Crown Castle Sells UK Arm

HOUSTON -- Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI - News) announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell its UK subsidiary to National Grid Transco Plc for $2.035 billion in cash. The closing date of the transaction, subject to certain approvals, is expected to be on or before September 30, 2004.

"The sale of our UK subsidiary is expected to provide us with significant financial and operational flexibility to pursue opportunities in the larger and faster growing US market," stated John P. Kelly, CEO of Crown Castle. "While our UK operations have been a solid contributor to our business, we believe there is substantially greater growth potential for our US business given the lower penetration of wireless services and the earlier stage of 3G deployments in the US market. This transaction also substantially improves our balance sheet, which we believe will provide flexibility to capitalize on this growth."

"As a result of this transaction, we will significantly reduce our net debt, exposure to currency fluctuations and floating interest rate exposure," stated W. Benjamin Moreland, CFO of Crown Castle. "Given our pro forma balance sheet and the quality of our assets, we believe we are uniquely positioned to drive free cash flow per share and efficiently allocate capital in order to maximize shareholder value."

Crown Castle will use approximately $1.3 billion of the proceeds from the transaction to fully repay Crown Castle Operating Company's credit facility. Crown Castle expects to use the remaining net proceeds of approximately $740 million to invest in new business opportunities in the US or to repay debt. Crown Castle anticipates utilizing a portion of its net operating losses to offset the taxable gain on the sale of the UK subsidiary.

Crown Castle International Corp.