GTE Wireless Customers Are First to Utilize GlobalRoam international roaming service between the United States and Japan; service is available in time for travelerswho will attend the winter games in Nagano,

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ATLANTA -- GTE Wireless subscribers who will attend the 1998 winter games in Nagano, Japan, can now be reached automatically in Japan at their GTE Wireless home-based phone numbers by signing up for GTE's new GlobalRoam-Japan service.

This is the way the GlobalRoam-Japan service works: If a GTE Wireless customer is going to Japan, the customer would call the GTE Wireless GlobalRoam contact number (1-800-387-6835) to either purchase or rent a GlobalRoam PDC (Personal Digital Cellular) phone before traveling to Japan. Once in Japan, the customer has the convenience of wireless service and can be reached on his/her GlobalRoam PDC phone by callers who simply dial the customer's GTE Wireless home phone number. In addition, all international roaming charges will appear on the customer's home bill in United States dollars. The customer also has access to English-speaking customer service representatives 24 hours, seven days a week.

GTE's GlobalRoam service is available through innovative technology from GTE Telecommunication Services Inc. (GTE TSI). This technology bridges differences between two widely used wireless transmission standards -- Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS), which prevails in the United States and Canada, and the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) Services, used in many overseas markets. GTE's GlobalRoam-Japan service breaks new ground by adding the Japanese transmission standard -- the Personal Digital Cellular (PDC) system.

According to GTE Wireless President Mark S. Feighner, "GTE is the first wireless company in the United States to offer the GlobalRoam-Japan service. This service will be very important for business people and others who travel frequently between the United States and Japan since they can rent or purchase a Japanese PDC phone before they go, receive calls on their home-based GTE Wireless number and have the convenience of getting billed on their home bills. Frequent travelers between the United States and Japan will find the convenience invaluable."

GlobalRoam Service Offers Low Rental and Access Charges
Charges for GlobalRoam service will include a $7.95 monthly access fee; a one-time activation fee of $49.95 (or $15 per rental activation) and a flat air-time rate of $1.49 per minute in addition to phone rental or purchase charges. There are no long-distance charges for calls placed to a destination within Japan or received from a destination within Japan if the caller uses a special local number to contact the customer. However, for all other calls, long-distance charges vary by country and are subject to the current exchange rate.

In addition to GlobalRoam-Japan, GTE has offered traditional GlobalRoam service since December of 1995 using the GSM standard (in alliance with T-Mobil, a member of Deutsche Telekom Group). Unlike GlobalRoam-Japan service, with GTE's traditional GlobalRoam service, customers use a GSM wireless phone along with a "smart card" -- the size of a regular credit card -- that serves as their key to the GlobalRoam network. The card is inserted into a special wireless phone that is compatible with the wireless systems in many other nations, enabling the phone to accept calls made to the customer's home-based wireless number. The phone will also transmit and receive calls to and from more than 50 countries. With GlobalRoam service, international travelers are reachable almost anywhere in the world at their own wireless home numbers. Customers' business associates needn't know they're out of town, much less out of the country.

How to Order GlobalRoam Service
GTE Wireless offers GlobalRoam(R) and GlobalRoam-Japan service only to GTE Wireless subscribers within GTE Wireless' local service areas. GTE Wireless customers can sign up for both GlobalRoam-Japan and traditional GlobalRoam service, but they will need to purchase or rent two different wireless handsets. Customers who buy just one GlobalRoam service will pay $7.95 per month for their monthly access fee; however, customers who sign up for both GlobalRoam services will pay a $10.95 per month access fee for both services. For either GlobalRoam service, GTE Wireless customers should call 1-800-EUROTEL (1-800-387-6835) to rent or purchase a phone and activate service.

GTE teamed up with Japan-based NTT DoCoMo, one of the world's largest wireless companies, to offer the GlobalRoam-Japan service to GTE subscribers.

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GlobalRoam is a service mark of GTE Mobile Communications Service Corporation and Deutsche Telekom MobilNet GmbH (T-Mobil). (R) denotes registration in the United States.

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