T-Mobile USA Joins the National Communications System in Announcing Expanded Deployment of Wireless Priority Service
Wireless Priority Service Deployment Reaches Additional Areas of the Northeastern and Midwestern, United States and Hawaii
BELLEVUE, Washington - 04/24/2003 T-Mobile USA today joined with the National Communications System (NCS) to announce expansion of the Wireless Priority System (WPS) to areas of the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Hawaii, the next phase in expansion of WPS to a nationwide capability.
T-Mobile WPS has now expanded to areas around the cities of Albuquerque, N.M.; Austin, Texas; Chicago, Ill.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; Denver, Co.; Detroit, Mich.; Honolulu, Hawaii; Milwaukee, Wis.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; Salt Lake City, Utah; Tulsa, Okla.; and Wichita, Kan. In addition, the service is now available to customers throughout Connecticut, South and Central Pennsylvania, Upstate New York and West Texas.
These areas join the 15 geographic regions already receiving WPS service since January. Those metropolitan areas include Atlanta, Ga.; Birmingham, Ala.; Boston, Mass.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Louisville, Ky.; Memphis, Tenn.; Miami, Fla.; Mobile, Ala.; Nashville, Tenn.; New Orleans, La.; New York, N.Y.; Norfolk, Va.; Richmond, Va.; Philadelphia, Pa.; and Washington, D.C.
We are pleased that national advanced WPS deployment has moved forward quickly and that WPS is now available to help meet the national security and emergency preparedness communications needs of so many communities. We look forward to adding more WPS markets over the next few months, said Gary Jones, Director of Standards Policy for T-Mobile.
When trying to make a call in times of emergency or natural disaster, national security and emergency preparedness users will have the ability to gain priority access to the next available cellular channel to place their call. This service will greatly enhance their ability to complete wireless calls during critical times and communicate vital decisions and reports during emergency situations.
WPS is available only to designated leadership at all government levels, national security and emergency preparedness personnel, and private sector critical infrastructure leaders and decision makers, as approved by Federal Communications Commission Rules and Requirements and the NCS. Further, WPS has been designed to have negligible impact on regular cellular users, providing priority access to vital decision makers without restricting the publics ability to gain access to those same networks.
T-Mobile, through a contract with DynCorp, a CSC company and NCS Government Emergency Telecommunications Service and Wireless Priority integration contractor, is the only carrier currently providing WPS service.
NCS has indicated that it plans to add other global system for mobile communications (GSM) carriers and to add code division multiple access (CDMA) carriers.
The wireless priority services program couples with the NCS GETS wireline counterpart to dramatically improve end-to-end call completion during emergencies. GETS, available since October 1995, was extremely successful during the September 11th attacks.
Additional details on the NCS WPS program are available at http://wps.ncs.gov.
About T-Mobile USA, Inc.
Based in Bellevue, Wash., T-Mobile USA, Inc. is a member of the T-Mobile International group, the mobile telecommunications subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT). T-Mobile operates the largest GSM/GPRS 1900 voice and data network in the country, reaching over 245 million people including roaming and other agreements. In addition, T-Mobile operates the largest commercial Wi-Fi (802.11b) wireless broadband (WLAN) network in the country, available in more than 2,300 public access locations including Starbucks coffeehouses, Borders Books and Music, airports and American Airlines Admirals Clubs. T-Mobile is committed to providing the best value in wireless service through its GET MORE® promise to provide customers with more minutes, more features and more service than any other wireless provider. For more information, visit the company web site at www.t-mobile.com.
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