AirGate PCS, Inc., a Sprint PCS Network Partner, Announces Commercial Launch of Advanced Wireless Communications Service in Four North Carolina Markets.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 30, 2000

AirGate PCS, Inc., (Nasdaq/NM:PCSA), a Sprint PCS (NYSE:PCS) Network Partner, has announced the launch of advanced Sprint PCS wireless personal communications services (PCS) in the communities of Greenville and New Bern, North Carolina. The Company previously launched service in Jacksonville and Roanoke Rapids at the end of May, and, as a result, AirGate now has the opportunity to offer Sprint PCS Products and Services to over 400,000 additional residents in North Carolina. This region also includes highway corridors leading to major North Carolina metropolitan areas as well as popular tourist and vacation locations along the coastal beach areas in North Carolina. AirGate will receive additional revenue from Sprint PCS when Sprint PCS customers travel into the AirGate service area and make calls on AirGate's portion of the Sprint PCS nationwide network. In addition, the Company will receive roaming revenue from other wireless carriers with whom Sprint PCS has roaming agreements.

AirGate and Sprint PCS settle the exchange of revenue under their management agreement. There are no additional charges for Sprint PCS customers who have selected one of the national Sprint PCS Free & Clear Plans that feature no roaming charges anywhere on the Sprint PCS nationwide, wireless network.

"We continue to aggressively launch Sprint PCS service in new markets in our territory well ahead of our anticipated launch dates," commented Thomas M. Dougherty, president and chief executive officer of AirGate PCS. "As we near final completion of our network build-out, we are very excited to announce that AirGate is now offering Sprint PCS Service in these additional North Carolina markets. The close proximity to portions of the busy I-95 corridor in North Carolina, as well as other major highways, provides a significant opportunity for AirGate to capture roaming revenue. With these additional markets added to our network in time for the peak summer travel season, we will immediately benefit from attractive traffic patterns for roaming activity.

"We are very pleased with the tremendous response we are seeing as we introduce Sprint PCS service throughout our southeastern territory. As we enter new markets, we have a distinct competitive advantage in attracting new subscribers with our ability to leverage the popular brand identity, clarity and superior customer service that are synonymous with Sprint PCS, the nation's fastest growing wireless provider. We are excited about the opportunity to offer this exceptional service in additional North Carolina markets and look forward to launching commercial Sprint PCS Service to customers in the remainder of our territory."

AirGate PCS, Inc. is the exclusive manager and operator of Sprint PCS Products and Services throughout most of the state of South Carolina, including Charleston, Columbia and Greenville-Spartanburg, parts of North Carolina, including Asheville, Wilmington and Hickory, and the eastern Georgia cities of Augusta and Savannah. With a territory that includes more than 7.1 million licensed POPs covering 62,000 contiguous square miles. AirGate PCS is one of the largest Sprint PCS Network Partners based on the size of the population in its territory. As a Sprint PCS Network Partner, AirGate PCS is building its own PCS network to exclusively provide 100 percent digital, 100 percent PCS products and services under the Sprint PCS brand names in its territory.

Sprint PCS operates the largest 100 percent digital, 100 percent PCS nationwide wireless network in the United States, already serving the majority of the nation's metropolitan areas including more than 4,000 cities and communities across the country. Sprint PCS has licensed PCS coverage of nearly 270 million people in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For more information, visit the Sprint PCS web site at http://www.sprintpcs.com. Sprint PCS is a wholly-owned tracking group of Sprint Corporation trading on the NYSE under the symbol "PCS."

Sprint is a global communications company at the forefront of integrating long-distance, local and wireless communications services, and a large carrier of Internet traffic. Sprint built and operates the United States' first nationwide all-digital, fiber-optic network and is a leader in advanced data communications services. Sprint has $20 billion in annual revenues and serves more than 20 million business and residential customers.

Statements contained in this news release regarding expected financial results and other planned events should be considered forward-looking statements that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the "safe-harbor" provisions of the private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are made based on management's current expectations or beliefs as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management. A variety of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in AirGate PCS' forward-looking statements, including the following factors: potential fluctuations in quarterly results, our dependence on our affiliation with Sprint PCS; an adequate supply of infrastructure and subscriber equipment; new product development; rapid technological and market change; risks related to future growth and expansion; our significant level of indebtedness and volatility of stock prices. For a detailed discussion of these and other cautionary statements and factors that could cause actual results to differ from AirGate PCS' forward-looking statements, please refer to AirGate PCS' filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, especially in the "risk factors" section of AirGate PCS' Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 1999, and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2000, and in subsequent filings with Securities and Exchange Commission.