PrimeCo Pumps Up Digital and Analog Roaming Coverage

DALLAS, TX — PrimeCo Personal Communications, L.P., the premier regional provider of PCS/wireless service, today announced significant extensions to its PrimeTravelSM digital and analog coverage areas through roaming agreements with several leading wireless carriers. Customers using PrimeCo's dual-band/dual-mode phones will now have access to the networks of AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. and United States Cellular Corporation (USCC), among others, giving subscribers the ability to roam in more than 7,000 cities and communities across the country.

The recent agreements build on existing roaming coverage provided through Bell Atlantic, AirTouch Communications and GTE Corp., which, combined, provide a wireless footprint that covers over 90 percent of the U.S. population. New additions to the PrimeTravel service area include top-50 U.S. cities like Las Vegas and Oklahoma City, and significantly deepen PrimeCo's regional wireless coverage in Texas, Florida and the Midwest.

"PrimeCo customers spend the majority of their time in their home market using our digital network," said Russell Wiseman, PrimeCo's vice president of marketing and strategy. "PrimeTravel simply adds another layer of service by providing customers the convenience and security of being able to use their phone when they travel away from home."

The roaming agreement with AT&T Wireless adds Las Vegas, Oklahoma City and Kansas City, Mo., to the list of major U.S. cities already included in the PrimeTravel plan. The USCC agreement adds Tulsa, Okla., as well as depth to regional markets in Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. In Florida, PrimeTravel subscribers will be able to roam in Tallahassee and Gainesville, plus access highway coverage along Interstate 10 across the Florida panhandle. Enhanced Texas coverage includes Wichita Falls, Corpus Christi and Laredo with highway coverage along Interstate 35 now extending from Dallas to Laredo. Agreements with Poka Lambro/Digital Cellular of Texas, Hargray Wireless, Texas Cellular, Pine Cellular and Plateau Wireless also flesh out PrimeCo's regional offering, adding both analog and digital coverage in West Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Georgia and South Carolina.

PrimeTravel dual-band/dual-mode phones, which currently retail for $149, are available through PrimeCo's network of retail stores, retail affiliates and toll-free telephone sales line. Calls initiated while roaming are competitively priced at $.69 per minute, plus applicable long-distance rates and taxes.

PrimeCo Personal Communications, which is owned by AirTouch Communications and Bell Atlantic, provides digital wireless service in more than 30 major cities in Alabama, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. The company has PCS licenses covering 61 million potential customers in 11 major trading areas and has nearly 3,200 employees. At the end of the second quarter 1998, PrimeCo had nearly 598,000 subscribers. PrimeCo phones and services are sold through the company's 86 stores and kiosks, its business-to-business direct sales force, more than 2,500 indirect retailers and a toll-free telephone sales line 1 800 PRIMECOSM. The address for PrimeCo's interactive web site is www.primeco.com.

Special Note for Editors: Print-quality artwork can be downloaded from PrimeCo's Multimedia Archive, located in the company's Digital News Room site. The Multimedia Archive includes photos of PrimeCo executives, products, retail environments, innovative antenna locations, as well as artwork for the corporate logo and PrimetheusSM, the pink alien featured in PrimeCo's television ads. The URL for the Digital News Room is http://news.primeco.com

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