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KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Cingular Wireless is supporting "Project Brotherly Love" as the city welcomes hundreds of Hurricane Katrina evacuees. Cingular Wireless is providing free wireless phone service to assist the communications efforts of the Project's coordinators and evacuees. Nationally, the company has provided more than 1,500 wireless phones with free service to emergency agencies in the Gulf States. "Our hearts go out to Katrina survivors as they relocate here to Philadelphia," said Dan Lafond, Cingular Wireless Vice President and General Manager in Philadelphia. "We understand how important it is for displaced residents and emergency personnel to have access to communications services, and we want to continue doing our part to help Katrina evacuees as they start rebuilding their lives." To assist in the wireless restoration efforts in Gulf States, the company sent 800 technicians - some of them from the Philadelphia area. Cingular Wireless' Philadelphia network team also deployed ten portable generators, 2 portable cell sites and other equipment in the days immediately following the hurricane. Cingular Wireless service has returned to normal in Mobile, AL, Jackson, MS, Meridian, MS and Houma, LA. The majority of coverage capacity has been re-established in and around Biloxi/Gulfport and Hattiesburg, MS. In those areas not yet fully restored, customers can send and receive calls but at slightly reduced levels. Cingular service crews are on the ground in New Orleans, and some calls are going through in that city as well as in Hammond, Louisiana. Cingular Wireless is asking each of its 51 million customers to answer "yes" to a FREE text message asking to donate $1.99 to the American Red Cross hurricane relief efforts. Donations will appear on customer's monthly bills. In addition, anyone can make contributions to the American Red Cross at any of Cingular's 100 company-owned stores and kiosks in the Greater Philadelphia area, or at the company's other retail locations across the country. Additionally, Cingular is one of several wireless carriers participating in CTIA's "Text 2HELP" program. Customers of participating wireless carriers can send a text message to "2HELP" (24357) containing the message "HELP" and a tax-deductible donation will be made to relief efforts. Donations will appear on customers' monthly bills or be debited from prepaid account balances. The Text 2HELP campaign continues through Oct. 31, 2005. Please visit http://www.cingularhurricaneupdates.com/ for regular updates. About Cingular Wireless Cingular's network in the Philadelphia metropolitan area and Central Pennsylvania area covers more than 11 million people and extends across 13,000-square miles outward from greater metropolitan Philadelphia to include Central and Southern New Jersey, areas of Northeastern Pennsylvania including Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Central Pennsylvania including Harrisburg and State College as well as Delaware. 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(R), 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/. DATASOURCE: Cingular Wireless CONTACT: Ellen Webner of Cingular Wireless, +1-973-422-3379, or wireless, +1-201-532-7292, or Web site: http://www.cingular.com/ http://www.cingularhurricaneupdates.com/ http://cingular.mediaroom.com/

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