Exhibit 99.2
[LOGO] Bell Atlantic Mobile
http://www.bam.com [LOGO] CROWN
CASTLE
INTERNATIONAL
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contacts:
For: Bell Atlantic Mobile
Maggie Aloia Rohr
908-306-7757 / maloia@mobile.bam.com
For: Crown Castle International Corp.
Ken Dennard, Easterly Investor Relations
713-529-6600 / kdennard@easterly.com
BELL ATLANTIC MOBILE AND CROWN CASTLE INTERNATIONAL
TEAM TO EXPAND AND MANAGE CARRIER'S TOWER NETWORK
Companies to Form Joint Venture to Grow Wireless Tower Business
BEDMINSTER, NJ & HOUSTON, TX - Bell Atlantic (NYSE:BEL) Mobile and Crown Castle
International Corp. (NASDAQ:TWRS) today announced an agreement to form a joint
venture company which will be majority owned and operated by Crown Castle
International ("CCIC"). The new company will own, operate, and actively advance
the leasing of space on Bell Atlantic Mobile's existing extensive network of
high-quality wireless towers throughout the country. In addition, the joint
venture company will help Bell Atlantic Mobile respond to the soaring popularity
of its DigitalChoice SingleRate(sm) service by building hundreds of new towers
for the carrier. Bell Atlantic Mobile will lease back space on the towers under
a global lease agreement.
The transaction, in which Bell Atlantic Mobile is expected to contribute
in excess of 1,400 existing towers, is valued at approximately $650 million. In
addition, the joint venture intends to raise $180 million of debt, the proceeds
of which will be distributed to Bell Atlantic Mobile. CCIC will own 62.3% and
Bell Atlantic Mobile will own 37.7% of the new company. In addition, the
agreement between CCIC and Bell Atlantic Mobile provides CCIC with the
opportunity to significantly increase its stake after the fourth anniversary of
the formation of the joint venture.
The new company will also be responsible for procuring available land
through lease or purchase, pursuing and obtaining all regulatory approvals, and
performing all related site design and construction activities. Bell Atlantic
Mobile will retain control and ownership of all shelters, cell site equipment,
facilities, and switching infrastructure.
"The formation of this joint venture will enable Bell Atlantic Mobile to
more efficiently employ capital on our core wireless operations and should also
enhance our ability to rapidly expand our geographic coverage to our subscriber
base," said Dave Benson, vice president and CFO for Bell Atlantic Mobile. "We
have made a considerable investment to build the best engineered and highest
quality wireless network and this transaction allows us to maximize the value of
our extensive portfolio of towers. After evaluating a number of competitive
proposals from different operators, we selected Crown Castle because we believe
Crown Castle is the right partner to maintain our high network quality and to
expand the tower portfolio based on their significant operational expertise and
broad industry knowledge."
"We are proud to have been selected as the partner of choice for the
first major tower transaction in the US involving one of the most attractive
footprints available," stated Ted B. Miller, Jr., Crown Castle International
CEO. "We believe this transaction establishes Crown Castle as one of the premier
independent tower operators in the U.S. as well as world-wide. Our analysis
suggests that Bell Atlantic Mobile's significant tower clusters are extremely
well positioned for meaningful build-out and lease-up, offering significant
earnings growth potential and upside value to our shareholders as additional
operators are attracted to current and future sites. The explosive growth of
wireless communications is shifting tower economics towards this type of
infrastructure partnership in order for carriers to cost-effectively meet the
demands of their customers."
The agreements relating to the formation and operation of the joint
venture company will be included as exhibits to a Form 8-K to be filed soon by
CCIC with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Bell Atlantic Mobile owns and operates the largest wireless network in
the East, covering 116,000 square miles, and the largest chain of retail outlets
devoted exclusively to wireless voice, data and paging. Based in Bedminster, NJ,
Bell Atlantic Mobile has 5.9 million customers and 7,500 employees from Maine to
Georgia and, through a separate subsidiary, in the Southwest. Through its
"Wireless at Work..." community service program, the company uses its technology
to help individuals and communities improve security and emergency
communications. Bell Atlantic Mobile's parent is one of the world's largest
wireless communications companies, with domestic operations in 25 states and
international investments in Mexico, Europe and the Pacific Rim. For more
information on Bell Atlantic Mobile visit: www.bam.com; on global operations
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visit: www.bellatlantic.com/worldwide.
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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. After the Bell Atlantic Mobile transaction is completed, Crown Castle
International will own, operate and manage over 2,900 communications sites. For
more information visit: www.crowncastle.com.
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This press release contains various 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 management 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.
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