October 17, 1995

NYNEX CONTACT: Media Relations, (212) 395-0500

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY, BELL ATLANTIC NYNEX MOBILE STRENGTHEN STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH CAMPUS CELLULAR PLAN

Campus Minicell to Deliver Discounted Service

PITTSBURGH, PA -- Carnegie Mellon University and BELL ATLANTIC NYNEX Mobile are once again teaming up to advance wireless technologies in the latest initiative to enhance telecommunications services for the university's faculty, staff, and students.

Carnegie Mellon Telecommunications and BELL ATLANTIC NYNEX Mobile worked together to develop and initiate CMU Cellular Service, a specially designed campus cellular plan, operating on a minicell serving the University.

Mary L. Pretz-Lawson, head of the Telecommunications Department at Carnegie Mellon, said interest in wireless services has rapidly increased over the last few years among departments within the university and individuals on campus.

"Departments that participated in the initial one-number, one-phone Personal Line trial several years ago, as well as others that heard about it, exhibited a strong interest in having wireless service more readily available," Pretz-Lawson explained. "Departments indicated to us that their ability to deliver services was greatly enhanced when they could use their cellular phone throughout the campus."

The enhanced wireless service at the campus enables faculty and students alike to take advantage of the benefits of instant communications. Faculty and support staff will be more easily accessible through the phone they can carry with them.

Groups that participated in the initial Personal Line trial found wireless communication to be particularly useful for people who travel around the campus as part of their jobs. University Relations, for example, coordinates events scattered over the campus. Computing Service Data Communications and Telecommunications technicians work in every building installing equipment and performing repairs. The Drama staff prepares up to 15 productions per year that require considerable coordinating and lots of mobility.

Students can benefit from the added mobility, greater safety and security and the advantage of a reduced monthly access fee.

Bell Atlantic Mobile invited the University into the wireless arena nearly three years ago for the trial of the company's Personal Line system, the first-of-its-kind test of one-number, one-phone service in the country. That initial partnership laid the groundwork for a relationship between the organizations for which the two have coupled research capabilities with leading wireless technologies.

"With the Personal Line trial, we established the blueprint for delivering wireless services that erase barriers between your car, your office, and your home phone," explained Jerry Fountain, regional vice president for BELL ATLANTIC NYNEX Mobile.

"Now we're responding to trial participants and others on the campus who want to continue to take advantage of wireless communications," Fountain said.

To provide the special campus plan, BELL ATLANTIC NYNEX Mobile installed a minicell on the campus and is using the infrastructure that was put in place for the Personal Line trial.

CMU Cellular Service consists of two special pricing plans. The University Plan was designed for departments wishing to provide cellular phone service for staff and faculty members. The Personal Plan is available to any staff, faculty, or students needing a cellular phone for personal use. Both plans have reduced monthly access charges and special airtime rates with the University Plan offering an even lower airtime cost for on-campus use.

"We tailored this program to the needs of users at Carnegie Mellon," Fountain explained. "Our intent is to work with other large organizations to develop individual programs that address their specific communications needs."

BELL ATLANTIC NYNEX Mobile is the largest wireless service provider on the East Coast and the second largest provider in the United States. The company offers a full range of wireless voice, data, and paging communications solutions to its three 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 new company has more than 5,000 employees.

The company's Pittsburgh Regional headquarters are in McCandless Township with the following Communications Stores: Downtown Pittsburgh, 2 PPG Place; North Hills, 4930 McKnight Road; South Hills, 2895 Banksville Road; Robinson Town Centre, 1970 Park Manor Boulevard; Shadyside, 810 South Aiken Avenue; Monroeville, 3828 William Penn Highway; Greensburg, Westmoreland Mall; Butler, Moraine Point Plaza. BELL ATLANTIC NYNEX Mobile has sales kiosks in the Ross Park Mall and the Indiana Mall.

NYNEX is a global communications and media company that provides a full range of services in the northeastern United States and high-growth markets around the world, including the United Kingdom, Thailand, Gibraltar, Greece, Indonesia, the Philippines, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

The Corporation is a leader in the telecommunications, wireless communications, cable television, directory publishing and entertainment and information services.

FAX copies of recent NYNEX news releases are available free of charge, 24 hours a day. Call 1-800-331-1214 and an automated system will provide instructions.

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