Cellular One Eliminates Long-Distance Charges; Wireless Provider First to Make Nationwide Calls Local.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 15, 1997--Cellular One announced today that effective immediately, it is eliminating long distance charges to its customers calling from virtually anywhere in Tennessee to any state in the United States.

Cellular One is the first wireless carrier in Tennessee to offer local calling to any of the 50 states. With Cellular One's new nationwide local calling service, any call that originates from their home area (which includes the entire state of Tennessee, with the exception of seven counties) will be billed at local airtime rates. The new service is available immediately to new and existing Cellular One customers for $4.95 a month, in addition to monthly access charges.

Cellular One officials expect the nationwide local calling system to greatly reduce the monthly cost of cellular service, particularly for businesses and individuals who travel and heavily rely on their cellular phone service. Last summer the company became the first phone company -- cellular or land line -- to make all calls in Tennessee local.

"We have long been the largest cellular provider in Tennessee and our customers have come to expect innovative service from us," said Marc Lefar, Cellular One's director of marketing for Tennessee and Kentucky. "We are excited to be able to offer our customers nationwide long distance service for the price they would pay for a local call."

For example, a Nashville-based Cellular One customer traveling to Memphis and calling New York would only be charged their local rate for minutes of the call, and not long-distance charges. Customers making calls when away from Tennessee to another U.S. city will be subject to long-distance and roaming charges set by the local cellular provider in the market in which the call originates.

For further savings, customers can combine the company's dime-a-minute service plan with nationwide local calling. Cellular phone users can call Los Angeles, New York, Chicago or Seattle for nearly the same cost as they would from a land line phone.

The establishment of nationwide local calling -- as with statewide local calling -- represents one of the most significant cost reductions associated with the advancement of cellular communications, Lefar said. In addition, the costs of cellular equipment and service have declined in recent years, but the elimination of long-distance -- and with statewide local calling, elimination of roaming costs in virtually all of Tennessee -- will provide consumers the most opportunity yet for savings.

Cellular One, the largest cellular provider in Tennessee, is licensed to provide coverage across 40,000 square miles of the state.

Cellular One is owned and operated by GTE, which provides cellular service in 74 metropolitan markets in the United States. GTE is the largest U.S. based local telephone company and the second-largest cellular service provider in the United States.

CONTACT: Cellular One

Marc Lefar, 423/578-2830

or

The Ingram Group

Joe Hall, 615/254-0575