Verizon Wireless Upgrades Network For Its Customers At College Basketball Tournament And Festivities in Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS, IL — Verizon Wireless has fine-tuned its network in downtown Indianapolis in anticipation of additional call volume during the men's college basketball tournament and concert, which takes place April 1—3.

The company announced it has installed additional equipment on all existing cell sites in downtown Indianapolis, improving its network capacity in and around the RCA Dome by 50 percent and throughout the rest of the downtown area by 33 percent. The improvements mean more Verizon Wireless customers will be able to use their wireless phones concurrently to make calls, send and receive TXT and Picture Messages, view streaming video and download games and ring tones.

"Downtown Indy is going to be bustling with Hoosiers and visitors, and we're ready for it," said Greg Haller, president—Indiana/Kentucky/Michigan Region, Verizon Wireless.

"Based on our research, we anticipate our network will experience as much activity during the basketball games as it did during the 2005 professional football playoff season, with half the number of spectators." Haller said. "During the  playoff games, we saw a 60 percent spike in wireless phone usage among our customers compared with usage during a regular season football game."

The network improvements are part of Verizon Wireless' continuous effort to increase capacity and augment the quality of its wireless voice and data network in Kentucky and across the country. Verizon Wireless has invested $30 billion in the last six years-$5 billion on average every year since the company was formed-to increase the coverage and capacity of its national network and to add new services. More than $98 million of this investment was spent in 2005 to stay ahead of the growing demand for Verizon Wireless products and services in Indiana.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless owns and operates the nation's most reliable wireless network, serving 51.3 million voice and data customers. Headquartered in Bedminster, N.J., 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 preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia

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