investors

HOUSTON, July 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI) announced today that site rental revenues it receives from Metricom, Inc. (Nasdaq: MCOM) account for less than one half of one percent of its total site rental revenue and approximately one quarter of one percent of its total revenue. The total outstanding amount currently due Crown Castle from Metricom is approximately $2 million, or approximately one percent of Crown Castle's total trade receivables currently outstanding. Metricom announced today that it has filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

"Crown Castle's financial exposure to Metricom is insignificant and immaterial to our continuing operations," stated W. Benjamin Moreland, Chief Financial Officer of Crown Castle International. "Because Metricom has only 98 leases on our tower sites, the total site rental revenue received from Metricom is less than $200 thousand per month. In addition, our financial exposure to other wireless data providers is significantly less than that of Metricom, accounting for less than one percent of total revenues in aggregate.

"Crown Castle's reserve for doubtful accounts is currently nine percent of total receivables, one of the largest reserves in our industry," continued Mr. Moreland. "When compared with an actual debt write-off history of less than two percent of total receivables, Crown Castle's total bad debt reserve of over $19 million will be able to easily absorb the Metricom balance should it remain unpaid."

John P. Kelly, President and Chief Operating Officer of Crown Castle International stated, "While it is unfortunate that Metricom has suffered financial problems, Crown Castle's forecast for new tenants remains unchanged at between .40 and .50 new tenants per tower during year 2001. Since the beginning of year 2000, more than 85 percent of Crown Castle's new tenant leases in the US have come from the six major US wireless service providers and their affiliates, a trend we expect will continue throughout 2001. Consequently, Metricom's effect on our year 2001 EBITDA is immaterial."

Crown Castle International Corp. engineers, deploys, owns and operates technologically advanced, shared wireless infrastructure. The Company offers near-universal broadcast coverage in the United Kingdom and significant wireless communications coverage to 68 of the top 100 US markets, more than 95 percent of the UK population and more than 92 percent of the Australian population. Pro forma for all closed and previously announced transactions, Crown Castle International owns, operates, and manages over 13,000 wireless communication towers internationally. In addition, Crown Castle has development rights to 4,000 fiber exchange sites in the UK. In Italy, Crown Castle and RAI, through RaiWay, offer near-universal broadcast coverage. For more information on Crown Castle International, visit: www.crowncastle.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements and information that are based on management's beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, expectations, projections and estimates regarding (i) new tenant co-location rates, (ii) the concentration of our tenant leases among major US wireless service providers, (iii) site rental and broadcast transmission revenue and EBITDA, and (iv) total revenues and total EBITDA.

Although the Company 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, including, but not limited to the success or failure of our efforts to implement our business strategy and the following:

• We may be unable to manage our significant growth.

• Our substantial level of indebtedness could adversely affect our ability to react to changes in our business and limit our ability to use debt to fund future capital needs.

• If we are unable to service our indebtedness, our indebtedness may be accelerated.

• Restrictive covenants on our debt instruments may limit our ability to take actions that may be in our best interests.

• We may be unable to raise the significant capital required to fund our operations and make acquisitions.

• We may not be able to construct or acquire new towers at the pace and in the locations that we desire.

• Our business depends on the demand for wireless communications.

• Demand for our network services business is very volatile which causes our network services operating results to vary significantly for any particular period.

• We operate in an increasingly competitive industry and many of our competitors have significantly more resources than we do.

• Extensive regulations, which could change at any time, govern our business and industry, and we could fail to comply with these regulations.

• We could suffer from future claims if radio frequency emissions from equipment on our towers is demonstrated to cause negative health effects.

• Our international operations expose us to changes in foreign currency exchange rates.

• We are heavily dependent on our senior management.

Should one or more of these risks materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected. More information about potential factors which could affect the Company's financial results is included in the Risk Factors sections of the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Contacts: W. Benjamin Moreland, CFO

                Crown Castle International
                713-570-3000

                Ken Dennard / kdennard@easterly.com
                Lisa Elliott / lisae@easterly.com
                Easterly Investor Relations
                713-529-6600

SOURCE Crown Castle International Corp.

CONTACT: W. Benjamin Moreland, CFO of Crown Castle International Corp., 713-570-3000; or Ken Dennard, kdennard@easterly.com, or Lisa Elliott, lisae@easterly.com, both of Easterly Investor Relations, 713-529-6600, for