American Tower Corporation Reports Strong Construction and Lease Up Performance.

Business/Technology Editors

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct.12, 2000

American Tower Corporation (the "Company")(NYSE: AMT) today announced that it constructed 467 towers in the third quarter 2000.

For the 8,352 active wireless towers owned by the Company as of the beginning of the third quarter, the Company added 1,035 broadband equivalent tenants, net of anchor tenants. This is equivalent to an annualized lease-up rate of 0.50 broadband equivalent tenants per tower, an implied annual revenue growth rate of over 32%.

Steve Dodge, American Tower's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer stated, "Our lease-up performance continues to improve, reflecting strong underlying customer demand, our rapidly improving tower inventory, and ongoing improvement in our overall operational execution. Further, despite an increasingly hostile zoning environment, our new tower construction efforts are becoming more and more productive. We are very pleased with these results and expect these positive trends to continue."

American Tower will host a conference call on Thursday, October 12, 2000 at 12:00 p.m. Eastern to discuss the results. The call will be hosted by Joe Winn, Chief Financial Officer of American Tower, who will be joined by Steve Dodge, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of American Tower, and David Garrison, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Verestar, Inc., a subsidiary of American Tower. The dial-in numbers are US: 888-889-5008, international: 312-470-0200, passcode: American Tower. A replay of the call will be available immediately after the call until 4:00 p.m. Eastern Thursday, October 19, 2000. The replay dial-in numbers are US: 888-567-0391, and international: 402-998-1763, no access code required. American Tower will also sponsor a live simulcast and replay of the call on its web site www.americantower.com.

American Tower is the leading independent owner, operator and developer of broadcast and wireless communications sites in North America. Giving effect to pending transactions, American Tower operates approximately 10,800 sites in the United States, Mexico and Canada, including approximately 300 broadcast tower sites. Of the 10,800 sites, approximately 9,800 are owned or leased towers and approximately 1,000 are managed and lease/sublease sites. Based in Boston, American Tower has regional hub offices in Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco and Mexico City. For more information about American Tower Corporation and Verestar, please visit our web sites www.americantower.com and www.verestar.com.

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" concerning future expectations, plans or strategies that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. American Tower Corporation, "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.