AirTouch Cellular Sets New Standard for Service Affordability and Flexibility with Select Pay Option.

Business Editors

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 23, 2000

AirTouch Cellular customers in Colorado now have access to the country's most flexible payment option for wireless.

Called AirTouch Select Pay, it lets subscribers choose whether, when and how to be charged for incoming calls.

AirTouch Select Pay takes the worry out of wireless by letting customers leave their phones on to take calls without having to run up large bills paying for them. No longer must they accept every incoming call as a costly collect call. Instead, they can choose when to let callers pay the airtime charges.

"AirTouch Select Pay offers the kind of control, flexibility, and choice customers have been asking for," said John Griffith, vice president of sales for AirTouch in Denver. "We aim to make cellular service more affordable than ever to people on a budget and to take the surprises out of our customers' monthly bills."

AirTouch has long been a leader in the wireless industry when it comes to offering flexible payment arrangements. It currently offers Calling Party Pays as an option in nine states, including Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, Nebraska, Ohio, Utah and Washington.

But AirTouch Select Pay represents a major step forward over previous implementations of Calling Party Pays in the industry -- making it the most convenient, affordable and flexible option of its kind in the country:

-- Select Pay subscribers will not be billed for incoming calls

unless they want to accept the charges.

-- The Select Pay "ON/OFF" feature gives subscribers control of

who pays for incoming calls and when.

-- The "COLLECT CALL" feature lets subscribers accept or reject

airtime charges for incoming calls.

-- The "VIP" list allows subscribers to designate phone numbers

of callers who should not be charged.

-- The Select Pay service monthly fee has been lowered to

$2.95.

-- The caller's airtime charge has been reduced to $0.29 per

minute.

Callers to an AirTouch Select Pay subscriber will hear an announcement telling them what charges to expect if they choose to complete the call. Whenever possible, the charges will be included on the caller's monthly bill for local phone service. If a caller is using a provider with whom AirTouch does not having a billing arrangement, the caller will be given three options: place a collect call, charge the airtime to a credit card, or charge it to a calling card.

AirTouch Select Pay promises to bring wireless service flexibility up to the level found in most major markets around the world, where calling party pays is the norm. In overseas markets, wireless subscribers typically have a much higher ratio of inbound to outbound calls than in the United States, since they don't pay for inbound calls. For the same reason, they have fewer qualms about leaving their phones on to accept calls, and thus are more inclined to make wireless their first choice for telecommunications service.

"AirTouch's Select Pay service will open the door to more consumers who want wireless service but have previously been put off by the cost," said Ken Hyers, a wireless analyst with Cahners In-Stat Group and author of a report on Calling Party Pays. "Customers should be more willing to give out their telephone numbers and to leave their phones on all of the time. Cahners In-Stat Group believes that this type of service will have a profound effect on how people use their cellular and PCS phones and play an important part in the industry trend towards wireless replacement of wired phone service."

AirTouch serves nearly 10 million U.S. cellular and PCS customers on a proportionate basis. Its ventures operate in 25 states and 22 of the top 30 U.S. markets, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle. AirTouch is part of Vodafone AirTouch Plc, the world's largest wireless communications firm, based in the United Kingdom. It has mobile operations in 24 countries on five continents, with more than 35.5 million proportionate cellular customers. For more information, visit the AirTouch web site at www.airtouch.com.