Hutchison 3G UK Roll-out In Mid-2002

date: 24th February 2001, source by: Crown Castle

Crown Castle announced that its subsidiary, Crown Castle UK, has signed a definitive agreement with Hutchison 3G UK whereby Hutchison will lease space on a minimum of 4,000 Crown Castle sites throughout the UK. Hutchison plans to use the space to deploy its 3G wireless network in the UK.

Under terms of the agreement, Hutchison has committed to lease space on a minimum of 1,000 sites per year, for the years 2001 - 2004. The lease term at each site will be 25 years, with provisions for annual increases in rental rates and for periodic open market reviews. At closing, Hutchison will pay Crown Castle an application fee of 1,000 pounds sterling per site on a total of 6,536 sites.

Crown Castle currently owns more than 2,500 tower sites in the UK and has rights to develop more than 4,000 additional sites through an agreement signed last year with BT. The majority of BT sites are located in major metropolitan areas and have direct access to BT's wholesale fiber network, providing wireless operators with a premier platform for deploying 3G services.

"This contract with Hutchison is one of a number of agreements with 3G operators that we expect to announce this year," stated Ted B. Miller, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Crown Castle. "Our agreement with Hutchison demonstrates the scale and capability of our UK subsidiary to be the premier provider of outsourced wireless infrastructure solutions, and offers Hutchison unprecedented speed-to-market and the ability to effectively compete with the UK's incumbent wireless carriers."

"This is a significant step forward for Hutchison 3G in our plans to provide a new and exciting mobile multimedia service," stated Dr. Colin Tucker, Managing Director of Hutchison 3G UK. "This agreement with Crown Castle provides sites which we need to build our network and to launch these services. Crown Castle is the number one provider of shared infrastructure in the UK, they have also demonstrated their ability to work alongside our team. Hutchison 3G believes site sharing is important and this agreement shows this will be the route we take where possible."

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