CommScope’s GroundSmart Products Help Utilities and Renewable Energy Providers Reduce Project Costs, Deter Copper Theft

HICKORY, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CommScope is introducing its GroundSmart grounding products into its CommScope BiMetals family of wire and cable solutions. These products help reduce the costs of managing and maintaining electricity transmission and distribution networks by deterring theft and vandalism.

CommScope’s use of copper-clad steel in its GroundSmart™ products provides a safe, highly reliable alternative to the use of solid and stranded copper for grounding applications. These products are specifically designed to disperse fault currents and lightning strikes at a lower total cost of ownership compared to pure copper. GroundSmart products offer proven performance for optimizing grounding design in substation, distribution and transmission systems, as well as in wind and solar farms.

“A survey published last year estimated that theft of copper wiring from electrical utility sites creates more than 7,500 hours of downtime and costs the industry more than $60 million annually,” said Paul Bedder, vice president, CommScope BiMetals®. “Copper-clad steel wire and cable products provide the same reliability, performance and durability as solid copper but are unattractive to would-be thieves and vandals.

“These facts alone make copper-clad steel the smart alternative to solid copper in most grounding applications. The advantages of this solution increase when combined with CommScope’s reputation for service and reliability. GroundSmart users realize long-term benefits when repairing their current systems damaged by theft and vandalism or when bringing online new systems such as wind and solar farms.”

CommScope’s copper-clad steel wire and cable products meet the relevant National Electric Code (NEC) and ASTM wire and cable standards and are approved by the Rural Utilities Service (RUS). They are engineered and manufactured at CommScope’s ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 registered facility in Statesville, NC.

The GroundSmart product family will be featured at CommScope’s exhibit April 19-22 at IEEE PES Transmission and Distribution conference in New Orleans and May 23-25 at the WindPower 2010-Dallas show.

CommScope BiMetals and GroundSmart are trademarks of CommScope, Inc.

About CommScope:

CommScope, Inc. (NYSE: CTV) (www.commscope.com) is a world leader in infrastructure solutions for communication networks. Through its Andrew Solutions™ brand, it is a global leader in radio frequency subsystem solutions for wireless networks. Through its SYSTIMAX^® and Uniprise^® brands, CommScope is a world leader in network infrastructure solutions, delivering a complete end-to-end physical layer solution, including cables and connectivity, enclosures, intelligent software and network design services, for business enterprise applications. CommScope also is the premier manufacturer of coaxial cable for broadband cable television networks and one of the leading North American providers of environmentally secure cabinets for DSL and FTTN applications. Backed by strong research and development, CommScope combines technical expertise and proprietary technology with global manufacturing capability to provide customers with infrastructure solutions for evolving global communications networks in more than 100 countries around the world.

This press release includes forward-looking statements that are based on information currently available to management, management’s beliefs, as well as on a number of assumptions concerning future events. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results to differ materially from those currently expected. For a more detailed description of the factors that could cause such a difference, please see CommScope’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In providing forward-looking statements, the company does not intend, and is not undertaking any obligation or duty, to update these statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.