Verizon Wireless Announces 3G Wireless Broadband Expansion in New York and New Jersey

ORANGEBURG, N.Y., June 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Continuing to build on its strategy to provide its customers superior wireless services in the United States, Verizon Wireless today expanded its Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) third generation (3G) wide-area network in the New York metropolitan area. Verizon Wireless' 3G EV-DO network enables V CAST -- the nation's first wireless broadband multimedia service for consumers -- and BroadbandAccess, the fastest wide-area wireless Internet access service available in the nation.

In New York City, Verizon Wireless' V CAST and BroadbandAccess services now are available to more residents of Brooklyn and Queens. The services were launched in Manhattan, portions of Queens and Brooklyn, and at LaGuardia and JFK International Airports earlier this year.

On Long Island, the high speed data network now is available to residents and summer vacationers along the entire southern shore and in portions of the north shore including Port Jefferson and Centerport.

North of the City, V CAST and BroadbandAccess services now are available in southern Rockland County including Nyack and Pearl River, and in southern and central portions of Westchester County including White Plains.

In New Jersey, the service now extends south along the Jersey Shore to the Ocean County border, west into Morris and Somerset counties, and north to Alpine in Bergen County. Businesses and consumers in large portions of northeastern New Jersey including Essex, Hudson and Union counties and at Newark Liberty International Airport have enjoyed V CAST and BroadbandAccess services for more than six months.

"The expansion of our high-speed wireless broadband network in New York City, Long Island and in the northern suburbs provides Verizon Wireless customers with the latest and greatest in mobile wireless technology just in time for summer activities," said Charles Hand, New York Metro regional president for Verizon Wireless. "With V CAST, consumers can access the latest in multimedia programming to stay connected, informed and entertained via their wireless phones wherever they travel, and BroadbandAccess provides mobile workers full access to their corporate information, just as if they were attached via a high-speed wired connection."

During the first quarter of this year, Verizon Wireless already has invested $138 million in network enhancements in the New York Metro area. In 2004, the company invested a total of $475 million in its New York Metro network.

V CAST

Verizon Wireless' V CAST service enables consumers to access short video content on-demand, viewing current news, weather, sports and entertainment programming. With V CAST, customers can also download and play cutting-edge 3D games, watch music videos and concert performances from favorite artists, view short programs specifically designed for mobile phones and other video content right on their phones. For a list of all videos and 3D game entertainment available on V CAST, visit http://www.getvcast.com/.

For $15.00 monthly access added to their Verizon Wireless calling plan, customers in the New York Metro area can get the V CAST VPak which includes unlimited access to a wide array of more than 300 daily updated video clips from leading news, sports, weather and entertainment content providers. Unlimited basic short content is included, but application download fees apply for 3D games, premium video short content, and all other Get It Now(R) applications. There are no airtime charges to download, stream or watch V CAST content. Customers also can download, stream or watch premium short video content, available at additional cost, which includes video such as music videos, select sports clips and mobisodes. Verizon Wireless V CAST customers also receive monthly access and unlimited browsing on Verizon Wireless' Mobile Web 2.0(SM) news and information service. For a limited time, customers who sign up for V CAST receive two months of service free.

BroadbandAccess

The company's highly-touted BroadbandAccess service, available to mobile professionals and enterprise customers, allows New York Metro area customers to connect wirelessly to Internet via their laptop at broadband speeds, a convenient way to conduct business. Faster than any competing widely available wide-area wireless data service, BroadbandAccess customers can download a 1 Megabyte email attachment (for example, a small PowerPoint presentation or a large PDF file), or receive three digital pictures (each 400 x 600 pixels) in less than 20 seconds. Because EV-DO technology is backward compatible customers who travel outside a BroadbandAccess coverage area with an EV-DO device will seamlessly switch to Verizon Wireless' existing NationalAccess service, which runs on the company's 1xRTT network.

Working with virtual private network (VPN) connections, business customers can use BroadbandAccess as an extension of their corporate local area network (LAN) or intranet, allowing them to work from any location within the BroadbandAccess coverage area, as if they were in the office. BroadbandAccess, with typical user download speeds of 400-700 kilobits per second (kbps), is ideal for downloading files and business-critical information residing behind corporate firewalls and for accessing e-mail, intranets and the Internet. BroadbandAccess' EV-DO technology has its own data protection and authentication and is designed to work with a business' existing IT infrastructure and security solutions.

BroadbandAccess is available for $79.99 monthly access for unlimited use with a one- or two-year customer agreement. For more information on BroadbandAccess from Verizon Wireless, visit http://www.verizonwireless.com/broadbandaccess.

EV-DO Network

V CAST and BroadbandAccess run on Verizon Wireless' EV-DO network, which began commercial operation in October 2003 in San Diego and Washington, D.C. Verizon Wireless' EV-DO network initially made its commercial debut with BroadbandAccess wireless Internet access service for business customers and mobile professionals. The company launched its V CAST wireless broadband multimedia service in February 2005.

Verizon Wireless expanded the EV-DO coverage area -- the V CAST and BroadbandAccess service areas -- to cover more than 35 major markets so far this year and is on target to reach half of the U.S. population by the end of 2005. The company's expansion strategy includes adding new markets and expanding network coverage in existing markets.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless owns and operates the nation's most reliable wireless network, serving 45.5 million voice and data customers. Headquartered in Bedminster, NJ, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). Find more information on the Web at http://www.verizonwireless.com/. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at http://www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

NOTE: This press release contains statements about expected future events and financial results that are forward-looking and subject to risks and uncertainties. For those statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The following important factors could affect future results and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements: materially adverse changes in economic conditions in the markets served by us, an adverse change in the ratings afforded our debt securities or those of Verizon Communications by nationally accredited ratings organizations, the effects of the substantial competition that exists in our markets, which has been intensifying, and which may intensify further as a result of local number portability regulations that allow wireless customers to retain their phone numbers when switching wireless service providers, our ability to obtain sufficient financing to satisfy our substantial capital requirements, including to fund capital expenditures, debt repayment and distributions to our owners, our ability to obtain sufficient spectrum licenses, particularly in our most densely populated areas, our ability to develop future business opportunities, including wireless data services, and to continue to adapt to the changing conditions in the wireless industry, our ability to receive satisfactory service from our key vendors and suppliers, our ability to generate additional subscribers, with acceptable levels of churn, from resellers and distributors of our service, material changes in available technology, and technology substitution that could impact the popularity and usage of our technology, our continued provision of satisfactory service to our subscribers at an acceptable cost, in order to reduce churn, the impact of continued unionization efforts with respect to our employees, regulatory developments, including new regulations that could increase our cost of doing business or reduce demand for our services, developments in connection with existing or future litigation, and changes in our accounting assumptions that regulatory agencies, including the SEC, may require or that result from changes in the accounting rules or their application, which could result in an impact on earnings.