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Rural Cellular and AT&T Wireless Complete Exchange of Wireless Operations in Oregon, Mississippi, and Alabama

Posted on: Wednesday, 3 March 2004, 06:00 CST

REDMOND, Wash. and ALEXANDRIA, Minn., March 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AT&T Wireless and Rural Cellular Corporation ("Rural") today announced that they have completed an exchange of wireless operations in Oregon, Mississippi, and Alabama.

Under the exchange agreement, AT&T Wireless will assume Rural's TDMA operations in the Lincoln, Oregon-4 market between Salem and Eugene, Ore., covering the communities of Albany, Corvallis, Lebanon, Lincoln City, and Newport. The network serves 35,000 subscribers and covers a population of 226,000 people (POPs). AT&T Wireless plans to build out GSM/GPRS capability over the network this spring.

Rural assumes AT&T Wireless' operations in the Dothan, Ala.; Tupelo, Miss.; and Columbus, Miss. markets. These operations support 16,000 subscribers and cover 732,000 total POPs, of which 545,000 POPs are incremental and adjacent to Rural's existing South Region.

Rural also receives PCS licenses strategically covering portions of its South, Midwest and Northwest regions that incorporate 2.4 million total POPs and 1.3 million incremental POPs.

"This acquisition continues AT&T Wireless' efforts to build the premier advanced wireless network in the United States," said Glenn Lurie, Regional Vice President -- West Region, AT&T Wireless. "Soon, our GSM/GPRS network will be available to more customers and in more places in Oregon than ever before."

For Rural, the agreement supports its objective of bringing quality wireless coverage to rural areas where tourism, agriculture, and small businesses are prevalent. "The AT&T Wireless operations we have acquired through this agreement expand our coverage area in Alabama and Mississippi and, together with the newly acquired licenses, further our strategic objective of establishing a quality network presence in these territories," said Richard Ekstrand, president and CEO of Rural Cellular Corporation.

About AT&T Wireless

AT&T Wireless is the second-largest wireless carrier, based on revenues, in the United States. With 21.980 million subscribers as of December 31, 2003, and revenues of more than $16.6 billion over the past four quarters, AT&T Wireless delivers advanced high-quality mobile wireless communications services, voice and data, to businesses and consumers, in the U.S. and internationally. For more information, please visit http://www.attwireless.com/.

About Rural Cellular Corporation

Rural Cellular Corporation based in Alexandria, Minnesota, provides wireless communication services to Midwest, Northeast, South and Northwest markets located in 14 states. For more information, please visit http://www.rccwireless.com/.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements'' which are based on management's beliefs as well as on a number of assumptions concerning future events made by management with information that is currently available to management. Forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, management's expectations regarding: future financial and operating performance and financial condition, including the outlook for the fiscal year 2003 and subsequent periods; subscriber growth; industry conditions; balance sheet strength; liquidity and needs for additional financing; and the ability to generate positive free cash flow.

Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside AT&T Wireless' and Rural Cellular's control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. Without limitation these factors include: the risks associated with the implementation of technology migration strategies, the ability to continue to reduce costs and increase the efficiency of distribution channels, the potential competitive impacts of industry consolidation or alternative technologies, potential impacts on revenue and ARPU from competitive pricing and slowing penetration in the wireless industry, the effects of vigorous competition in the markets in which AT&T Wireless and Rural Cellular operate, the risk of decreased consumer spending due to softening economic conditions, acts of terrorism, and consumer response to new service offerings.

For a more detailed description of the factors that could cause such a difference, please see AT&T Wireless' and Rural Cellular Corporation's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Chris Boraas Peter Rowe

Rural Cellular Corporation AT&T Wireless

320-808-2451 425-580-7667

chrismb@rccw.com peter.rowe@attws.com

AT&T Wireless

CONTACT: Chris Boraas of Rural Cellular Corporation, +1-320-808-2451, orchrismb@rccw.com; or Peter Rowe of AT&T Wireless, +1-425-580-7667, orpeter.rowe@attws.com

Web site: http://www.rccwireless.com/

Web site: http://www.attws.com/

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