases in rental rates and for periodic open market reviews. At closing, Hutchison will pay Crown Castle an application fee of 1,000 pounds sterling per site on a total of 6,536 sites.

Crown Castle currently owns more than 2,500 tower sites in the UK and has rights to develop more than 4,000 additional sites through an agreement signed last year with British Telecommunications (BT). The majority of BT sites are located in major metropolitan areas and have direct access to BT's wholesale fiber network, providing wireless operators with a premier platform for deploying 3G services.

"This contract with Hutchison is one of a number of agreements with 3G operators that we expect to announce this year," stated Ted B. Miller, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Crown Castle International. "Our agreement with Hutchison demonstrates the scale and capability of our UK subsidiary to be the premier provider of outsourced wireless infrastructure solutions, and offers Hutchison unprecedented speed-to-market and the ability to effectively compete with the UK's incumbent wireless carriers."

"This is a significant step forward for Hutchison 3G in our plans to provide a new and exciting mobile multimedia service," stated Dr. Colin Tucker, Managing Director of Hutchison 3G UK. "This agreement with Crown Castle provides sites which we need to build our network and to launch these services. Crown Castle is the number one provider of shared infrastructure in the UK, they have also demonstrated their ability to work alongside our team. Hutchison 3G believes site sharing is important and this agreement shows this will be the route we take where possible."

Crown Castle International Corp. engineers, deploys, owns and operates technologically advanced, shared wireless infrastructure. The Company offers near-universal broadcast coverage in the United Kingdom and significant wireless communications coverage to 68 of the top 100 US markets, more than 95 percent of the UK population and more than 92 percent of the Australian population. Pro forma for all closed and previously announced transactions, Crown Castle International owns, operates, and manages over 13,000 wireless communication towers internationally. For more information on Crown Castle International, visit: www.crowncastle.com .

This press release contains forward-looking statements and information that are based on the belief of, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to, management of Crown Castle International Corp. ("CCIC"). Although CCIC believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Such statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions including risk and uncertainties relating to revenues from and timing of deployment by 3G operators and other wireless carriers. Should one or more of the risks materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected. More information about potential factors, which could affect CCIC's financial results, is included in the Risk Factors sections of CCIC's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in previous press releases issued by CCIC.

Contacts: W. Benjamin Moreland, CFO

               Crown Castle International
               713-570-3000

               Ken Dennard, Easterly I.R.
               kdennard@easterly.com
               713-529-6600

SOURCE Crown Castle International Corp.

CONTACT: W. Benjamin Moreland, CFO of Crown Castle International, 713-570-3000, or Ken Dennard of Easterly I.R., 713-529-6600, or kdennard@easterly.com/