FCC Chairman Kennard Calls For Speedy Move to Digital TV

BEDMINSTER, NJ — William Kennard, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, today urged the television broadcast industry to move rapidly in offering Digital TV to the American public and return spectrum used for analog TV back to the federal government. Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest wireless service provider, made the following statement:

"Chairman Kennard has it right when he says that the public interest will be served by speeding the transition to digital TV and returning valuable spectrum to the American people. This spectrum holds great promise for Third Generation wireless services, but that promise will only be realized if wireless companies like Verizon Wireless can use it. Chairman Kennard's proposal to make this spectrum available for 3G sooner makes perfectly good sense for wireless consumers and the American taxpayer."

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless is the largest wireless communications provider in the U.S. with more than 25 million wireless voice and data customers and nearly 3.5 million paging customers. The new coast-to-coast wireless provider was formed by the combination of the U.S. wireless businesses of Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp - now Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) - and Vodafone (LSE:VOD; NYSE:VOD). The new company includes the assets of Bell Atlantic Mobile, AirTouch Cellular, GTE Wireless, PrimeCo Personal Communications and AirTouch Paging. The new company has a footprint covering nearly 90 percent of the U.S. population, 49 of the top 50 and 96 of the top 100 U.S. markets. Verizon Wireless, headquartered in New York City and Bedminster, NJ, is 30,000 employees strong. Reporters and editors can find more information about the company in its Media Center on the Web at: http://www.verizonwireless.com/mediacenter.

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