Verizon Wireless Introduces Per-Megabyte Pricing Plans For Express Network Business Customers

BEDMINSTER, NJ — Verizon Wireless, operator of the nation's best and largest wireless network, today announced a collection of rate plans based on megabyte usage for business customers using the Verizon Wireless 3G 1XRTT Express Network. The new pricing plans are an alternative to the company's previously announced minute-based plans, and are based on the amount of data transmitted.

The Express Network is Verizon Wireless' 1XRTT data network, capable of data transmission speeds up to 144 kilobits per second (kbps). Business customers and individual consumers in current Express Network markets are taking advantage of high-speed wireless data and robust Internet access at average speeds between 40 and 60 kbps, and many experience speeds of 144 kbps.

Designed for business customers, this new flexible pricing takes into account heavy data users by offering rate plans starting at $35 per month for 10 MB, $55 per month for 20 MB, with tiers up to 150 MB of data. Business customers will pay the same amount, regardless of how long it takes to download the same amount of data. On the $35 monthly rate plan, customers can download 10 MB of data—equivalent to thousands of emails or hundreds of Web pages.

"Our Express Network launch is a tremendous success and our customers are embracing this technology as valuable to their mobile lifestyles," said John Stratton, vice president and chief marketing officer of Verizon Wireless. "Our corporate customers who are heavy data users will find value in these per-megabyte rate plans." Stratton said the new price plans are a terrific option for businesses that understand the applications that they are using in a mobile environment, and for those in a position to accurately determine usage patterns of their workforces.

First, Biggest, Best

Verizon Wireless also said it will commercially launch significant new markets to the Express Network at the beginning of April, making its 1XRTT high-speed data network available to more of its customers in more places throughout the United States.

As the first and only U.S. wireless carrier to commercially launch a sizeable 3G footprint, Verizon Wireless will significantly expand its Express Network on April 2, 2002 by making it available in several more Northeast cities, several metropolitan areas in the Midwest, and in important cities in the South. This 1XRTT network expansion will make the Express Network available on one third of the Verizon Wireless footprint, reaching more than 72 million Americans.

The 1XRTT network is already available to customers in areas of the Northeast U.S., from Norfolk, Va., Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York up to Boston and in Portland, Maine; in the technology-savvy Silicon Valley and San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California; and in Salt Lake City.

Express Network Equipment

Express Network customers today can purchase the Sierra Wireless AirCard 555 or the Verizon Wireless 2235 by Kyocera, a 1XRTT data-compatible wireless handset that acts as a modem, to access the 1XRTT network. With these devices customers can add voice, circuit-switched data and short messaging service capabilities to their laptops, select PDAs, and other computing devices.

The Sierra Wireless AirCard 555 retails for $299.99 and the Verizon Wireless 2235 by Kyocera, which retails for $79.99, are available through Verizon Wireless corporate sales and in select Communications Stores where the Express Network is available. The AirCard 555 inserts into a laptop and select PDAs for wireless Internet access over the Express Network and with the connection of a headset, sold separately, the AirCard also enables the customer's laptop or PDA to be used as a wireless phone. The Verizon Wireless 2235 tri-mode wireless handset is a communications system that includes many attractive features: voice-activated dialing, a WAP browser, electronic games, two-way text messaging, and predictive text-input software for rapid text entry. Kyocera 2235 customers will also need a compatible Mobile Office kit, sold separately for $79.99.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless is the nation's leading provider of wireless communications and Internet services. The company has the largest nationwide wireless network and 29 million customers. Headquartered in Bedminster, NJ, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). Reporters and editors can find more information on the Web at http://www.verizonwireless.com.

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