Unprecedented Investment Will Enhance Service Quality and Expand Coverage for
California Customers
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Aug. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Cingular Wireless, the
country's largest wireless provider, today announced it will invest more than
$1 billion throughout California in 2005 to install more than 730 new cell
sites as part of a nationwide $6.2 billion commitment to enhance and expand
its ALLOVER(SM) network*.
The network improvements will enable Cingular customers throughout the
state to experience the highest level of voice service quality and offer some
of the most advanced wireless data services to more customers in more places.
"Better wireless service is what consumers want statewide, and better
coverage is exactly what Cingular is delivering," said Brian Shay, Regional
President - West. "We are continually making improvements to our network so
that our customers have the best wireless experience."
Cingular's more than $1 billion commitment to California is a major
initiative comprising more than twenty percent of the company's overall $6.2
billion investment in nationwide upgrades. Cingular customers will have access
to some 40,000 cell sites nationally, the most of any U.S. carrier, by the end
of 2005.
The company already offers customers access to the largest digital voice
and data network in America, and California is an important part of that
network. Nearly two new cell sites are being installed every day in California
to continue to meet the needs of Cingular customers.
"We are raising the bar significantly with this investment, demonstrating
our commitment to continue aggressively providing better quality service to
our customers," said Shay. "That strong customer focus is one of the reasons
Cingular serves more than 51 million customers -- the first and only domestic
wireless carrier to attain this important growth milestone."
To ensure that Cingular is successfully providing coverage for all its
customers and to determine where more cell sites are needed, Cingular
employees and third parties will drive 30 million miles around the country
this year to test network coverage and quality. That's the equivalent of
fifty round trips to the moon to ensure customers receive the best possible
wireless experience in the United States. Along with drive-testing its own
network, Cingular will drive-test competitors' networks to ensure that
Cingular's coverage and quality are equal to or better than others providing
service in the same areas.
Cingular's ALLOVER network now covers more than 270 million people, and
provides service throughout the United States, including in the top 100
markets. Customers on specific calling plans now have access to the largest
mobile-to-mobile calling community in the country -- with free access to more
than 51 million people.
The company's network growth relies on advanced GSM/EDGE technology. GSM
is the world standard for wireless communication, used by more than a billion
people in 200-plus countries. In fact, more than 70 percent of the world's
total wireless market is GSM. The widespread use of GSM offers Cingular
customers the ability to use a large variety of GSM "world phones" and devices
in more than 125 countries to make calls and access data services in more than
70 countries.
For customers interested in wireless data services, the company's EDGE
network -- the fastest national high-speed data network in America -- provides
average data connections of up to 135 kilobits per second in more than 13,000
cities and towns and in areas along nearly 40,000 miles of highways.
For more information about Cingular, please contact 1-866-CINGULAR or
visit http://www.cingular.com.
* Coverage not available in all areas.
About Cingular Wireless
Cingular Wireless is the largest wireless carrier in the United States,
serving 51.6 million customers. Cingular, a joint venture between SBC
Communications Inc. (NYSE: SBC) and BellSouth Corporation (NYSE: BLS), has the
largest digital voice and data network in the nation -- the ALLOVER(SM)
network - and the largest mobile-to-mobile community of any national wireless
carrier. Cingular is the only U.S. wireless carrier to offer Rollover(SM), the
wireless plan that lets customers keep their unused monthly minutes. Details
of the company are available at http://www.cingular.com. Get Cingular Wireless
press releases e-mailed to you automatically. Sign up at
http://cingular.mediaroom.com.
SOURCE Cingular Wireless
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Related links:
http://www.cingular.com
http://cingular.mediaroom.com
CONTACT:
Art Navarro in Southern California,
+1-562-468-6520, or wireless, +1-949-300-1329, or Michael Broom
in Northern California, wireless, +1-925-216-8690, both of
Cingular Wireless
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