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Cingular Wireless Reports 75 Percent Overall Service Restoral in Areas Hit By Hurricane Katrina

Posted on: Thursday, 8 September 2005, 18:00 CDT

ATLANTA, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Cingular Wireless, a joint venture between SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corporation , today reported 75 percent overall service restoral in the areas hit by Hurricane Katrina, with full restoration in many places.

Service has been fully restored in Mobile, Ala., in Jackson and Meridian, Miss., and in Hammond and Houma, La. It has been substantially restored in Hattiesburg, Biloxi, and Gulfport, Miss.

The company also said that it has restored 50 percent of service in New Orleans, with 70 to 75 percent expected by this weekend. Calls continue to go through in the city and surrounding areas, but at reduced levels. New Orleans and the surrounding areas of the North Shore and Biloxi/Gulfport are the company's top priorities for service restoration.

More than 800 network technicians are deployed across the Gulf States to support full service restoration as soon as possible. Cingular also is using microwave and satellite connections to restore service in parts of New Orleans, and the company is rerouting calls outside of New Orleans as needed.

Supporting Cingular's service restoration efforts are more than 500 generators, 800,000 gallons of fuel, and more than 30 COWs (cell sites on wheels).

Cingular continues to offer free phone calls at its retail stores throughout Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana for any customer needing to get in touch with family or friends. The company has now provided more than 3500 phones with wireless priority service in the Gulf States for use by emergency service providers, including the Red Cross for use by people in its shelters.

In addition, Cingular has created initiatives to raise millions of dollars for Katrina victims and to assist its own employees who have been affected by the disaster.

These include: - Cingular Cares, an initiative to raise more than $5 million, primarily in support of company employees - who are giving generously. Including the company match, more than $500,000 has been raised in just a week. - A text messaging campaign by which Cingular customers will receive messages on their phones and other wireless devices asking if they would be interested in making a contribution to the American Red Cross's hurricane relief efforts. Customers can simply reply "yes" to make a donation that will appear on their bill. - Use of the company's more than 2,300 retail stores nationwide as collection points for donations to the American Red Cross. The stores will be able to accept cash, checks, credit cards, or debit cards. - Tent cities in Ocean Springs and Hammond, where Cingular employees and displaced residents can stay. In them, the company is providing food, ice, banking capabilities, health care services (primarily inoculations), and gasoline.

Also, the company has put in place service and billing practices to help ease the burden on customers affected by the hurricane. For example, Cingular will not terminate service, has suspended collection activities, and is making accessories available at 50 percent off in the affected areas.

- For Cingular subscribers in New Orleans and Biloxi, Miss., there will be no text messaging, roaming, long distance, or overage charges for the month of September, and customers' regular monthly charges will be reduced by 50 percent during that time. - For customers in the Mobile, Ala.; Baton Rouge, La.; Lafayette, La; and Jackson, Miss. markets, monthly fees will be reduced by 25 percent for September, and on a case-by-case basis, there will be discounts on roaming and text messaging. - For prepaid customers in the affected areas, Cingular will extend the expiration date on current minutes to October 31, 2005, will replace any minutes that expired since August 29, 2005, and will not charge for text messaging from August 29, 2005 through September 30, 2005. Please visit http://www.cingularhurricaneupdates.com/ for regular updates. About Cingular Wireless

Cingular Wireless is the largest wireless carrier in the United States, serving 51.6 million customers. Cingular, a joint venture between SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corporation , has the largest digital voice and data network in the nation -- the ALLOVER(SM) network -- and the largest mobile-to-mobile community of any national wireless carrier. Cingular is the only U.S. wireless carrier to offer Rollover(R), the wireless plan that lets customers keep their unused monthly minutes. Details of the company are available at http://www.cingular.com/ . Get Cingular Wireless press releases e-mailed to you automatically. Sign up at http://cingular.mediaroom.com/.

Cingular Wireless

CONTACT: Mark Siegel, +1-404-236-6312, or wireless, +1-646-256-1277, orCaroline Crowe, +1-678-867-4330, or wireless, +1-404-808-8254, both ofCingular Wireless

Web site: http://www.cingularhurricaneupdates.com/http://www.cingular.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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