AirNet Lassos Multi-Million Dollar Contract With High Plains/Midwest L.L.C.

MELBOURNE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 20, 1999--

AirNet(R) Communications Corporation announced today that it has signed a multi-million dollar contract for GSM base station subsystem (BSS) equipment with High Plains/Midwest L.L.C., a wireless service provider operating in Kansas. High Plains/Midwest is a limited liability corporation formed by Pioneer Communications and Midwest Energy, Inc.

The contract calls for AirNet to supply GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) infrastructure equipment for the Hays, Garden City, Dodge City, and Great Bend, Kansas, Basic Trading Areas (BTAs) and includes more than 40 cell sites serving 204,000 potential subscribers. High Plains/Midwest will provide service using D- and E-block licenses.

"We conducted a thorough analysis of all the infrastructure options available and AirNet's GSM solution was far and away the best value proposition," said Bill Hayden, CEO of High Plains/Midwest. "AirNet's infrastructure drastically reduced our projected operating costs by allowing us to use far fewer T1 lines than other vendor scenarios."

"In addition, the AirNet AdaptaCell Base Transceiver Station allows us to readily implement high-speed data protocols such as GPRS and EDGE as they become available," Hayden said. "Again, that reduced our projected costs because we won't have to make costly hardware upgrades as we migrate to high-speed data."

AirNet will supply its new high-speed data ready AdaptaCell(TM) Base Transceiver Stations and AirSite(R) Backhaul Free Base Stations(TM) as well as other BSS equipment. AirNet will also supply a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) from TECORE, Inc.

"More and more service operators are beginning to understand just how advanced AirNet's GSM solution is," said Dr. Lee Hamilton, president and CEO of AirNet. "Not only does AirNet offer greater coverage with fewer T1 lines, but our broadband, software-defined architecture allows operators to easily and cost-effectively implement new high-speed data protocols such as GPRS, EDGE, and 3G by upgrading software - not hardware."

"With yet another win in the Midwest, AirNet can claim this part of the country as its own," said Glenn Ehley, AirNet vice president of Sales and Marketing. "This contract adds to numerous deployments we already have in Kansas and neighboring Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. Clearly, our ability to provide cost-effective coverage that is easily upgradeable to future high-speed data protocols is a key factor in our success here in the Midwest. Only AirNet gives operators a simple, software upgrade path all the way to 3G."

AirNet Communications Corporation, based in Melbourne, Florida, designs, manufactures, distributes, and supports GSM (GSM-900, GSM-1800, and GSM-1900) wireless infrastructure solutions. AirNet's products include the new 3G-ready AdaptaCell BTS, the new Triple Capacity AirSite Backhaul Free Base Station and the AirSite Backhaul Free Base Station. AirNet was awarded the 1998 GSM World Award for Best Technical Innovation. GSM is the leading digital wireless protocol with more than 200 million users worldwide.

AIRNET(R) and AirSite(R) are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. AdaptaCell(TM), Backhaul Free Base Station(TM), and The GSM Economy Experts(TM) are trademarks of AirNet Communications Corporation. Other names are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies or organizations.