Cingular Adds 24 New Cell Sites

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Millions in Network Enhancement Initiatives Pay-Off in East Tennessee; Cingular Adds 24 New Cell Sites as Part of 2004 Network Investment to Enhance In-building, Residential and High-Traffic Route Coverage
Thursday September 16, 2:55 pm ET


KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Cingular Wireless announced that it has activated 24 new cell sites in East Tennessee this year, enhancing wireless service for residents and travelers throughout the area. In addition, Cingular announced plans to add more than 20 more sites throughout East Tennessee before the year's end.
These enhancements are part of a one-year, $100 million network investment in Tennessee/Kentucky that will bring nearly 150 new cell sites to the region to further improve call quality, create additional capacity and extend the network's reach. Approximately one-third of the region's total new sites are in the East Tennessee market.

The 24 sites activated so far this year enhance service in the following areas:

Johnson City -- enhanced coverage along Hwy 36 between Johnson City & Kingsport; enhanced coverage on I-81 between the I-181 and the Airport exits in Sullivan County; enhanced coverage along I-81 between the I-181 and Fall Branch exits and in the Fall Branch residential neighborhoods
Kingsport -- enhanced coverage on Memorial Blvd. and in the Orebank area
Jefferson City -- enhanced coverage in downtown Jefferson City including coverage in Wal-Mart, Carson Newman College, and Jefferson City Industrial Park; enhanced service on I-81 North between Morristown and Jefferson City and in the White Pine community of NE Jefferson County; enhanced coverage on US Hwy 25 into Morristown and enhanced service on Hwy 160 near Morristown
Knoxville -- enhanced coverage along Hwy 68E from Madisonville to Tellico Plains; enhanced coverage along Rt. 25 west in the Carter Community of Southeast Knox County; enhanced coverage near Milligan College in Elizabethton
Tri-Cities -- enhanced coverage along Eastern Star Rd.; enhanced service on I-40 East to the North Carolina state line
Gatlinburg -- enhanced coverage on US 321 from Gatlinburg to Newport - Cookeville -- enhanced coverage on Shipley Rd; enhanced coverage along
Hwy 136 north of the Tennessee Tech campus

Bristol, VA -- enhanced coverage along I-81 and I-381 and in the City of Bristol
"Cingular continues to go beyond the big cities and Interstates to provide our customers with an advanced network that gives them the ability to make a call when they want and where they want." said Dru Dempsey, Director of Sales for Cingular Wireless - East Tennessee. "Cingular is committed to making its great network even better with ongoing network enhancements that allow us to grow and expand with the communities we serve."

Having just completed an aggressive upgrade to its extensive Tennessee/Kentucky network in 2003, Cingular is moving forward with plans to deliver world-class wireless service to customers throughout the region. Since 2000, Cingular has invested $200 million expanding and enhancing the Tennessee/Kentucky network.

"Network quality is a major criteria for customers who are choosing a wireless provider," said Dempsey. "Now that our transition to an advanced voice and data network is complete, we are focusing our resources on increasing coverage, particularly in residential areas and in-building locations throughout the region."

In addition to its extensive network campaign, Cingular has rolled out a number of new initiatives to enhance the customer experience and the company's customer service systems and procedures. These include improving the customer experience at all points of contact -- the initial sale, service, billing, call center contact and online presence. The company introduced a new simplified bill, self-service enhancements such as Star Services, simplified coverage maps and rate plans, and a new mapping tool to provide customers with more detailed coverage information.

About Cingular Wireless

Cingular Wireless, a joint venture between SBC Communications (NYSE: SBC - News) and BellSouth (NYSE: BLS - News), serves more than 25 million voice and data customers across the United States. A leader in mobile voice and data communications, Cingular is the only U.S. wireless carrier to offer Rollover(SM), the wireless plan that lets customers keep their unused monthly minutes. Cingular is the largest provider of GSM services in the United States, and has a 100 percent digital GSM/GPRS footprint across its service area. It also launched the world's first commercial deployment of wireless services using Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) technology. Cingular also provides corporate e-mail and other advanced data services through its GPRS, EDGE and Mobitex packet data networks. Details of the company are available at http://www.cingular.com .




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Source: Cingular Wireless