T-Mobile Takes Action to Prepare for Hurricane Gustav

August 28, 2008

Birmingham, Ala. — Aug. 29, 2008

T-Mobile USA, Inc. is preparing for the potential impact of Hurricane Gustav along the Gulf Coast states, and is fully mobilizing all necessary resources to restore service to its customers and emergency first-responders if its cell sites are affected by the storm.

The T-Mobile Incident Command Team stands ready at the Birmingham Command Center and at locations throughout the Southeast and in Texas to mobilize teams of technicians and engineers as soon as post-hurricane conditions permit.

• In the event of widespread power outages, T-Mobile has thousands of gallons of fuel accessible and ready-to-roll into the affected areas to power cell site generators and company repair/transport vehicles, and for other emergency circumstances.

• To further supplement the fixed and portable back-up generators T-Mobile currently has in place at its cell sites throughout the region, dozens more portable generators are ready to be transported to impacted areas.

• To help protect its core network, T-Mobile is fortifying its network switch operations serving the Gulf Coast – including its switch in the New Orleans market, which remained operational through Hurricane Katrina, as well as in Mobile, Ala.

• Microwave radio equipment has been trucked into the region to facilitate data communication from the cell sites to T-Mobile's network switches, as backup, in the event T1 fixed line service fails.

• T-Mobile has several Cells-On-Wheels (COWs) pre-staged in neighboring markets to move in and provide additional wireless communications capacity in the hardest-hit areas.

• T-Mobile will monitor evacuation efforts and routes, and will take steps to increase wireless capacity in those areas as customers move inland.

• The company also is coordinating recovery efforts with local, state and national officials.

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