Southwestern Bell Wireless Introduces Revolutionary Flat-Rate Pricing

New Plans Offers Tulsans Added Value, Simplicity

Tulsa, Oklahoma, February 19, 1998

Southwestern Bell Wireless this month rolled out two new calling plans, offering Tulsans flat-rates for their Southwestern Bell Wireless calls within the state of Oklahoma. This allows customers to make and receive calls at any time of the day or week for one low per minute rate, regardless of how many minutes they choose to use. Southwestern Bell is the first to offer flat-rate plans in Tulsa, and one of the first in the nation.

The new, simplified calling plans from Southwestern Bell offer customers two options. Every call is ten cents per minute if the customer's total monthly bill will be at least $60 per month. If the customer's total monthly bill will be at least $30 per month, every call is 16 cents per minute.

"We are pleased to offer our wireless customers a simple and affordable way of keeping in touch with friends, family and associates," said Scott McElroy, director of operations, Southwestern Bell Wireless. "With this low flat-rate billing plan, our customers won't have to worry about confusing charges - they will know exactly what the rate is regardless of the time they spend on the call or what time of day they make or receive them."

McElroy said the new flat-rate plans are revolutionary in the wireless industry. Traditional calling plans offer customers a low rate up to a certain number of minutes. If customers surpass the predetermined amount of minutes, the per minute rate typically increases significantly.

"We realize that traditional pricing plans can be confusing and even counterproductive," McElroy said. "Wireless users have had to decide ahead of time how many minutes they will need for a month. They are essentially discouraged from using their wireless phone more than they had planned by being charged a higher per minute price for those additional minutes.

"We think it's easier and makes more sense for customers to determine how much they are likely to spend rather than how many minutes they are likely to use," McElroy said. "Aside from the great low rates, the simplicity is yet another value."

The new flat-rate plans apply to all calls made within the state of Oklahoma from the Tulsa Southwestern Bell Wireless Digital PCS home network. Under the flat-rate plans, consumers do not pay long distance charges when calling from the home network to anywhere within Oklahoma. Calls made from outside the home network, long-distance calls outside of Oklahoma, and roaming charges are not included in the flat-rate pricing.

Southwestern Bell Wireless, together with SBC's other wireless affiliates, is a leading wireless provider, serving nearly 5 million customers in 78 markets nationwide. It is a company of SBC Communications Inc., a global leader in the telecommunications industry, with more than 32 million access lines and over 5 million wireless customers across the United States, as well as investments in telecommunications businesses in 10 countries. Under the Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell, Nevada Bell and Cellular One brands, SBC, through its subsidiaries, offers a wide range of innovative services, including local and long-distance telephone service, wireless communications, paging, Internet access, and messaging, as well as telecommunications equipment, and directory advertising and publishing. SBC (www.sbc.com) has more than 116,000 employees and reported 1996 revenues of $23.5 billion. SBC's equity market value of $67.3 billion (as of December 31, 1997) ranks it as one of the five largest telecommunications companies in the world.