Company to Invest $400 Million in 2006 to Provide Most Reliable Service CHICAGO and MILWAUKEE, May 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Cingular Wireless today said it will spend $400 million this year to extend coverage and enhance the quality of service for customers in Illinois and Wisconsin and more than $6 billion nationally. The company expects to add more than 140 cell sites in Illinois and Wisconsin alone and finish integrating its GSM network, which began when it purchased AT&T Wireless in 2004. In 2005, Cingular Wireless, the country's largest wireless provider, turned on-air more than 110 new cell sites in Illinois and Wisconsin. Also, in 2005, the company invested $300 million to expand network coverage and improve capacity to benefit customers in the area. With the 2006 investment, the company will have spent more than $700 million in Illinois and Wisconsin during the past two years. Additionally, customers in Chicago and Northwest, Indiana also have access to Cingular's 3G high-speed broadband wireless network. For customers who don't want to find a Wi-Fi hot spot at a coffee shop or burger joint, Cingular offers BroadbandConnect service, which uses a laptop PC modem card providing average data connections between 400-700 kilobits per second on the downlink with bursts to more than a megabit per second. Other options include 3G phones with MEdiaNet services, featuring Cingular Video, giving customers access to a variety of streaming video services, together with exclusive content from HBO. Cingular's 3G service also offers customers the opportunity to use a phone for voice and data services simultaneously, so they can talk to someone while using the phone as a modem for accessing data services -- something other carriers' 3G technology doesn't allow. Customers can select from a number of data plans priced between $19.99 and $59.99. "It's great to see the investments we're making in our network payoff for customers. Quality and coverage are everything in our business and our customers can be assured they're receiving the most reliable service in Illinois and Wisconsin," said Terry Stenzel, vice president and general manager for Illinois and Wisconsin. "We've improved capacity and in-building wireless coverage by adding hundreds of new cell sites. This investment will enable us to continue delivering the highest quality service available -- service that is enhanced by best-in-industry calling plan value and cutting- edge devices." Enhanced Coverage During the first four months of 2006, Cingular has enhanced service throughout Illinois including the following cities and corresponding counties: * Algonquin, McHenry; * Bourbonnais, Kankakee; * Kankakee, Kankakee; * Chicago, Cook (Lincoln Square, near Westside, Burbank); * Plainfield, Will and Laporte, LaPorte; * Champaign, Champaign; * Bluff Springs, Cass; * Owaneco, Christian; * Strassburg, Shelby; * Oconee, Shelby; * Findlay, Shelby; * Peoria, Tazewell; * Peoria, Peoria; * Bay View Garden, Woodford; * Washington, and South Pekin, Tazewell. In Wisconsin, Cingular is offering enhanced coverage in and around the following cities and counties: * Combined Locks, Oatagamie; * Chilton, Calumet; * DePere, Brown; * Madison, Dane; * Green Bay, Brown; * Valders, Manitowoc; * Sun Prairie, Dane; * Pittsfield, Greeenleaf, and Glenmore, Brown; Cingular network engineers continually monitor the network, driving approximately 22,000 miles per month throughout Illinois and Wisconsin. Nationally, Cingular uses a variety of companies, as well as its own technicians, to drive test its network. The company expects this army of testers to drive nearly 30 million miles -- the equivalent of 50 round trips to the moon -- to measure the quality and coverage of its network. Additionally, the company offers an interactive mapping tool available at all retail locations and by calling 1-866-CINGULAR. The tool provides customers with up-to-date wireless coverage information and is designed to answer a customer's specific wireless coverage questions based on an address, street intersection, zip code or even a landmark. It enables the customer to view his or her Cingular coverage all the way down to the neighborhood street level while depicting the likelihood of coverage in various scenarios - such as inside a building. The company's network growth relies on advanced GSM/EDGE technology. EDGE is the fastest national wireless data network in the country. Globally GSM is used by more than 1.8 billion people in 200-plus countries. Cingular customers can use a single handset to make calls in more than 170 countries and access data services in more than 95 countries. For more information about Cingular, please contact 1-866-CINGULAR or visit http://www.cingular.com/ . About Cingular Wireless Cingular Wireless is the largest wireless carrier in the United States, serving 55.8 million customers. Cingular, a joint venture between AT&T Inc., formerly SBC Communications Inc., (NYSE:T), and BellSouth Corporation (NYSE: BLS) , has the largest digital voice and data network in the nation -- the ALLOVER(TM) network -- and the largest mobile-to-mobile community of any national wireless carrier. Cingular is a leader in third generation wireless technology. Its 3G network is the first widely available service in the world to use HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) technology. 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: Chris Comes of Cingular Wireless, +1-847-765-3602, wireless: +1-312-282-0539, Web site: http://www.cingular.com/

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