Verizon Wireless New England Network Investment Surpasses $2 Billion Milestone

WOBURN, MA — Verizon Wireless has spent $145 million during the first six months of the year to enhance wireless services and coverage throughout the six states of New England, elevating the cumulative network investment in the region to more than $2 billion since year 2000. Nationally the company invests more than $1 billion every 90 days to stay ahead of the growing demand for Verizon Wireless voice and data services. The company's ongoing network investment now totals more than $40 billion nationally over the past seven years.

As part of its regional network investment during the first half of the year, the company added new cell sites to enhance coverage and capacity and continued to upgrade its high-speed Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) wireless network with Revision A technology. Rev. A is now available throughout portions of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. As a result, the company's flagship wireless Internet service, BroadbandAccess, allows customers to upload files eight to nine times faster than before

BroadbandAccess customers with Rev. A-compatible devices can expect average download speeds of 600 kilobits per second (kbps) to 1.4 megabits per second, and average upload (sending) speeds of 500-800 kbps.

"Reliable networks aren't built overnight," said Ken Dixon, president of Verizon Wireless' New England region, "We'll continue to make significant investments across New England to expand and deliver the reliable wireless services our customers want."

The enhanced Rev. A network also provides access to the company's V CAST service — which enables customers to stream video clips, download full-song tracks directly to their wireless phones and access VZ Navigator^SM, a GPS navigation service, on their Verizon Wireless cellphones. VZ Navigator offers maps and audible driving directions to more than 14 million points of interest, and automatically recalculates the directions if you miss a turn.

The company has also continued to invest in its industry-leading network quality assurance program during the second quarter. Locally, the company's four real-life test men and women for the New England region drove specially equipped "baseline testing" vehicles thousands of miles across the region on Interstate, U.S. and state highways as well as major roads in high-population areas to determine if voice calls and data connections were successful on the first attempt and stayed connected.

Verizon Wireless test engineers nationwide are dedicated full-time to driving and testing the company's as well as its competitors' networks to measure performance and reliability. Nationally, these test men and women drive nearly 100 specially equipped vehicles almost 1,000,000 miles annually. Vehicles are equipped with computers that automatically make more than three million voice call attempts and more than 16 million data tests annually on Verizon Wireless' network and the networks of other carriers. Each baseline testing vehicle has $240,000 worth of test equipment.

Strong demand for Verizon Wireless services continued during the second quarter of 2007 as the company added 1.3 million net new customers. For the 11th consecutive quarter, Verizon Wireless also led the wireless industry in customer loyalty. The company posted a churn (customer turnover) rate well below the rate reported by the other major wireless carriers.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network, serving 62.1 million customers. The largest U.S. wireless company and largest wireless data provider, based on revenues, Verizon Wireless is headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 67,000 employees nationwide. The company 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.  

####