investors

NOVEMBER 10, 1999 – HOUSTON, TEXAS – Crown Castle International Corp. (NASDAQ:TWRS) today reported significant increases in revenues, tower cash flow and EBITDA for the three months and nine months ended September 30, 1999.

For the three months ended September 30, 1999, revenues increased to $98.9 million from $28.9 million during the same period in 1998. Tower cash flow for the third quarter increased to $38.8 million from $10.8 million in last year’s third quarter. Third quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, grew to $40.6 million, compared to $8.8 million in last year’s third quarter.

For the nine months ended September 30, 1999, revenues increased to $231.6 million from $52.3 million during the same period in 1998. Tower cash flow for the first nine months of 1999 increased to $96.4 million from $18.0 million in last year’s first nine months. Nine month EBITDA grew to $92.5 million, compared to $11.8 million in last year’s first nine months.

"We were pleased with our third quarter and nine month results," stated Ted B. Miller, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Crown Castle International. "Over the past few quarters, major wireless carriers in the US and UK such as GTE, Bell Atlantic, BellSouth, Powertel and One-2-One have outsourced their tower networks to Crown Castle. As such, we have been a significant participant in changing the complexion of and opportunity for wireless infrastructure deployment that will soon facilitate the advent of vastly increased wireless communications for businesses and individuals in both the US and UK. Wireless providers now have the opportunity to deploy their networks on towers which were not heretofore readily available to them and which are now in the hands of independent wireless infrastructure providers such as Crown Castle. Co-location availability on these outsourced tower networks enables rapid deployment and more efficient capital allocation for wireless carriers. The result is more robust coverage and network capacity to support increased subscriber demand through co-location.

"Looking forward, we will continue our integration of additional tower clusters and new tower builds, including the recently announced GTE joint venture for over 2,300 towers, which should continue to drive significant long-term master leasing agreements as demonstrated by the recent Nextel and Metricom lease agreements," concluded Mr. Miller.

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 closed and previously announced transactions, Crown Castle International owns, operates and manages approximately 10,000 wireless communication towers internationally. For more information on Crown Castle International, visit: www.crowncastle.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.

 

 

Crown Castle International Corp.
Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations And Other Financial Data

(in thousands, except per share data)

		Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
		1999		1998		1999		1998
Net revenues:
Site rental and broadcast transmission		$ 75,632		$ 18,008		$ 183,135		$ 28,456
Network services and other		23,295		10,886		48,428		23,805
Total net revenues		98,927		28,894		231,563		52,261
Costs of operations:
Site rental and broadcast transmission		32,934		5,980		78,018		8,398
Network services and other		11,712		7,079		26,869		14,234
Total costs of operations		44,646		13,059		104,887		22,632
General and administrative		12,534		6,254		30,076		15,022
Corporate development		1,194		816		4,134		2,838
Restructuring charges		—		—		1,814		—
Non-cash compensation charges		501		11,361		1,672		11,361
Depreciation and amortization		39,850		9,410		89,369		17,105
Operating income (loss)		202		(12,006)		(389)		(16,697)
Equity in earnings of unconsolidated affiliate		—		1,530		—		2,055
Interest and other income (expense)		7,923		923		12,802		2,293
Interest expense and amortization of deferred financing costs		(34,506)		(7,554)		(72,348)		(17,581)
Loss before income taxes, minority interests and cumulative effect of change in accounting principle		(26,381)		(17,107)		(59,935)		(29,930)
Provision for income taxes		(71)		(9)		(268)		(218)
Minority interests		(615)		(328)		(1,187)		(328)
Loss before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle		(27,067)		(17,444)		(61,390)		(30,476)
Cumulative effect of change in accounting principle for costs of start-up activities		—		—		(2,414)		—
Net loss		(27,067)		(17,444)		(63,804)		(30,476)
Dividends on preferred stock		(6,824)		(216)		(19,846)		(4,348)
Net loss after deduction of dividends on preferred stock		$ (33,891)		$ (17,660)		$ (83,650)		$ (34,824)
Per common share – basic and diluted:
Loss before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle		$ (0.23)		$ (0.33)		$ (0.66)		$ (1.38)
Cumulative effect of change in accounting principle		—		—		(0.02)		—
Net loss		$ (0.23)		$ (0.33)		$ (0.68)		$ (1.38)
Common shares outstanding – basic and diluted		149,621		53,879		123,067		25,262
EBITDA (before restructuring charges):
Site rental and broadcast transmission		$ 38,788		$ 10,825		$ 96,435		$ 18,040
Network services and other		1,765		(2,060)		(3,969)		(6,271)
Total EBITDA		$ 40,553		$ 8,765		$ 92,466		$ 11,769