Castle Tower makes investment in TEA Group.

HOUSTON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 24, 1996--Castle Tower Corp., a leading provider of wireless telecommunications site services, has purchased an option to acquire an interest in Atlanta-based TEA Group.

The investment enables Castle Tower to provide complete end-to-end network property development and management services for the fast growing wireless network market.

Established in 1994, Houston-based Castle Tower acquires, develops and manages towers, building rooftops and antennas, providing a full range of services from pre-engineering through site acquisition, construction, leaseback and facilities management. The company is backed by The Centennial Funds of Denver and Berkshire Partners of Boston, traditionally two of the major financiers of emerging communications and infrastructure companies.

Since its inception, Castle has completed five major business acquisitions. In 1995, it acquired Spectrum Site Management Corp., the leading rooftop management company in the U.S. Today, Castle Tower and Spectrum own, manage and represent more than 1400 tower and rooftop communications sites in 44 states and Puerto Rico, including 30 major U.S. cities. Castle and Spectrum's client base includes virtually all major wireless carriers and some of the largest property owners in the U.S.

TEA Group, founded in 1982, as a provider of right-of-way acquisition services, is considered to be the nation's premier provider of development services to support technical applications of real property such as wireless, fiber optics, microwave, power transmission and cable television services. In the 1980s, TEA was twice named to Inc. Magazine's 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies list. Since 1990, TEA has focused on developing real estate for wireless communications infrastructure. TEA's client list includes GTE, AirTouch, AT&T, BellSouth, Nextel, APT, PCS, PrimeCo and many others. On the international front, TEA has provided significant support for telecommunications development in Australia, Chile, Argentina, Israel, China, Portugal, Germany and Brazil.

"Our investment in TEA comes after months of research to find the site development company that could meet the ambitious and aggressive demands of Castle and its customers," said Ted Miller, Castle Tower's president. "TEA's proven domestic and international track record in network development, coupled with Castle's financial and property management strength, clearly positions us as the emerging leading in providing carrier network infrastructure."

"Castle Tower provides TEA with ready access to capital and property management expertise that is second to none," said Chuck Jones, TEA's executive vice president. "More importantly, both companies have long promoted industry cooperation in developing properties for multiple carrier use to reduce proliferation of the vertical structures required to provide wireless services."

For more details on this investment alliance and specific information on either company, please contact: Castle Tower Corp., 510 Bering Drive, Suite 310, Houston, Texas, 77057; Telephone: [phone]; Fax: [phone]. Or, contact: TEA Group, Inc., 1040 Crown Pointe Parkway, Suite 800, Atlanta, Ga. 30338; Telephone: [phone]; Fax: [phone].

CONTACT: Crescent Communications

Paul McKeon, 770/698-8650, ext. 107

fax: [phone]

email: [e-mail]