American Tower Corporation Acquires 322 Towers in Four Transactions.

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 19, 1998--American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) announced today that it is acquiring 322 communication towers nationwide including 25 managed sites, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $100 million.

Wauka Communications, Inc. will be merged with American Tower and Grid Site Services, Inc. will be acquired in transactions that will add 166 (141 owned and 25 managed) Atlanta area towers. The consideration in this transaction includes the issuance of approximately 1.5 million Class A American shares based on current market prices. Closing is expected on or around November 1, 1998.

The towers to be acquired in these transactions have been developed primarily to accommodate the ongoing and expected wireless growth in Atlanta and surrounding markets. The Grid and Wauka towers are well positioned assets which provide additional coverage for PCS, cellular, paging and other wireless carriers.

Separately, American Tower has purchased 133 towers from KN Telecommunications, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of KN Energy. The towers, originally constructed and operated for microwave communications, provide line of sight paths across 9 states in the Southwest and Midwest United States. As well, many of them have potential to accommodate wireless carriers.

In addition, American Tower acquired 23 towers from NPI Wireless in Michigan. These towers were recently constructed to serve one of the first PCS carriers launched in northern Michigan and have additional capacity for PCS, cellular, paging and other wireless carriers.

Steven Dodge, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of American Tower Corporation, stated, "These acquisitions add meaningfully to our presence in three of our five regions. As well, most of these towers are either very young or very underperforming, suggesting to us that they have terrific upside. With an average cost basis of about $300,000 per tower, we expect to be able to achieve above average returns on them over time."

Jim Eisenstein, Chief Development Officer, added, "Interestingly, these transactions were capably managed by one of our regional managers, Marty Jimmerson. Over time, we expect more transactions of this nature will be generated by key personnel in each of our regions, which should add to and complement the efforts of our corporate group."

American Tower Corporation is a leading independent owner and operator of broadcast and wireless communications sites in the United States, and giving effect to pending transactions, operates approximately 2,000 towers in 44 states and the District of Columbia. Based in Boston, the company has a national footprint with regional hubs in Boston, Atlanta, Houston, San Francisco and Chicago.

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" concerning future expectations, plans or strategies that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The Company wishes to caution readers that certain factors may have affected the Company's actual results and could cause results for subsequent periods to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statement made by or on behalf of the Company. Such factors include, but are not limited to (i) substantial capital requirements and leverage principally as a consequence of its ongoing acquisition and construction activities, (ii) dependence on demand for wireless communications and implementation of digital television, and (iii) the success of the Company's tower construction program. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequently occurring events or circumstances.