AT&T Expands 3G Mobile Broadband Network in North Carolina

Local Wireless Network Upgrade Extends Access to Advanced Products, Services and Applications.

AT&T* today announced the availability of its third generation (3G) mobile broadband network in Asheville, Hendersonville, Hickory, Concord, Wilmington, and Havelock opening the door to a new era of mobile services, devices and feature-rich audio and video content for customers in the area. The 3G network has also been expanded in Charlotte, Raleigh and Greensboro to answer the need for speed.

The network extension is part of AT&T’s ongoing efforts to drive innovation and investment to deliver the benefits of smartphones and mobile broadband for customers. More smartphone customers have chosen AT&T over any other U.S. competitor, and AT&T is committed to driving continual enhancement of network capabilities to meet these customers’ ever-growing mobile broadband needs.

“We are committed to providing North Carolinians access to the advanced wireless broadband services that help drive economic growth and make a difference in people’s lives,” said Cynthia Marshall, President, AT&T North Carolina. “Continuing to enhance and expand our networks is the result of ongoing work by the state’s leaders to foster a business climate that encourages investment and welcomes new technologies.”

AT&T matches its network investment with unsurpassed choice in the range of devices, services and applications compatible with its 3G network – the nation’s fastest, according to independent testing. AT&T offers a wide variety of devices from more than a dozen manufacturers, including handsets that are compatible with six different operating systems and five different e-mail applications. Our Media Mall 2.0 offers more than 90,000 content options, and customers can download additional applications over the Internet. Additionally, AT&T supports a community of more than 20,000 application developers via its devCentral portal.

“Our goal is to add 3G service in new areas throughout North Carolina and to boost network capacity where we already have this technology in place,” said Alison Hall, vice president and general manager, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets - Carolinas. “With this expansion, our customers can continue to ride the leading edge of mobile broadband with emerging devices and thousands of mobile applications.”

Recently, AT&T announced plans to further upgrade its 3G network nationwide with HSPA 7.2 technology to deliver considerably faster mobile broadband speeds. The upgrades are planned to begin in the fourth quarter, with completion expected in 2011. Supporting this initiative is AT&T’s ongoing deployment of additional backhaul capacity to cell sites, which will support today’s unprecedented growth in mobile data traffic as well as the future demands of next-generation networks.

AT&T’s 3G mobile broadband network is based on the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) family of technologies that includes GSM and UMTS, the most open and widely used wireless network platforms in the world. AT&T’s 3G network is available in more than 350 major metropolitan areas. AT&T also offers 3G data roaming in more than 100 countries, as well as voice calling in more than 215 countries.

For more information about AT&T’s 3G coverage in North Carolina or anywhere in the United States, consumers can visit http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/. The online tool can measure the quality of coverage based on a street address, intersection, ZIP code or even a landmark.

For updates on the AT&T wireless network, please visit www.att.com/networknews.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.