BellSouth Wireless Data Brings in New Year With New Name - Cingular Interactive.

Business/Technology Editors

WOODBRIDGE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 10, 2001

Wireless Data Industry Leader Takes on New Identity in 2001 to

Reflect Status As Business Unit of Cingular Wireless

Wireless data industry leader BellSouth Wireless Data L.P. has changed its name to Cingular Interactive, L.P.

Cingular Interactive will be a business unit of Cingular Wireless headquartered in Woodbridge, N.J. Donald Kovalevich, President and CEO of BellSouth Wireless Data, will be President of Cingular Interactive. Kovalevich will report to Mark Feidler, Chief Operating Officer for Cingular Wireless.

"Our new name, Cingular Interactive, illustrates our status both as a key member of the Cingular Wireless family, the second largest wireless company in the U.S., and as the leading provider of interactive wireless data communications solutions to companies and mobile professionals," Kovalevich explained. "As a member of the Cingular Wireless family, we will have a nationally recognized brand, access to more resources, broader distribution channels and a migration path from our current network technology to the next generation cellular packet technology."

"This represents a tremendous opportunity for Cingular Interactive's customers and partners," Kovalevich said. "We will have the opportunity to accelerate the growth of our business and allow our customers and partners to grow along with us."

The new Cingular Interactive name will be evident in all aspects of the company's business, from branding of products and services to Web site domain name.

Cingular Interactive's senior executive team will remain in place although Janet Boudris, formerly Senior Vice President, Strategic Marketing for BellSouth Wireless Data, is now Vice President, Cingular Solutions, for Cingular Wireless to better coordinate and integrate all of Cingular's wireless data activities. Boudris, an acknowledged wireless data industry expert, will have responsibilities for marketing activities involving the Cingular Interactive mobility suite of products and wireless data applications on all Cingular Wireless networks. Boudris, who will remain located in Woodbridge, N.J. and retain her marketing organization, will report to Virginia Vann, Senior Vice President - Marketing for Cingular Wireless, and on a dotted line basis to Kovalevich.

Cingular Interactive, headquartered in Woodbridge, N.J., is an expert in providing proven wireless data communications solutions that eliminate the barriers between critical information and mobile users; it also provides telemetry and transactions applications. Cingular Interactive operates its wireless data service throughout the United States, covering more than 93 percent of the urban business population located in 492 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and non-MSAs with a total population of 200 million people. Recognized as the industry leader, the company was the recipient of several major awards from such entities as Microsoft, PC Computing, Frost & Sullivan, Wireless Week and Mobile Insights.

Cingular Interactive is a business unit of Cingular Wireless. Cingular Wireless, a joint venture between SBC (NYSE:SBC) and BellSouth (NYSE:BLS), provides wireless voice and data service to more than 19 million customers in 38 states, the District of Columbia and two U.S. territories. SBC and BellSouth share control of Cingular Wireless. Cingular operates in 42 of the top 50 markets in the United States.