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HOUSTON, Oct. 1, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE:CCI), the largest independent owner and operator of shared wireless infrastructure in the US, will be taking a leading role at PCIA – The Wireless Industry Association's ("PCIA") 2012 Wireless Infrastructure Show, which commences Monday, October 1, 2012.

"Over the past 15 years we have strategically built Crown Castle to serve the extraordinary and ever-growing wireless infrastructure needs of wireless carriers, and we're looking forward to participating with the rest of the industry at the PCIA conference," said Ben Moreland, President and Chief Executive Officer of Crown Castle, and incoming PCIA chairman.  "The demand for wireless infrastructure is at historic levels thanks to the seemingly insatiable thirst for mobile access to the Internet, email, texting, TV shows, movies and every now and then an actual phone call. Crown Castle is in a unique position, as no other company has the breadth and scope of our shared wireless infrastructure and resources, with towers, rooftops, Distributed Antenna Systems and fiber. In addition to our traditional tower business, some of our recent successes have been in large arenas, hospitals, university campuses, transportation hubs and amusement parks – all areas of particular interest to those attending this conference."

Crown Castle representatives will participate in the following activities at the 2012 Wireless Infrastructure Show:

Monday, October 1:

DAS In Action: Orlando Case Study of Distributed Antenna System ("DAS") Deployment – An intensive, half-day program focusing on trends and innovations in DAS and small cell solutions.  Crown Castle's Kevin Watts, DAS Site Development Manager; Rick Soto, Manager - DAS Engineering; and Tom Scobie, DAS Sales Director, will present the company's design and deployment solution for wireless communications at Amway Center, home of the Orlando Magic and the 2012 NBA All-Star Game.

Tuesday, October 2:

Wireless Investors' Conference – Jay Brown, Crown Castle's Chief Financial Officer will take part in a panel discussion of the state of the capital markets, the business impact of 4G, merger and acquisition activity, and international opportunities. 

Wi-Fi and DAS: Working Together –Rising smartphone and data usage mandate changes to how operators provide service indoors.  Because more than 70% of wireless connections are initiated indoors, wireless operators are increasingly leveraging Wi-Fi to relieve network congestion.  Bo Piekarski, Crown Castle's Vice President of DAS Product Management Development, will explore how wireless operators are using Wi-Fi technology as an offload strategy and related challenges and opportunities.

HetNet & the Broadband Challenge: Perceptions of Mobile Network Quality – Mike Hughes, Crown Castle's Vice President of Engineering, will explore mutli-layered, high capacity, heterogeneous networks and how various consumer demographic groups assess mobile network quality.

Tuesday, October 2 and Wednesday, October 3: 

DAS Pavilion Booth K – In addition to meeting with carriers and infrastructure providers, Crown Castle will demonstrate CCISites^TM, its award-winning database.  With an inventory of more than 170,000 Crown Castle and non-Crown Castle towers, rooftops and DAS sites, the database accelerates the site acquisition process to meet the increasing need for additional coverage and capacity.

Wednesday, October 3:  

A View From The Top – Ben Moreland, Crown Castle's President and Chief Executive Officer will join other wireless leaders in a roundtable discussion focusing on where the industry is now and where it is headed.

A Regulatory Compliance Handbook – Crown Castle's Associate General Counsel Robert Millar will address and analyze regulations and recent policy changes that impact wireless infrastructure regulatory compliance.  Topics will include historic preservation, environmental review, and other emerging policy changes that impact network deployment.

About Crown Castle 

Crown Castle owns, operates, and leases towers and other infrastructure for wireless communications.  Crown Castle offers significant wireless communications coverage to 92 of the top 100 US markets and to substantially all of the Australian population.  Pro forma for our announced transaction with T-Mobile USA, Crown Castle owns, operates and manages over 30,000 and approximately 1,600 wireless communication sites in the US and Australia, respectively.  For more information on Crown Castle, please visit www.crowncastle.com.

The Crown Castle International Corp. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=3063

CONTACT: Jay Brown, CFO
         Fiona McKone, VP - Finance
         Crown Castle International Corp.
         713-570-3050