News Release
London, February 23 2001, Hutchison 3G UK, today announced they have agreed to lease space on 4,000 sites managed by Crown Castle UK for a period of twenty-five years. Hutchison 3G has also taken an option to lease space on an additional 2,536 sites managed by Crown Castle UK. These sites give Hutchison 3G access to shared wireless infrastructure, which will allow it to rollout 3G services in mid-2002.
Dr Colin Tucker said "this is a significant step forward for Hutchison 3G in our plans to provide a new and exciting mobile multimedia service. This agreement with Crown Castle provides sites, which we need to build our network and to launch these services. Crown Castle are 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."
Ted B. Miller, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Crown Castle International said "our agreement with Hutchison demonstrates the scale and capability of our UK subsidiary to be the premier provider of outsourced wireless infrastructure solutions. It offers Hutchison 3G unprecedented speed-to-market and the ability to effectively compete with the UK's incumbent wireless carriers."
For Further information please contact:
Edward Brewster | Hutchison 3G UK | +44 20 7887 7869 |
Steve Arnold | Crown Castle UK | +44 1926 416 870 |
Notes to Editors
1. Hutchison 3G UK
Hutchison 3G UK Holdings Limited ("Hutchison 3G") holds license "A", from the UMTS auction held by the UK government in April 2000. Licence "A" was the largest block of spectrum auctioned in the UK, it was set-aside for a new entrant to the market. The licence consists of 15mhz of paired spectrum, and 5mhz of unpaired spectrum.
3G is a convergence of mobile, telephony and information systems which promises to change people's lives by enabling them to access information when, where and how they want. The 3G standard (agreed throughout Europe, Japan, China, and the rest of Asia) is formerly known as UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System). It represents a global standard for third generation mobile communication systems and is at the heart of the Hutchison 3G initiative.
Hutchison Whampoa Limited holds a 65 per cent stake in Hutchison 3G, the other major shareholders are NTT DoCoMo (20 per cent) KPN Mobile (15 per cent).
www.hutchison3g.com
2. Crown Castle UK
Crown Castle currently owns more than 2,400 tower sites in the UK, and has rights to develop more than 4,000 additional sites through an agreement signed last year with British Telecommunications (BT). The 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.
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. For more information on Crown Castle International, visit: www.crowncastle.com.