Exhibit 99.1

                              [AMERICAN TOWER LOGO]

                                                         ATC Contact: Anne Alter

                                   Vice President of Finance, Investor Relations
                                                       Telephone: (617) 375-7500

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                 AMERICAN TOWER AMENDS CREDIT FACILITY AGREEMENT

Boston, Massachusetts - October 23, 2002 - American Tower Corporation (NYSE:
AMT) today announced that it has amended certain provisions of the loan
agreement for the senior secured credit facilities of certain of its
subsidiaries. The senior secured credit facilities consist of an $850 million
term loan A, a $500 million term loan B, and a $650 million revolving line of
credit, of which $490 million remained undrawn and available as of September 30,
2002. The Company's current business plan anticipates nominal, if any,
incremental borrowing needs until free cash flow is achieved, which is expected
to occur in early 2003. Free cash flow means the Company will be generating
EBITDA in excess of interest expense and capital expenditures. The borrowers
have maintained compliance with all covenants. Several of the key provisions of
the amendment are described below.

     o    Pro Forma Debt Service covenant is eased to a ratio of 1.00 to 1.00
          from a ratio of 1.10 to 1.00 for all remaining quarters beginning with
          the quarter ending December 31, 2002;

     o    Consistent with our previously announced intention to sell Verestar,
          Verestar is no longer a borrower and its subsidiaries are no longer
          restricted subsidiaries, but the lenders' maintain their collateral
          position in these assets prior to any potential sale;

     o    Leverage Ratio is tightened by one half-turn for all remaining
          quarters;

     o    Certain permitted investment baskets are reduced or eliminated.

In consideration for the amendments, the applicable margins were increased by 50
basis points (with minimum applicable margins through September 2003) and the
borrowers paid an amendment fee of 25 basis points to consenting lenders. A full
description of the amendment is available in an 8-K filed with the SEC on
October 23, 2002.

American Tower is the leading independent owner, operator and developer of
broadcast and wireless communications sites in North America. American Tower
operates approximately 14,400 sites in the United States, Mexico, and Brazil,
including approximately 300 broadcast tower sites. Of the 14,400 sites,
approximately 13,500 are owned or leased towers and approximately 900 are
managed and lease/sublease sites. Headquartered in Boston, American Tower has
regional hub offices in Boston, Chicago, Phoenix, and Mexico City. For more
information about American Tower Corporation and its subsidiary Verestar, Inc.,
please visit our web sites www.americantower.com and www.verestar.com.

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" concerning our goals,
beliefs, expectations, strategies, objectives, plans, future operating results
and underlying assumptions, and other statements that are not of historical
facts. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated in our
forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including:
(1) a decrease in demand for tower space would materially and adversely affect
our operating results and we cannot control that demand; (2) continuation of the
current U.S. economic slowdown could materially and adversely affect our
business; (3) our substantial leverage and debt service obligations may
adversely affect our operating results and our ability to make payments on our
indebtedness; (4) restrictive covenants in our

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credit facilities and our senior notes could adversely affect our business by
limiting flexibility and causing us to breach our tower development obligations;
(5) if our wireless service provider customers consolidate or merge with each
other to a significant degree, our growth, our revenue and our ability to
generate positive cash flows could be adversely affected; (6) due to the
long-term expectations of revenue from tenant leases, the tower industry is
sensitive to the creditworthiness of its tenants; (7) increasing competition in
the satellite and fiber network access services market may adversely affect
Verestar's business; (8) if our chief executive officer left, we would be
adversely affected because we rely on his reputation and expertise; (9)
operations in foreign countries could lead to expropriations, government
regulations, funds inaccessibility, foreign exchange exposure and management
problems; and (10) new technologies could make our tower antenna leasing
services less desirable to potential tenants and result in decreasing revenues.
For other important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially
from those indicated in our forward-looking statements, we refer you to the
information under the caption entitled "Business Factors That May Affect Future
Results" in our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2002, which "Factors
That May Affect Future Results" we incorporate herein by reference. We undertake
no obligation to update the information contained in this press release to
reflect subsequently occurring events or circumstances.


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