Verizon Wireless Invests Nearly $300 Million Into New England Voice And Data Network

WILMINGTON, MA — Verizon Wireless today announced completion of network enhancements in New England that totaled $292 million during 2007, increasing the company's regional network investment to approximately $2.2 billion since 2000.

In 2007 Verizon Wireless added and upgraded cell sites to increase voice and data coverage for customers throughout New England. As a result of these investments, the company now offers high-speed wireless broadband service throughout its entire regional footprint.

"The best wireless network keeps getting better," said Ken Dixon, president of Verizon Wireless' New England region. "Now every Verizon Wireless cell site in New England offers wireless broadband connectivity. Customers can take advantage of tremendous mobile productivity and entertainment options — everything from accessing the Internet to downloading music wirelessly is possible within our coverage area."

Verizon Wireless' "3G" high-speed wireless data network, based on Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) technology, powers its BroadbandAccess and V CAST multimedia applications.

BroadbandAccess
The company's flagship data service, BroadbandAccess with EV-DO Rev A. technology, provides average download speeds of 600 kilobits per second (kbps) to 1.4 megabits per second and average upload speeds of 500-800 kbps, which means customers can download a 1 Megabyte e-mail attachment — the equivalent of a small PowerPoint^® presentation or a large PDF file — in about eight seconds and upload the same-sized file in about 13 seconds. Verizon Wireless' BroadbandAccess service allows customers to download files approximately 10 times faster than customers of other wireless service providers that use different broadly deployed network technologies.

V CAST: Video and Music
The company's high-speed network also enables its V CAST multimedia services, offering customers the ability to download full song tracks, play cutting-edge 3D games and stream video clips straight to their phones. With content updated daily, customers can watch dozens of on demand videos, including breaking news, weather, sports highlights, and the hottest entertainment clips.

With V CAST Music, Verizon Wireless has built a massive full-song mobile music store that contains more than 2.5 million songs from well-known and independent artists that customers can download over-the-air, right onto their V CAST Music-enabled phones or to their PC.

The company has also continued to invest in its industry-leading network quality assurance program during the year. 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 91 specially equipped vehicles almost 1,000,000 miles annually. Vehicles are equipped with computers that automatically make more than 3 million voice call attempts and more than 16 million data tests annually on Verizon Wireless' network and the networks of other carriers.

Nationally the company has invested nearly $44 billion since it was formed — $5.5 billion on average every year — to increase the coverage and capacity of its national network and to add new services. In 2007 alone, Verizon Wireless invested $6.5 billion to expand and advance its national network.

Strong demand for Verizon Wireless services continued during the fourth quarter of 2007 as the company added 2 million net new customers and also reported the lowest customer turnover (highest customer loyalty) rate in the wireless industry.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network, serving 65.7 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 69,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). For more information, go to: 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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