Verizon, Two Tech Firms Team to Bring Wireless Broadband to Grundy, Va.

GRUNDY, Va. - Joining forces, three telecommunications leaders cut the ribbon today for a new superhighway in this town of 1,200 that sits along the banks of the Levisa River in rural Buchanan County. But this superhighway will bring information - not 18-wheelers and SUVs - zipping through town.

An innovative alliance among Verizon Avenue, Alvarion and Virginia Mountain Micro is building a wireless, high-speed Internet-access network that will allow qualifying homes and businesses in Grundy to connect to the Internet at speeds up to 1.5 megabits per second. The pilot project also will present new opportunities for e-commerce, distance learning, telemedicine, telecommuting and other benefits of living in a broadband community.

Verizon Avenue, a subsidiary of Verizon Communications, will deliver broadband Internet access to qualifying homes and businesses in Grundy from several wireless base stations downtown. Verizon also plans to offer its Verizon Online high-speed digital subscriber line (DSL) services to qualifying homes and businesses in the community over their existing telephone lines later this year. The company will deploy and market the wireless and DSL broadband services in a coordinated manner to maximize coverage to Grundy and surrounding areas.

Alvarion is providing wireless equipment and training for the project as a demonstration of the company's continued support and commitment to this market. Virginia Mountain Micro, a local company, will provide installation and maintenance services for the network and for customers ordering service.

At a ribbon-cutting ceremony today at the Grundy Community Center Movie Theatre, U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., said, "Verizon Avenue and Alvarion, in partnership with locally owned Virginia Mountain Micro, have taken on the full cost of installing the equipment and hardware necessary to bring this exciting new wireless Internet technology to the Town of Grundy. I want to thank each of the Verizon Avenue officials who are present today for their commitment in bringing broadband technology to rural America."

Kelley Dunne, executive vice president of operations for Verizon Avenue, said, "Verizon is leading the way in creating a vibrant broadband marketplace across America by using a variety of technologies that make economic sense for our customers. This alliance in Grundy will allow us to test, on a pilot basis, new wireless broadband technologies that could help us bring broadband to more sparsely populated areas, along with markets that are geographically challenging to serve."

Consumer broadband service from Verizon Avenue is available for as low as $29.95 a month as part of a package of Verizon local and long-distance calling services. Business packages featuring dynamic Internet protocol (IP) addressing are available for as low as $59.95 a month and static IP packages for as low as $79.95 per month.

Verizon Avenue

Verizon Avenue, a subsidiary of Verizon Communications, bundles local and long-distance service together with high-speed Internet access for residents of multifamily communities. Verizon Avenue offers service to high-rise properties, apartments and condominium communities in most of the major metropolitan markets including Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, New York, Tampa and Washington, D.C. For more information about Verizon Avenue, visit www.verizon.com/avenue.

Alvarion

Alvarion (NASDAQ: ALVR) provides solutions based on Point-to-Multipoint (PMP) Broadband Wireless Access (BWA), a technology essential to the growth of broadband markets. Created through the merger of BreezeCOM and Floware, the company supplies integrated BWA solutions to telecom carriers, service providers and enterprises all over the world. For more information, visit www.alvarion.com.

Virginia Mountain Micro

Virginia Mountain Micro has been serving small and large businesses in Southwest Virginia for more than ten years. The company provides a variety of computer services including: Computer Networking, Hardware & Software Sales/Installation/Support, Custom Database Development and Website Development. For more information, visit www.vmmicro.com.

Verizon Communications

A Dow 30 company, Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) is one of the world's leading providers of communications services, with approximately $68 billion in annual revenues. Verizon companies are the largest providers of wireline and wireless communications in the United States. Verizon is also the largest directory publisher in the world, as measured by directory titles and circulation. Verizon's international presence includes wireline and wireless communications operations and investments, primarily in the Americas and Europe. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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