(July 15, 2002) - Cingular Wireless, the second largest wireless carrier in the nation, has begun serving the metro New York City area. Cingular's entry into New York means the wireless carrier is now in all top 10 markets and 43 of the top 50, covering 217 million people in the U.S. Cingular has already had a presence in the region through its Mobitex service for BlackBerry. Last October, Cingular signed a network-sharing agreement with VoiceStream to allow Cingular to offer service in New York City on VoiceStream's network, in exchange for VoiceStream's use of Cingular's network to serve customers in California and Nevada.

Cingular has just opened 55 retail locations in the metro area, and plans to open more than 200 stores in the five boroughs, Long Island, Westchester, and New Jersey in the next two years. Rather than the typical wireless "hardware store," Cingular customers find a café style area with a Live Bar that enables them to try new services and devices and choose a plan, special features, and accessories that best express their needs and personality. Customers will also be able to buy Cingular service through national retailers in the area like Best Buy and Staples. Since about one-fourth of NYC customers change carriers annually, Cingular believes there is strong potential to capture a significant share of the market.

Cingular will be featuring introductory local and national rate plans, with rates as low at two cents a minute. Cingular will also continue to expand its share of the business segment with special business-to-business rates and discounts. Cingular currently does business with more than half of the Fortune 1000 companies.

Along with Cingular's voice service, the company launched GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), a "2.5G" wireless technology, which provides consumers and business users with an improved wireless Internet experience with access to information. It gives consumers the flexibility to toggle between an Internet session - such as wireless access to e-mail - and a phone call or text message without having to abandon their connection. Customers can also access Cingular's My Wireless Window Internet portal, which provides a calendar, address book, e-mail, shopping, and instant messaging capabilities. Companies can also provide employees with the ability to manage their Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes corporate e-mail securely and in real-time from their mobile phones through Cingular Xpress MailSM.

With GSM service comes hot new handsets and the convenience of the Cingular Smart Chip^TM, which stores all the names and phone numbers a user collects. So when the time comes to swap phones, the Smart Chip and its contents follow the user to the new device.

Cingular Wireless, the second largest wireless carrier in the U.S, is a joint venture between SBC Communications and BellSouth, serving more than 22 million voice and data customers across the United States. Cingular provides cellular/PCS service in 43 of the top 50 markets nationwide. Cingular's Mobitex-based wireless packet data service operates throughout the United States, covering more than 93 percent of the urban business population located in 492 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and non-MSAs with a total population of 200 million people. Details are available at www.cingular.com.