Verestar Announces Acquisition of Publicom Corporation.

Business/Technology Editors

FAIRFAX, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 12, 2000

Verestar Inc. announced today the acquisition of Publicom Corporation, a communications solutions provider to carriers, emerging carriers and corporations throughout Latin America and the Caribbean region.

The acquisition is a natural extension for Verestar, strengthening the company's product and service offerings with its highly skilled personnel and innovative customer solutions. The addition of Publicom also brings Verestar the capability to accommodate growing demand for Internet-related services in Latin America and beyond. Publicom provides innovative solutions, including Voice over IP (VoIP), video conferencing conversion from ISDN to IP and customized engineering solutions for its customers. Verestar can now offer its customers end-to-end solutions with Publicom's remote-end expertise in equipment purchase and installation, maintenance and management.

"This is a strategic acquisition for us. It gives us a premier opportunity to scale a successful business model throughout Verestar," says David Kagan, President and Chief Operating Officer of Verestar. "As we transition from a teleport service provider to a true network solutions provider, Publicom's expertise gives us the integrated solutions our customers are looking for. These include video conferencing, remote end equipment sales, integration and installation. Publicom is a great complement to Verestar in terms of both the facilities and the value-added services we'll be able to offer. And, it's very reassuring to acquire a company that we know well and have worked with successfully for a number of years."

"This is a great development for Publicom. We will be part of a significantly larger, global infrastructure which allows us and our customers to offer better services, state-of-the-art technologies and operational flexibility," says Sheridan Dickinson, President and founder of Publicom. Upon consummation of this transaction earlier this month, Mr. Dickinson joined the Verestar team as a senior executive.

Publicom's customer base includes PTT's (Post, Telephone and Telegraph), private telecom operators, telecom carriers and international corporations. Publicom's business includes satellite and telecommunications equipment distribution via strategic vendor relationships with established equipment providers. It also provides wholesale ISP services to carriers and private companies, as well as foreign ISPs with access to the US Internet backbone with connectivity through Tier 1 ISPs. Verestar plans to integrate these services into its core operations.

Verestar and its parent company, American Tower Corporation (NYSE: AMT) will host a conference call on Thursday, October 12, 2000 at 12:00 p.m. Eastern to discuss the acquisition. The call will be hosted by Joe Winn, Chief Financial Officer of American Tower, who will be joined by David Garrison, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Verestar, and Steve Dodge, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer 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.

About Verestar

Verestar, a wholly owned subsidiary of American Tower Corporation (NYSE: AMT), is a leading, carrier-neutral provider of communications worldwide, delivering and managing customer's mission critical communications on the ground, in space and at sea. The company now owns 11 Satellite Network Access Points (SNAPs), with an inventory of over 170 antennas. Each gateway SNAP offers 24x7 comprehensive networked solutions, including complete engineering management and technical assistance for Internet, data, voice, maritime mobile and video applications. Each SNAP has direct connectivity to Tier-1 Internet Service Providers, with collocation services available at all major facilities. The company also offers customers direct connectivity to MAE East, MAE Central and MAE West. Complementing this, Verestar's switching services company, General Telecom, provides independent partition switches in New York, Miami and Los Angeles. Maritime Telecommunications Network, Inc. (MTN), Verestar's maritime subsidiary, offers Internet, voice and data services to the cruise ship industry and the U.S. government. For more information, visit the company on the web at www.verestar.com.

About American Tower

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, please visit our web site www.americantower.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 with respect to Verestar include, but are not limited to (i) the reliance on increasing demand for internet and international data transmissions, (ii) the use of satellites and fiber for internet data and other transmissions, (iii) risks inherent in extensive foreign operations, including governmental regulation of business in general and internet content and operations in particular, government expropriation, currency fluctuations, inability to repatriate any earnings or other funds, and language and cultural differences that could impair management control and operations, (iv) large fixed costs based on long-term leases of satellite space, (v) dependence on third-party satellite operators, (vi) competitive pressures from third-party satellite operators, several of whom are large international companies, and (vii) the successful operational integration of acquisitions. Additional factors relating to the Company include, but are not limited to (i) substantial capital requirements and leverage principally as a consequence of its ongoing acquisitions and construction activities, (ii) the success of the Company's tower construction program and (iii) 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.