Motorola signs $53 million supply contract with Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile; will deploy CDMA technology in Phoenix and Charlotte

Business Wire, Sept 17, 1996

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 17, 1996-- Motorola's Pan American Wireless Infrastructure Division (PWID) has signed a $53 million network upgrade agreement with Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile (BANM), which includes the deployment of CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) technology in Phoenix, Arizona and Charlotte, North Carolina.

As part of the agreement, Motorola will install its state-of-the-art SC(TM) 9650 base station equipment in BANM's Southeast Region and in the Southwest Region of Cellular One, wholly-owned by BANM. Motorola's SC 9600 family of base stations supports multiple analog and digital radio frequency interfaces including AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone Service), NAMPS (Narrowband AMPS) and CDMA. Motorola's existing high-capacity EMX (Electronic Mobile Exchange)(R) 2500 switch will be utilized in the networks.

Phoenix and Charlotte will begin offering digital CDMA service in early 1997. CDMA service in the two markets will feature the 13 KBPS vocoder (voice encoder), which allows network users to enjoy improved voice quality with static and cross-talk virtually eliminated. In addition, as a result of the CDMA technology, users will be able to enjoy such additional service features as enhanced messaging capability, caller ID and message waiting indicators.

"Subscribers in these two markets will soon realize the many benefits of CDMA, including much longer battery life and improved service and call quality," said Dick Lynch, executive vice president and chief technical officer of BANM. "We have a long-standing relationship with Motorola and are pleased to be working with them in deploying a full-featured CDMA service offering premier 13 KBPS voice quality."

Jack Finlayson, corporate vice president and general manager of Motorola's PWID, added, "BANM has reinforced its position as a leader in the wireless communications industry by bringing CDMA technology to its customers. We've worked closely with BANM in developing an optimal system design that will provide the highest level of service for BANM customers in the Southeast and Southwest."

BANM, headquartered in Bedminster, New Jersey, is the largest wireless service provider on the East Coast and the second largest provider in the U.S. The company offers a full range of wireless voice, data and paging communications solutions to its 3.8 million customers in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, Southeast and through a separate subsidiary in the Southwest. The company was formed in July, 1995 through the combination of Bell Atlantic Mobile's and NYNEX Mobile's cellular operations. The company has more than 5,000 employees.

BANM's Southeast Region serves much of the states of North and South Carolina, including Charlotte, Greenville and Columbia. Cellular One's Southwest Region includes Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona; Albuquerque, New Mexico, and El Paso, Texas.

Motorola delivered the world's first commercial CDMA system in late 1995 in Hong Kong. Currently, the company has agreements to provide commercial and trial CDMA equipment in more than 25 cellular and PCS (Personal Communications Services) markets worldwide.

Motorola is one of the world's leading providers of wireless communications, semiconductors and advanced electronic systems and services. Motorola's 1995 sales were $27 billion.

CONTACT: Motorola CIG

Laura Cain, 847/632-3889

or

BANM

Andrea Linskey, 908/306-7845