Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile, Hughes network systems install first commercial system

MOBILE WORLD, BOSTON -- Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile (BANM) customers in the metropolitan Boston area can now take advantage of a new mobile data service that is revolutionizing business communications. Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile has turned on the first commercial cellular digital packet data (CDPD) system in Boston. The service, called AirBridge(R) Packet, is available in the city and along Route 128 -- locally known as "America's Technology Corridor."

Hughes Network Systems (HNS) supplied Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile with the network infrastructure equipment and a "turnkey" installation, including mobile database stations that were deployed in an unprecedented 21 days from first order to commercial service. With the addition of Boston, Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile now offers CDPD service in all of its regions.

"With CDPD, Boston's mobile workers may soon be able to use a credit card to pay for that taxi ride to the airport. And, if they get stuck in Route 128 traffic on the way, they can see productivity gains by using CDPD to send and receive e-mails with portable computers and personal digital assistants," said Jack Plating, Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile president - Northeast. "With the availability of CDPD in Boston, we have fulfilled our commitment to giving customers in all our regions access to the service by the end of the year."

"HNS is pleased to have been chosen to provide the CDPD infrastructure for the Boston market. The Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile CDPD subscribers will find that the system will provide tremendous flexibility in accommodating their wireless data transmission needs," said Jake MacLeod, HNS assistant vice president for digital cellular networks. "No longer will the Boston subscribers be tethered to a wired telephone for data transmission and reception."

CDPD is a technology that efficiently transmits short bursts or "packets" of data over the cellular infrastructure. Its completely open and widely supported standard offers inherent encryption to protect the user's data, and its specification is based on the widely used Internet protocol (TCP/IP) for ease of implementation by customers.

CDPD enables a wide variety of applications in healthcare, field service, law enforcement, public utilities, finance, alarm service, and other fields. Public and private service providers can use CDPD to monitor and control devices such as traffic lights, meters, alarm systems, or vending machines.

AirBridge Packet service complements the other wireless data services presently offered by Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile: AirBridge Fax, AirBridge Circuit-switched Solutions, and AirBridge Gateway.

In April 1994, Bell Atlantic Mobile launched the nation's first large scale CDPD networks in Washington/Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Since then, service has been introduced in Connecticut, Philadelphia, New Jersey, North Carolina, Arizona, and most recently, New York City. HNS provided the network infrastructure in Pittsburgh, Connecticut, North Carolina, and Phoenix.

Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile is also a charter member of the CDPD Forum Inc., a trade association dedicated to promoting use of the CDPD standard.

Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile, headquartered in Bedminster, N.J., is the largest wireless service provider on the East Coast and the second largest provider in the United States. The company offers a full range of wireless voice, data and paging communications solutions to its three million customers in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and, through a separate subsidiary, in the Southwest. The company was formed in July 1995 through a combination of Bell Atlantic Mobile's and NYNEX Mobile's cellular operations. The company has more than 5,000 employees.

Headquartered near Washington, DC, with international sales and support offices worldwide, Hughes Network Systems is a leading provider of wireless communications, satellite and enterprise network solutions. HNS is a subsidiary of Hughes Electronics Corporation. The earnings of Hughes Electronics are used to calculate the earnings per share attributable to GMH (NYSE symbol) common stock.

CDPD's Many Applications Serve a Variety of Users

Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile is working with software developers, equipment manufacturers, and systems integrators to be able to present entire packaged solutions to potential customers. In addition, the company has opened to these companies its wireless technology "Greenhouse" -- a laboratory setting in which new wireless data products and services can be developed, tested, and nurtured.

Working closely with a number of pioneering, visionary customers, Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile has introduced several major CDPD applications and then replicated that success throughout its markets. Some customers already taking advantage of AirBridge Packet CDPD service are:

-- the police forces in the towns of Groton, Conn.; Bridgewater, N.J.; and Alexandria, Va.; who use AirBridge Packet to obtain critical information about possible criminal activity, look up databases, or file reports without being concerned about others intercepting their messages.

-- merchants who use Firstnet Corporation's AireTrans Air Connect System service and AirBridge Packet service to perform secure wireless credit card verification at a fraction of the time of standard landline verification.

-- more than 750 mobile workers in the gas unit at New Jersey-based Public Service Electric & Gas will use pen-based computers to send and receive real-time information on repair requests and customer orders over the AirBridge Packet network.

Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile also provides extensive after-sale support to its customers including a specially trained data sales force; a data-specific product management team to create customer-specific solutions; and a help desk to support both company and customer data users.

NYNEX is a global communications and media company that provides a full range of services in the northeastern United States and high-growth markets around the world, including the United Kingdom, Thailand, Gibraltar, Greece, Indonesia, the Philippines, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

The Corporation is a leader in the telecommunications, wireless communications, cable television, directory publishing and entertainment and information services.