ALLTEL Launches National Pay-As-You-Go Wireless Service Exclusively in Wal-Mart Stores; `Simple Freedom' is Available At More Than 1,500 Stores Nationwide.Business Editors & High Tech Writers LITTLE ROCK, Ark.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 30, 2003 ALLTEL (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :AT) today announced it has launched a new national digital wireless service at more than 1,500 Wal-Mart stores nationwide. "ALLTEL's Simple Freedom wireless service is consistent with Wal-Mart's philosophy of providing an Every Day Low Price to customers," said Dan Lohr, ALLTEL executive vice president of sales and distribution. "Simple Freedom delivers a simple and convenient wireless service in a ready-to-use format. The Simple Freedom network gives customers access to a local calling area that covers more than 90 percent of the U.S. population." Simple Freedom is priced at $68.74 and includes a handset, charger CHARGER, Scotch law. He in whose favor a decree suspended is pronounced; vet a decree may be suspended before a charge is given on it. Ersk. Pr. L. Scot. 4, 3, 7. , $10 of airtime air·time n. 1. The time during which a radio or television station is broadcasting. Also called airspace. 2. The time at which a radio or television program is broadcast. and an activation guide. Calls on the Simple Freedom network cost 25-cents per minute, with no additional charge for long-distance. Calls not on the network cost 50-cents per minute. A roaming indicator on the phone tells customers when they are outside the Simple Freedom network. The national calling plan does not require a deposit, there are no contracts to sign, and customers do not receive a bill. The pay-as-you-go service can be bought off the shelf, and customers can replenish their minutes by buying additional airtime at participating Wal-Mart locations or by using a credit card at www.simplefreedom.net. Simple Freedom refill cards are available in increments of $20, $30 or $50. The flat-rate pricing plan includes the 25-cents-per-minute rate no matter which card a customer purchases. Simple Freedom also includes voice mail, caller ID A telephone company service that sends the caller's telephone number between the first and second ring of the call. If the calling number is not blocked, the calling number is displayed on the handset or base station of the called party. , call waiting and text messaging Sending short messages to a smartphone, pager, PDA or other handheld device. Text messaging implies sending short messages generally no more than a couple of hundred characters in length. . With text messaging, Simple Freedom customers can instantly send text messages from their wireless phones to other Simple Freedom customers or to any e-mail address See Internet address. e-mail address - electronic mail address in the world. Customers also can receive text messages sent from other Simple Freedom customers, from the www.simplefreedom.net Web site, or from any e-mail address. Customers will be charged 8 cents for each sent or received message. The Simple Freedom handset includes 40 ring tones, three entertaining games, 100 alphanumeric alphanumeric (ăl'fən  mĕr`ĭk) or alphameric (ăl'fəmĕr`ĭk), the set of letters and numbers. memory locations and a clock with
an alarm. The phone also is capable of receiving ring tones downloaded
via the Simple Freedom Web site.
ALLTEL, with more than 12 million communications customers and nearly $8 billion in annual revenues, is a leader in the communications and information services See Information Systems. industries. ALLTEL has communications customers in 26 states and provides information services to telecommunications, financial and mortgage clients in more than 50 countries. ALLTEL, NYSE: AT www.alltel.com |
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