Cingular Wins State of New Jersey Contract as Primary Provider of Advanced Wireless Messaging Services and Devices for New Jersey Government Employees

ATLANTA, May 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Cingular Wireless is now the primary provider of advanced wireless messaging services and devices such as BlackBerryâ„¢ to employees of the State of New Jersey under a multi-year contract recently awarded by the State. Cingular also has been designated as the primary provider of Wireless Priority Services to state employees through the agreement.The three-year contract designates Cingular Wireless as the state's primary supplier of advanced wireless messaging services, including such wireless e-mail solutions as BlackBerry, GoodLinkâ„¢ and Cingular Xpress Mail. The agreement also names Cingular as the primary supplier of advanced wireless messaging devices such as BlackBerries, PDAs, Pocket PCs and Smartphones. Cingular Wireless is the worldwide market share leader in the wireless e-mail marketplace.

The contract also permits local governments in New Jersey to purchase wireless e-mail solutions and devices from Cingular via the State agreement.

"Cingular Wireless has the expertise, network coverage and breadth of wireless email solutions to provide the State of New Jersey and thousands of its employees with powerful wireless communications tools that will enhance their productivity and responsiveness," said Chris Hill, vice president, government solutions, for Cingular Wireless. "We're pleased to now count New Jersey among the many state governments throughout the U.S. that have selected Cingular Wireless as the primary provider of advanced messaging and other wireless communications services."

The State contract also designates Cingular as the primary provider of Wireless Priority Services, which gives a limited number of government- authorized wireless users priority access through Cingular's wireless network. If the carrier's network capacity is strained during an emergency, the authorized users' emergency calls are given precedence over those not designated for Wireless Priority Services. In essence, these calls are moved to the "front of the line" so that they may be completed using the next available wireless channel.

"Employees of the State of New Jersey will be the beneficiaries of Cingular Wireless' quality network performance in the New Jersey/New York area," said Tom DeVito, vice president and general manager, Cingular Wireless New York/New Jersey. "Cingular has invested more than $1 billion on its network in the New York Metropolitan area in the past three years to give customers such as the State of New Jersey and its residents the best wireless experience."

Cingular Wireless provides wireless services to 95 of the Fortune 100 companies, and counts more than 80 percent of the Fortune 500 and over 1,200 federal, state and local government agencies as customers.

About Cingular Wireless

Cingular Wireless is the largest wireless carrier in the United States, serving 55.8 million customers. Cingular, a joint venture between AT&T Inc., formerly SBC Communications Inc., (NYSE: T), and BellSouth Corporation (NYSE: BLS) , has the largest digital voice and data network in the nation -- the ALLOVER™ network -- and the largest mobile-to-mobile community of any national wireless carrier. Cingular is a leader in third generation wireless technology. Its 3G network is the first widely available service in the world to use HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) technology. Cingular is the only U.S. wireless carrier to offer Rollover®, the wireless plan that lets customers keep their unused monthly minutes. Details of the company are available at http://www.cingular.com/ .

SOURCE: Cingular Wireless