Cingular Wireless 'Raises the Bar,' Adds 200th Cell Site of 2004

[jones]

Source: Cingular Wireless

Cingular Wireless 'Raises the Bar,' Adds 200th Cell Site of 2004
Thursday December 23, 8:01 am ET
Network Enhancement Initiatives Pay Off in Missouri and Kansas; Cingular affirms customer commitment to 'best in class' wireless experience


ST. LOUIS, Dec. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Cingular Wireless, the country's largest wireless provider, today announced it has completed construction of its 200th cell site in Missouri and Kansas so far this year. The site, located in the Village of Four Seasons area, at Lake of the Ozarks, MO, is a major milestone in the market's 2004 build plan, which is almost triple the size of last year's growth. The site is located on Cherokee Road, about one-half mile north of the Lodge of the Four Seasons Resort, in Camden County, and enhances coverage in the Lake area.
The new cell sites are part of an $85 million investment in Missouri, Kansas and Western Illinois designed to enhance service and expand coverage for Cingular Wireless customers traveling throughout the region. The company expects to finish the year with 210 new cell sites in operation.

"While we are pleased with our progress, we will not stop here," said Nancy Garvey, Cingular's vice president and general manager. "Last year we made the commitment to complete our advanced data and voice network, and this year we focused on increasing our coverage.

"We recognize that superior call quality and coverage are two of the most critical factors that determine customer satisfaction. We are moving aggressively to continue what we began earlier this year to ensure we have 'more bars in more places.' Our ALLOVER(SM) network* is the largest digital voice and data network in America, and the Missouri and Kansas region is an important part of that network."

Garvey said Cingular's network covers more than 268 million people and growing, providing the largest high-speed data network in America. Cingular also offers the largest mobile-to-mobile calling community with more than 46 million people.

This year's network enhancements have also focused on some of the region's most popular tourist and vacation destinations with four new sites added in Lake of the Ozarks, eight inside malls across the two-state region, one additional site at the Kansas City International Airport, and others at key attractions.

Cingular also focused on improving coverage and capacity on college campuses, including Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, Southern Missouri State University in Springfield, MO, University of Missouri-Rolla in Rolla, Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, and St. Louis University.

Cingular Wireless' 2004 investment comes on the heels of a two-year $250-million effort implementing an advanced GSM/EDGE voice and data network throughout Missouri and Kansas. GSM is the world standard for wireless communication, used by more than a billion people in 200 countries. In fact, more than 70 percent of the world's total wireless market is GSM. What GSM delivers for voice, EDGE delivers for data. EDGE is a high-speed wireless data service that gives customers "third generation" (3G) wireless data services with data speeds typically three times faster than what was available with GPRS.

In November, Cingular announced the next step in network evolution with plans to continue deploying the nation's fastest high-speed mobile wireless data network based on international standards. Called UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) with HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access), this 3G technology will offer average data speeds between 400-700 kilobits per second and bursts to several megabits per second on capable devices. Cingular's UMTS/HSDPA offers customers the ability to have simultaneous voice and data sessions, which means a customer can use a handset to make a call at the same time they are checking their e-mail or browsing the Internet at high speeds.

[bobolito]

That's 200 cellsites in that part of Missouri. For a minute, I was under the impression that was 200 sites for the whole country. Of course that can't be right.