Verizon Wireless Expands BroadbandAccess 3G Network to Cover 14 Markets From Coast to Coast

BEDMINSTER, NJ — Fulfilling its promise made exactly six months ago to expand BroadbandAccess to many markets across the United States, Verizon Wireless, the nation's leader in next generation technology deployment, announced today that BroadbandAccess will be available in more than 14 major metropolitan areas beginning Monday, September 27, 2004. As part of Verizon Wireless' planned $1 billion investment through 2005 to roll out BroadbandAccess nationally, BroadbandAccess will be newly available in the following major metropolitan areas:

• Atlanta
• Austin, TX
• Baltimore
• Kansas City, KS/MO
• Los Angeles
• Miami/Fort Lauderdale, FL
• Milwaukee
• New York
• Philadelphia
• Tampa, FL
• West Palm Beach, FL

Verizon Wireless has also expanded BroadbandAccess availability in San Diego and Washington D.C., as well as the recently announced Las Vegas metropolitan area. And while the service is already available at San Diego International Airport, Washington Dulles International and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airports in Washington D. C. and McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Monday's expansion also consists of making the service available at some of the nation's other busiest airports, including:

• Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (Atlanta)
• Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (Austin, TX)
• Baltimore-Washington International Airport (Baltimore)
• Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (Dallas/Fort Worth)
• Love Field Airport (Dallas)
• George Bush Intercontinental Airport (Houston)
• William P. Hobby Airport (Houston)
• Jacksonville International Airport (Jacksonville, FL)
• Kansas City International Airport (Kansas City, KS/MO)
• Los Angeles International Airport (Los Angeles)
• Miami International Airport (Miami)
• General Mitchell International Airport (Milwaukee)
• Newark Liberty International Airport (Newark, NJ)
• Louis Armstrong International Airport (New Orleans)
• Orlando International Airport (Orlando, FL)
• Philadelphia International Airport (Philadelphia)
• Sky Harbor International Airport (Phoenix)
• John Wayne-Orange County Airport (Santa Ana, CA)
• Tampa International Airport (Tampa, FL)
• Palm Beach International Airport (West Palm Beach, FL)

"Verizon Wireless' national rollout of BroadbandAccess builds on our strategy to provide business and individual customers superior voice and data networks in the United States," said Denny Strigl, president and chief executive officer of Verizon Wireless. "While today's announcement of adding these markets to our BroadbandAccess coverage area and expanding the service to include coverage of 34 million people is very exciting, I want to reiterate that we are on target to expand BroadbandAccess to cover one-third of our network — approximately 75 million Americans — by the end of 2004."

Powered by an Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) third generation (3G) wide-area network, BroadbandAccess offers the fastest commercially available wide-area, fully mobile wireless data experience in the nation today, with typical user download speeds of 300-500 kilobits per second (kbps). BroadbandAccess is based on CDMA technology, a digital wireless technology commercially developed by QUALCOMM. Because it is backward compatible, customers who travel outside a BroadbandAccess area with an EV-DO device will seamlessly switch to Verizon Wireless' existing NationalAccess network, based on 1xRTT technology.

"The expansion of BroadbandAccess enables Verizon Wireless' business customers in many markets across the country to remain connected and productive even when out of the office," said Roger Entner, program director of wireless and mobile services for The Yankee Group. "The e-mail experience with BroadbandAccess is close to a wired experience, and Internet browsing is virtually indistinguishable from the wired world. With the addition of these markets and planned expansion through the end of the year to cover 75 million people, BroadbandAccess is a viable and exciting solution for business customers."

BroadbandAccess will be available to business and individual customers in additional U.S. metropolitan areas later this year and through 2005. Using laptops equipped with BroadbandAccess PC 5220 cards, business customers can use the high-speed service outside the office, from any location within the BroadbandAccess coverage area, as an extension of their corporate local area network (LAN) or intranet. Customers can access e-mail, intranets and the Internet and download files residing behind corporate firewalls (a small PowerPoint presentation or large PDF file in less than 30 seconds). In the coming year, individual customers will also be able to enjoy the many fun and visual capabilities that BroadbandAccess affords, including multi-player gaming, music and video content, video messaging and other multi-media applications.

"Our investment to build the nation's fastest commercially available wide-area wireless data service gives our enterprise customers two key advantages in wireless communications: speed and mobility. Our BroadbandAccess customers have seen an increase in productivity and bottom-line business benefits, which are key advantages in today's competitive business environment," said Dick Lynch, executive vice president and chief technical officer for Verizon Wireless.

BroadbandAccess is available for $79.99 monthly access for unlimited use with a one-year customer agreement. Verizon Wireless is offering a promotional saving on its first BroadbandAccess device, the Verizon Wireless PC 5220 card, which also provides access to the company's NationalAccess data network. Through December 31, 2004, Verizon Wireless customers can buy the Verizon Wireless PC 5220 card for $99.99 with a two-year customer agreement or $149.99 with a one-year customer agreement after $150 rebate.

Lucent Technologies and Nortel Networks continue to provide wireless infrastructure technology for BroadbandAccess. In March 2004, Verizon Wireless announced a $167 million agreement with Nortel Networks and a $525 million agreement with Lucent for the companies to provide Verizon Wireless' next-generation network infrastructure. For more information on BroadbandAccess and Verizon Wireless data services, please visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com. Business customers can contact a Verizon Wireless Business Sales Representative directly at 1-800-VZW-4-BIZ.

(EDITORS: Broadcast-quality B-roll footage about Verizon Wireless' BroadbandAccess is available online. Log onto www.thenewsmarket.com/verizonwireless to preview and request video segments, which can be received in newsrooms digitally, by tape or via satellite.)

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless is the nation's leading provider of wireless communications. The company has the largest nationwide wireless voice and data network and 40.4 million customers. Headquartered in Bedminster, NJ, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). Find more information on the Web at www.verizonwireless.com. To receive broadcast-quality video footage of Verizon Wireless operations, log onto www.thenewsmarket.com/verizonwireless.  

NOTE: This press release contains statements about expected future events and financial results that are forward-looking and subject to risks and uncertainties. For those statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The following important factors could affect future results and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements: materially adverse changes in economic conditions in the markets served by us, an adverse change in the ratings afforded our debt securities or those of Verizon Communications by nationally accredited ratings organizations, the effects of the substantial competition that exists in our markets, which has been intensifying, and which may intensify further as a result of local number portability regulations that allow wireless customers to retain their phone numbers when switching wireless service providers, our ability to obtain sufficient financing to satisfy our substantial capital requirements, including to fund capital expenditures, debt repayment and distributions to our owners, our ability to obtain sufficient spectrum licenses, particularly in our most densely populated areas, our ability to develop future business opportunities, including wireless data services, and to continue to adapt to the changing conditions in the wireless industry, our ability to receive satisfactory service from our key vendors and suppliers, our ability to generate additional subscribers, with acceptable levels of churn, from resellers and distributors of our service, material changes in available technology, and technology substitution that could impact the popularity and usage of our technology, our continued provision of satisfactory service to our subscribers at an acceptable cost, in order to reduce churn, the impact of continued unionization efforts with respect to our employees, regulatory developments, including new regulations that could increase our cost of doing business or reduce demand for our services, developments in connection with existing or future litigation, and changes in our accounting assumptions that regulatory agencies, including the SEC, may require or that result from changes in the accounting rules or their application, which could result in an impact on earnings.

Nortel Networks is a trademark of Nortel Networks.

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