Verizon Wireless Names Scott Grosz Executive Director of Network for Southern California Region

IRVINE, CA — Verizon Wireless, the nation's leading wireless service provider, has appointed wireless industry veteran Scott Grosz as executive director of network for the company's Southern California Region. Previously, Grosz served as executive director of network for the company's Great Plains/Kansas/Missouri region.

Operating out of the company's Southern California Region headquarters in Irvine, Grosz will be responsible for design, implementation and operations of the company's network in the Southern California region, which is comprised of hundreds of local cell sites, multiple switching stations and made more reliable by the only microwave-based redundancy system in the market.

"Scott brings 14 years of wireless industry leadership to his new role," said Bob Swaine, Vice President of Network for the western United States. "His depth of knowledge and leadership skills will be great assets for our customers as Verizon Wireless maintains and expands its voice and data network, the largest, most reliable wireless network in America."

Scott joined Verizon Wireless in June 1990 as a system performance engineer in Bellevue, Washington. He has also held a variety of engineering and operations management roles, including director of corporate network Planning in Walnut Creek, California.

Scott holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from North Dakota State University.

In 2003, Verizon Wireless invested $600 million to further expand and enhance its wireless voice and data network in California, and safeguard network reliability. Each year, Verizon Wireless invests on average about a billion dollars every 90 days in its national network, constantly improving and expanding what already is the largest, most reliable nationwide wireless network in the United States.

The company's 'most reliable network' claim is based on network studies performed by real-life test men and test women who inspired the company's national advertising campaign. They conduct more than 300,000 call attempts monthly on Verizon Wireless' and other national wireless carriers' networks, while traveling over 100,000 miles of the most frequently traveled roadways nationwide in specially equipped, company-owned quality test vehicles.

Verizon Wireless' network reliability is also supported by industry-leading redundancy and maintenance measures, which have proven particularly valuable during natural disasters and other emergencies such as the southern California wildfires in 2003. Standard Verizon Wireless network reliability features include battery back-up power at all facilities as well as generators installed at all switching facilities and many cell site locations. The company also operates a fleet of mobile generators and temporary cell sites, or cells-on-wheels, ready for deployment.

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.

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