Southwestern Bell Expands Wireless Service in Missouri

Activation of south central Missouri network offers customers expanded coverage without added expense of roaming charges

St. Louis, Missouri, April 28, 1998

Southwestern Bell's Missouri wireless "footprint" just got bigger - six counties bigger, to be exact. Southwestern Bell, which already offered one of the most extensive coverage areas of any wireless telecommunications carrier in Missouri, announced today that it has activated service in six additional counties in south central Missouri.

Contiguous to Southwestern Bell Wireless' existing network and service territory, the expansion is part of the company's "home coverage" area, meaning it is available to Southwestern Bell Wireless customers, including those in the St. Louis region, without any roaming charges.

The expansion provides increased coverage along the Missouri-Arkansas border, further expanding Southwestern Bell Wireless' service territory, which extends north-south from Grafton, Ill., to the Arkansas border and east-west from Lake Carlyle in Illinois to Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.

The expanded service area, with a population of about 56,000, consists of Carter, Iron, Oregon, Reynolds, Ripley and Shannon counties. The activation brings Southwestern Bell wireless service to several cities, including Doniphan, Glover, Grandin, Winona and Ellington, Mo.

"The activation expands our already extensive wireless footprint and provides customers in our St. Louis home coverage area with expanded capabilities in south central Missouri," said Brad Brown, vice president and general manager, Southwestern Bell Wireless. "We are committed to offering service that meets the needs of our customers, and expanding coverage is just one more way of demonstrating that commitment."

In February, Southwestern Bell announced the acquisition of a wireless license that served the six additional south central Missouri counties.

Southwestern Bell Wireless, together with SBC's other wireless affiliates, is a leading wireless provider, serving 5.5 million customers and seven of the top 10 markets nationwide. Southwestern Bell Wireless is a company of SBC Communications Inc., a global leader in the telecommunications industry, with more than 33 million access lines and 5.5 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 1997 revenues of $25 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.