Crown Castle to Acquire Rights to 9,700 AT&T Towers for $4.85 Billion in Cash

Crown Castle International Corp.

announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which Crown Castle will acquire rights to approximately 9,700 AT&T

towers for $4.85 billion in cash at closing (subject to certain limited adjustments). Under the definitive agreement, Crown Castle will have the exclusive right to lease and operate the AT&T towers for a weighted average term of approximately 28 years. In addition, Crown Castle will have the option to purchase the towers at the end of the respective lease terms for aggregate option payments of approximately $4.2 billion, which payments, if exercised, would be primarily between 2032 and 2048. "We are very pleased with our agreement with AT&T, which strengthens our position as the largest provider of shared wireless infrastructure in the US, which we believe is the largest, fastest growing and most profitable wireless market in the