American Tower Corporation Completes Merger with CommSite International, Inc.

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 6, 1999--

American Tower Corporation (NYSE:AMT) announced today that it has completed its merger with CommSite International, Inc, an antenna site development and site management company, based in Vienna, Virginia. The cash-for-stock transaction, valued at approximately $38.8 million, includes existing towers, build-to-suit agreements and a portfolio of managed sites and lease/sublease contracts.

Existing towers are located in Maryland, Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The build-to-suit towers (located in Tennessee, Mississippi, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Louisiana) will expand American Tower's growing presence in the Midwest and Southeast. The managed site and lease/sublease business is located primarily in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Florida.

Tim Haley, President and Chief Executive Officer of CommSite, said of this transaction, "We are excited that CommSite is joining the ATC family. We have enjoyed working with the team at ATC to integrate our business with this industry leader, and we know that our customers will be well served by them. Furthermore, we extend our thanks to our customers for their loyalty and patronage over the years and a special thank you to each of the CommSite employees and associates for their hard work and dedication to growing the Company so successfully."

Jim Eisenstein, Chief Development Officer of American Tower, stated, "This merger is significant because it adds co-location inventory in key markets and creates many new build opportunities. The build-to-suit component also establishes new relationships between American Tower and several aggressive regional wireless players."

Steve Dodge, Chief Executive Officer of American Tower, added, "This merger with CommSite and our recently announced merger with UNIsite represent a continuation of our strategy to focus a significant amount of our resources on the acquisition of young, newly constructed towers and contracts to construct additional new towers. Towers of this nature, which are engineered for co-location, offer several distinct advantages. They have significant capacity for additional tenants; minimize maintenance capital requirements; are located in areas where many wireless carriers have not completed their build-outs; and can be acquired at reasonable prices on a per tower basis. Perhaps most importantly, they generally do not have competing structures nearby. Overall, we feel that transactions of this nature provide the foundation for profitable, long term growth and other attractive investor returns."

American Tower is a leading independent owner, operator and developer of broadcast and wireless communications sites in the United States and, giving effect to this and other pending transactions, operates more than 4,000 towers, including 195 broadcast tower sites, in 44 states and the District of Columbia. Based in Boston, American Tower has a national footprint with regional hubs in Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston and San Francisco. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, ATC Teleports, Inc., American Tower also owns and operates, giving effect to pending transactions, over 100 satellite antennas in various locations across the United States. For more information about American Tower Corporation and ATC Teleports, please visit our web sites www.americantower.com and www.atcteleports.com.

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 acquisitions and construction activities, (ii) dependence on demand for wireless communications, use of satellites for internet data transmission, and implementation of digital television, (iii) the success of the Company's tower construction program and (iv) the successful operational integration of the Company's business acquisitions. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequently occurring events or circumstances.