Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile Launches Digital Wireless Challenge To Competitors In New York And New Jersey

ORANGEBURG, NY — On Monday, March 24, Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile will launch the area's most advanced digital wireless phone service. The new offering, called DigitalChoicesm, will deliver a level of call clarity never before available to wireless phone customers in the New York/New Jersey metro area.

Customers can use the new digital phones virtually anywhere in the United States because Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile digital phones will work on both analog and digital networks.

In addition to offering the most extensive digital coverage on the East Coast, the company is distinguishing itself from competitors by offering the area's first 13-kilobit Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) service -- advanced technology that provides the clearest voice quality of any wireless service.

"The sound quality of our digital network is so good, I'm encouraging even my competitor's customers to come in and hear the difference," said Rick Conrad, president of the company's New York/New Jersey metro region. "People will not believe you're on a wireless phone."

Consumers are invited to "Sneak Preview" the service this weekend at many of Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile's 40 area Communications Store locations where they can make a free DigitalChoice call to anyone in the continental United States.

Customers who choose DigitalChoice service will receive

• free first minute of airtime on incoming calls within NY/NJ area
• free caller ID -- lets you know who's calling
• free voice mail with message-waiting indicator
• dramatically increased battery life
• built-in electronic fraud protection
• free call forwarding, call waiting and three-way calling

Beginning Monday, Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile digital service will be available in 17 counties: the five boroughs of New York City and in portions of Westchester, Rockland and Nassau counties in New York; and in all or portions of Union, Hudson, Bergen, Essex, Somerset, Middlesex, Morris, Passaic and Monmouth counties in New Jersey. DigitalChoice phones will automatically switch to analog when customers travel outside an area that has digital service, a major benefit to customers.

Customers can sign up for monthly or annual plans that begin at $24.99 a month for access.

The company is selling handheld digital phones at its Communications Stores in New York and northern and central New Jersey, starting at $199 with a one-year agreement.

Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile launched the nation's first 13 kilobit CDMA service in Trenton, NJ, in March 1996. The service now is available in southern New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington/Baltimore and in Charlotte, NC. The company plans to deploy its DigitalChoice service by mid-year to all its remaining markets, where many digital features already are available on the analog network.

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Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile is the largest wireless service provider on the East Coast and the second largest in the US. The company owns and operates the most extensive network in the east, covering 111,000 square miles, and the largest chain of wireless retail outlets, offering a full range of personal communications services including voice, data, and paging. Based in Bedminster, NJ, the company has more than 4.4 million customers and 6,500 employees in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, Southeast and, through a separate subsidiary, in the Southwest. The company was formed in July 1995 by combining Bell Atlantic Mobile's and NYNEX Mobile's cellular operations. For more information about the company, visit Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile's Home Page at www.BANM.com.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Herschel Shosteck Associates is currently using Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile's CDMA DigitalChoice service in the Washington/Baltimore market. For comments, please contact Janet Zweig at 301-589-2259.

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