AirTouch Cellular Southern California Launches New National Home Rate Plus Program; New Program Allows Customers to Use Packaged Minutes for Roaming Nationwide.IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 9, 1999--AirTouch Cellular Tuesday announced a new National Home Rate Plus(SM) program for new and existing Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, customers. Beginning today, AirTouch customers on the Digital 600, 1200 and 1500 plans with National Home Rate Plus can travel across the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. and use their bundled minutes while roaming. The first minute of incoming calls for customers on the National Home Rate Plus plan will be free 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. charges while roaming anywhere in the United States. The new National Home Rate Plus roaming plan is designed for consumers and business users who frequently travel and use their wireless phones outside of the AirTouch Southern California coverage area. National Home Rate Plus is included at no extra charge with the AirTouch Digital 600, 1200 and 1500 plans. Pricing starts at $74.99, for 600 minutes, with the first incoming minute free. Roaming airtime is deducted from the customer's packaged minutes at their local calling rate in one minute increments. The post-package per-minute rate is $0.25 for the 600 minute plan, and $0.20 for the 1200 and 1500 minute plans. Toll and long distance charges and other terms and conditions may apply. "We're offering flexibility and choice, so that consumers can choose the type of national roaming service that fits their needs," said Nancy Hobbs, AirTouch's executive vice president and general manager. "Because of our large Southern California coverage area, we've found that most customers do not consistently use a significant amount of long distance each month. With our new National Home Rate Plus pricing, AirTouch customers are not paying for long distance time they do not use; unlike other offers that have you paying for long distance in the form of higher access charges." The National Home Rate Plus program is the second national roaming offer from AirTouch in Southern California. The carrier began offering its first program, the popular National Home Rate plan with roaming rates equal to the after package airtime rates, to customers on the Choice and Digital Plans in October 1998. National Home Rate is still available to AirTouch customers who are light to moderate roamers and want to enjoy the benefits of AirTouch's popular weekend calling, plus some of the benefits of a national roaming program. National Home Rate is offered for free to AirTouch customers on the Digital 300, 600, 1200 and 1500 plans, and at a $10 monthly fee for customers on Choice 20, 60 or 120 plans. AirTouch Offers More Bundled Minutes AirTouch also announced Tuesday that it has added more package minutes, without increasing price, to five of its core pricing plans. AirTouch's new Digital Plan options are: 300 minutes for $49.99 per month, 600 minutes for $74.99 per month, and 1,200 minutes for $124.99 per month. The Digital 1,500 Plan remains the same with 1,500 minutes for $149.99. The new Choice Plans offer customers their choice of either digital or analog service. The new plan options are: 60 minutes for $24.99, and 120 minutes for $34.99. The Choice 20 Plan remains the same at 20 minutes for $19.99. "We're offering more minutes for where and when our customers use them most," added Hobbs. "The bigger bundles and new National Home Rate Plus program mean our customers are getting more value for their wireless dollar at a competitive price -- especially when you add the award-winning customer service, coverage and flexibility AirTouch provides." AirTouch customers also benefit from AirTouch's Expanded Local Calling Area. Calls made in the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino San Bernardino, city, United States San Bernardino (săn bûr'nədē`nō), city (1990 pop. 164,164), seat of San Bernardino co., S Calif., at the foot of the San Bernardino Mts.; inc. 1854. , San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. and Ventura county areas, including the desert regions of Riverside and San Bernardino, are included in the calling plans. Toll and long distance charges may apply. AirTouch Cellular Southern California is a part of AirTouch Communications Inc. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :ATI (ATI Technologies Inc., Markham Ontario, http://ati.amd.com) A leading manufacturer of graphics chips and display adapters. Founded in 1985 by K. Y. Ho, Benny Lau and Lee Lau, ATI chips and boards are widely used by OEMs. ). Consumers interested in learning more about AirTouch's bigger bundled minute plans and National Home Rate Plus program, should call 800/AIRTOUCH, or visit the company's Web site at www.airtouch.com. Business users should call 888/384-1775, where they can learn about special programs designed to suit the business user's needs. For press information, contact SoCalPR@airtouch.com, or visit the company's news release Web page at: www.app.airtouch.com/index_about.html. A chart detailing the AirTouch Cellular Southern California price plans and new National Home Rate Plus pricing is available for the press upon request. AirTouch serves 8 million U.S. cellular U.S. Cellular (NYSE: USM) is a super-regional cellular telephone provider, serving 5.8 million customers in 189 markets in 26 U.S. states. The company was created in 1983 as a subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. Since April 2000, John E. customers and operates in 22 of the Top 30 U.S. markets, including Los Angeles, San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden , San Diego, Atlanta, Detroit, Cleveland, San Jose San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. , Sacramento, Cincinnati, Kansas City Kansas City, two adjacent cities of the same name, one (1990 pop. 149,767), seat of Wyandotte co., NE Kansas (inc. 1859), the other (1990 pop. 435,146), Clay, Jackson, and Platte counties, NW Mo. (inc. 1850). , Seattle, Portland (Oregon), Denver, Phoenix, and Minneapolis. AirTouch Communications is the largest wireless company in the world based on the more than 40 million customers served by its global ventures. AirTouch has more than 17 million customers based on its ownership share in cellular, paging, and personal communications services See PCS. in the United States and 12 other nations as well as the Globalstar satellite system. |
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