Crown Castle International Closes Powertel Transaction
JUNE 8, 1999 - HOUSTON, TEXAS - Crown Castle International Corp. (NASDAQ:TWRS) today announced it has acquired 619 wireless communications towers from Powertel, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTEL) for approximately $262 million in cash. The agreement provides Powertel with a 10-year lease, with three five-year renewal terms. Crown Castle will receive $1,800 per month per tower from Powertel as anchor tenant, subject to a 15 percent rent increase at the end of each five-year term.
Additionally, Crown Castle and Powertel executed a binding letter agreement related to the purchase of 31 sites which are existing Powertel sites or sites in the process of being constructed. The transaction is expected to close on or before December 2, 1999 and tower space on such towers will be leased to Powertel at $1,800 per month. This new letter agreement also includes an exclusive build-to-suit arrangement through December 31, 2000. Powertel will lease space on these new built-to-suit towers at $1,500 per month. Crown Castle will also provide antenna installation for Powertel on all build-to-suit sites and in-progress sites subject to any existing antenna installation agreements Powertel has as to certain sites.
"We are pleased to have closed the Powertel transaction on schedule and announce that we are Powertel's exclusive build-to-suit contractor through the year 2000," stated Ted B. Miller, Jr., Crown Castle Chairman and CEO. "The 619 tower sites plus the purchase of 31 additional sites will equal the 650 total purchased sites as originally disclosed in March, but the transactions are independent of each other for certain operational considerations. This new build-to-suit agreement brings our company wide total to approximately 2,000 new tower sites contracted to be built over the next five years primarily in markets where we have significant tower clusters with anchor tenants like Powertel, BellAtlantic, BellSouth and One2One."
Crown Castle International Corp. is a leading provider of communication sites and wireless network services and provides an array of related infrastructure and network support services to the wireless communications and radio and television broadcasting industries in the United States and United Kingdom. Pro forma for all previously announced transactions, Crown Castle International owns, operates and manages over 6,000 wireless communication towers internationally. For more information on Crown Castle International, visit: www.crowncastle.com.
Powertel, Inc. is a leading wireless Personal Communications Service (PCS) provider serving the southeastern United States and is licensed to provide wireless PCS services in 12 states to a population of more than 24 million people in major cities including Athens, Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, Birmingham, Chattanooga, Jackson, Jacksonville, Knoxville, Lexington, Louisville, Macon, Memphis, Nashville and Savannah. With service in 34 operational markets and along major connecting highway corridors spanning seven states, Powertel has the largest contiguous PCS network in the southeastern United States. Powertel offers consumers and businesses a variety of compact handsets featuring a secure portable phone, voice mail, short messaging and paging services and a range of affordable pricing plans without contracts. For more information on Powertel and its products and services, visit the company on its web site at: http://www.powertel.com.
This press release contains various forward-looking statements and information that are based on management's belief as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management. Although the Company 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. Should one or more of these risks materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected.