AirTouch Offers Powerband Service in San Diego for Republican National Convention; Attendees Will Benefit From Five Hours of Talk Time and Call Privacy.

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 6, 1996--AirTouch Cellular (AirTouch Communications NYSE:ATI) today announced it will provide Powerband(SM) digital cellular service to attendees and media at the Republican National Convention in San Diego using Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology.

These users will benefit from Powerband's enhanced features, improved call quality, increased privacy and batteries that permit up to five hours of talk-time or about twice what other digital phones offer today. In addition, they will be the first AirTouch users to experience the high fidelity of 13 kilobits per second (kbps) vocoder technology.

"Our confidence in CDMA and the positive experience our customers are having in Los Angeles, made us accelerate the implementation of digital service in San Diego," said Lee Cox, AirTouch Communications vice chairman and president and CEO of AirTouch Cellular. "The digital cellular system we're showcasing at the Republican National Convention will offer all of the features of PCS like privacy and fraud protection, plus national roaming, wider local coverage, five hours of talk time, and the highest voice quality."

In May AirTouch introduced Powerband service for the first time in north Los Angeles in an area so large it would rank 18th on the list of largest US cities. Powerband service in Los Angeles debuted with an 8 kbps vocoder which provided customers some clear advantages over analog technology in terms of extended battery life, quieter calls and better privacy. "Today we're introducing 13 kbps vocoder technology for the first time in San Diego," explained Cox.

"We also plan to add 13 kbps service in Los Angeles because tests show that compared with all other technologies - digital and analog - the customer opinion scores for CDMA 13 kbps take first place in every category."

AirTouch Cellular will offer the Powerband digital service in the convention and downtown area and analog cellular service throughout the county to selected media representatives and other attendees at no charge. The service package will include a 411 Connect directory and direct dial service that makes it easy for callers to request such things as restaurant information and be immediately connected to the directory listing of their choice.

Once the convention is over, AirTouch will complete construction of its Powerband network in the greater San Diego area and will begin to expand service by the first quarter of 1997.

The Powerband service in San Diego is based on network infrastructure equipment supplied by Motorola. According to Jack Finlayson, corporate vice president and general manager of Motorola's Pan American Wireless Infrastructure Division, "Motorola is proud to be working with AirTouch in bringing premier digital cellular CDMA service to San Diego and the 1996 Republican National Convention. Convention attendees and other users of this CDMA system will be the first to experience the superior quality of our new 13 kbps voice encoders."

Powerband users at the Convention will use QCP-800 handsets manufactured in San Diego by QUALCOMM Personal Electronics, a joint venture of QUALCOMM and Sony Electronics. The dual-mode (CDMA/analog) phone will offer a full feature set, and a five-line liquid crystal display with icons to indicate signal strength, transmission mode, battery and roaming status, and other functions. Users are easily guided through the phones' operations through a user-friendly interface and soft-key menu.

"Through our 13 kilobit CDMA phones, San Diego users will experience digital wireless technology at its best with wireline-quality voice, lower power output, longer talk times and the highest degree of privacy and security available," said Dr. Paul Jacobs, senior vice president and general manager for Subscriber Products, QUALCOMM Incorporated. "We congratulate AirTouch on their continuing success in bringing CDMA service to their markets."

AirTouch Communications is a global wireless communications company, with interests in cellular, paging, personal communications services and the Globalstar satellite system in the United States and 10 other nations: Belgium, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Poland, Portugal, South Korea, Spain and Sweden. The company, based in San Francisco, serves more than 6.3 million customers worldwide.

For a fax copy of this or other recent AirTouch press releases, please call 1-800- 344-7531 or visit the AirTouch web site at http://www.airtouch.com. -0-

Side-by-Side Comparison

                               AirTouch           GSM / PCS
                                 CDMA

Privacy                          yes                 yes
Fraud Protection                 yes                 yes
Messaging                        yes                 yes
Fax                              yes                 yes
Caller ID                        yes                 yes
Voice Mail                       yes                 yes
3-Way Calling                    yes                 yes
Call Waiting                     yes                 yes
Call Forwarding                  yes                 yes
Call Return                      yes                 yes
Dual-mode Phones                 yes                  no
National Roaming                 yes                  no
Broad Coverage                   yes             not yet
Highest Quality Voice (1)        yes                  no
Battery Life (2)
    Stand-by Time             48 Hrs              24 Hrs
    Talk Time                  5 Hrs               3 Hrs

(1) Based on test results from Nortel's Ottawa subjective test
    facility.

(2) Based on comparisons of phones using lithium ion batteries.

CONTACT: AirTouch Communications

Susan Rosenberg, 510/210-3910

or

AirTouch Cellular

Lisa Ackerman, 619/625-7890

or

QUALCOMM Incorporated

Julie Cunningham, 619/658-4224

or

Motorola

Scott Wyman, 847/632-4691