AirTouch acquires stake in Indian cellular company licensed to serve Madras; company will be one of India's first cellular operators.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 14, 1995--Expanding its presence in high-growth global wireless markets, AirTouch Communications (NYSE:ATI) has completed the acquisition of a 20% interest in a company licensed to provide cellular service in Madras, the fourth largest city in India.

Financial terms were not disclosed. The new company, RPG Cellular Services, was awarded a cellular license in 1994 and expects to start service in October 1995, becoming one of India's first cellular operators. The network will use GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) digital technology, and will reach about 90% of the 6.5 million people in Madras when it starts commercial operation.

Currently, cellular service is not available in India, and there are only about eight landline phones per 1,000 people, compared to an average of 600 phones per 1,000 people in countries with more developed infrastructures.

"We expect to see exploding demand for wireless communications in India," said Arun Sarin, president and chief executive officer of AirTouch International. "With a rapidly growing middle class and strong pent-up demand for reliable telecommunications services, we believe customer growth will be tremendous.

"As we've done in other promising markets, we will seize this window of opportunity to enter the cellular industry while it's still in its infancy. We plan to build on our experience operating cellular networks in the United States, Germany, Japan, Belgium, Sweden and Portugal to help our partners launch a successful business and bring the benefits of wireless communications to Indian customers," Sarin added.

RPG Enterprises, one of the five largest business houses in India, is the lead partner in the Madras venture, with a 51% interest. Vodafone, the British telecommunications carrier, is also a partner, with a 26% share. Two major Japanese companies, Itochu Corp. and Mitsubishi, each have 1.5% interests.

Separately, AirTouch and RPG Enterprises have applied for a cellular license in Madhya Pradesh, a region with about 70 million people, as well as other regions. The Indian Department of Telecommunications is expected to award licenses for 20 "Telecom Circles" by the end of September. In 1994, cellular licenses were granted for India's four largest cities -- New Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.

In the past several years, governments around the world have been liberalizing their telecommunications policies and introducing competition, resulting in robust customer growth. During the second quarter of 1995, AirTouch's proportionate international cellular subscribers grew to 543,000, up 131% over the prior year. This is almost triple the company's domestic growth rate of 48%.

AirTouch Communications is a global wireless communications company, with interests in cellular, paging, personal communications services, the Globalstar satellite system, and other operations in the United States and 12 other nations: Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Thailand. The company, which is based in San Francisco serves over 4.2 million customers worldwide.

CONTACT: AirTouch Communications Inc., San Francisco

Susan Rosenberg, 510/210-3910