US UNWIRED SELLS 127 TOWERS FOR $40 MILLION TO SBA.

US Unwired Inc. (NASDAQ/NM:UNWR), Lake Charles, La., a Sprint PCS (NYSE:PCS) Network Partner, has sold 127 of its towers to SBA Communications Corporation (NASDAQ/NM:SBAC) for gross proceeds of approximately $40 million. The towers sold are located in Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas.

"The strong level of interest we have received in our tower portfolio serves as an important indicator as to the attractiveness and strategic importance of our service territory," said Robert Piper, president and CEO of US Unwired. "The sale of our tower assets provides us with $40 million in additional cash, further enhancing the liquidity of our already fully-funded balance sheet in a time of difficult capital market conditions."

SBA paid US Unwired $313,000 per tower, and US Unwired will lease space on the towers for an initial monthly rental fee of $1,500 per site under a long-term lease agreement with 4% annual increases in subsequent years.

"We have structured the transaction such that our obligation to SBA will be classified as an operating lease, so the sale will not result in increased debt for US Unwired. Also, a substantial portion of US Unwired's gain from the sale will be deferred and amortized over 10 years. This, coupled with the avoided land-lease payments, will offset the increase in tower rental expense, leaving our Operating Income unaffected by the sale," stated US Unwired's Chief Financial Officer Jerry Vaughn.

Subject to certain conditions, the agreement also provides SBA the option to purchase an additional set of 173 towers by April 2001 and another set of 100 towers by December 31, 2001 under similar terms including the same price per tower of $313,000 and initial monthly rental fee of $1,500 per month.

US Unwired, based in Lake Charles, Louisiana, holds direct or indirect ownership interests in three Sprint PCS Network Partners: Louisiana Unwired, Texas Unwired and Gulf Coast Wireless. Through Louisiana Unwired and Texas Unwired, US Unwired is authorized to build, operate and manage a network that offers 100 percent digital, 100 percent Sprint PCS Wireless service in 41 markets. US Unwired's Sprint PCS Service territory includes portions of southern Tennessee, east Texas, southern Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, the Florida panhandle and significant portions of Louisiana. In addition, US Unwired provides cellular and paging service in southwest Louisiana. For more information on US Unwired and its products and services, visit the company's web site at http://www.usunwired.com. US Unwired trades on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol "UNWR."

For more information, call 337/310-3500.