Crown Castle International Reports Fourth Quarter and Year End Results.

Business Editors & Technology Writers

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 22, 2000

Crown Castle International Corp. (Nasdaq:TWRS) today reported results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 1999.

Revenues for the fourth quarter of 1999 increased 88 percent to $114.2 million compared to $60.8 million during the fourth quarter of 1998. Tower cash flow for the fourth quarter increased 64 percent to $43.5 million, up from $26.6 million in last year's fourth quarter. Fourth quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, grew 87 percent to $47.3 million compared to $25.3 million in last year's fourth quarter. Fourth quarter loss per share before restructuring charges was $0.24 compared to a loss per share of $0.09 in last year's fourth quarter. The Company added approximately 780 tenants from acquisitions and 950 new tenants in the fourth quarter of 1999 compared to approximately 180 tenants from acquisitions and 260 new tenants added in the fourth quarter of 1998.

Revenues for 1999 increased 206 percent to $345.8 million from $113.1 million during 1998. Tower cash flow for 1999 increased 213 percent to $140.0 million from $44.7 million in 1998. EBITDA for 1999 grew 277 percent to $139.8 million compared to $37.1 million in 1998. Loss per share before restructuring charges for 1999 was $0.91 compared to a loss per share of $1.02 in 1998. The Company added approximately 7,250 tenants from acquisitions and 2,550 new tenants in 1999 compared to approximately 350 tenants from acquisitions and 500 new tenants added in 1998.

"Highlights during the quarter included our announcement of the largest tower transaction to date in the independent wireless infrastructure industry with the announced acquisition of GTE's towers, as well as the announcement of two large master lease agreements with Metricom and Nextel for over 1,700 sites," stated Ted B. Miller, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Crown Castle International.

"During 1999, major wireless carriers in the U.S. and UK such as GTE, Bell Atlantic, BellSouth, Powertel and One-2-One outsourced their tower networks to Crown Castle," continued Mr. Miller. "The result is that wireless providers now have the opportunity to deploy their networks on towers which only twelve months ago were not readily available to them. With these clustered tower networks integrated into Crown Castle, we now have the ability to more rapidly deploy, expand and in-fill existing carrier networks as well as enable new technologies to deploy with turnkey or substantial coverage in 70 of the top 100 markets in the U.S. and across nearly the entire population base of the UK.

"Co-location availability on these outsourced tower networks not only enables rapid deployment, it also allows more efficient capital allocation for wireless carriers and the need for fewer towers through carrier sharing. The result is more robust coverage and network capacity to support increased subscriber demand and more rapid deployment of new technologies through co-location. Given the operating leverage of this business, adding tenants through master lease agreements to our existing tower base drives cash flow faster than any other source of growth in this industry, as evidenced by our fourth quarter and full year results," 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 over 10,000 wireless communication towers internationally. For more information on Crown Castle International, visit: http://www.crowncastle.com.

This press release contains 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. More information about potential factors, which could affect the Company's financial results, is included in the Risk Factors sections of the Company's filings with the Securities Exchange Commission. The Company assumes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Tables to follow

                   Crown Castle International Corp.
            Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations
                       And Other Financial Data
                (in thousands, except per share data)

                          Three Months Ended          Year Ended
                             December 31,            December 31,
                          ------------------         ------------
                          1999        1998         1999         1998
                         ------      ------       ------       ------
Net revenues:
 Site rental and
  broadcast
  transmission         $84,759      $46,572     $267,894      $75,028
 Network services
  and other             29,437       14,245       77,865       38,050
                     ---------    ---------    ---------    ---------
   Total net
    revenues           114,196       60,817      345,759      113,078
                     ---------    ---------    ---------    ---------
Costs of
 operations:
 Site rental and
  broadcast
  transmission          36,418       17,856      114,436       26,254
 Network services
  and other             15,443        7,330       42,312       21,564
                     ---------    ---------    ---------    ---------
   Total costs of
    operations          51,861       25,186      156,748       47,818
                     ---------    ---------    ---------    ---------
General and
 administrative         13,747        8,549       43,823       23,571
Corporate
 development             1,269        1,787        5,403        4,625
Restructuring
 charges                 3,831           --        5,645           --
Non-cash
 compensation
 charges                   501        1,397        2,173       12,758
Depreciation and
 amortization           40,737       20,134      130,106       37,239
                     ---------    ---------    ---------    ---------
Operating income
 (loss)                  2,250        3,764        1,861      (12,933)
Equity in earnings
 of unconsolidated
 affiliate                  --           --           --        2,055
Interest and other
 income (expense)        4,929        1,927       17,731        4,220
Interest expense
 and amortization
 of deferred
 financing costs       (38,560)     (11,508)    (110,908)     (29,089)
                     ---------    ---------    ---------    ---------
Loss before income
 taxes, minority
 interests and
 cumulative effect
 of change in
 accounting
 principle             (31,381)      (5,817)     (91,316)     (35,747)
Provision for
 income taxes               (7)        (156)        (275)        (374)
Minority interests      (1,569)      (1,326)      (2,756)      (1,654)
                     ---------    ---------    ---------    ---------
Loss before
 cumulative effect
 of change in
 accounting
 principle             (32,957)      (7,299)     (94,347)     (37,775)
Cumulative effect
 of change in
 accounting
 principle for
 costs of start-up
 activities                 --           --       (2,414)          --
                     ---------    ---------    ---------    ---------
Net loss               (32,957)      (7,299)     (96,761)     (37,775)
Dividends on
 preferred stock        (9,035)      (1,063)     (28,881)      (5,411)
                     ---------    ---------    ---------    ---------
Net loss after
 deduction of
 dividends on
 preferred stock      $(41,992)     $(8,362)   $(125,642)    $(43,186)
                     =========    =========    =========    =========
Per common share -
 basic and diluted:
 Loss before
  cumulative effect
  of change in
  accounting
  principle             $(0.27)      $(0.09)      $(0.94)      $(1.02)
 Cumulative effect
  of change in
  accounting
  principle                 --           --        (0.02)          --
                     ---------    ---------    ---------    ---------
 Net loss               $(0.27)      $(0.09)      $(0.96)      $(1.02)
                     =========    =========    =========    =========
Common shares
 outstanding -
 basic and diluted     156,662       94,284      131,466       42,518
                     =========    =========    =========    =========
EBITDA (before
 restructuring
 charges):
 Site rental and
  broadcast
  transmission         $43,531      $26,621     $139,966      $44,661
 Network services
  and other              3,788       (1,326)        (181)      (7,597)
                     ---------    ---------   ----------   ----------
   Total EBITDA        $47,319      $25,295     $139,785      $37,064
                     =========    =========   ==========   ==========