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VoiceStream Wireless Will Provide Wireless Priority Service for Washington, D.C. and New York City Areas

Arlington, VA, April 17, 2002. -The National Communications System (NCS) announced today that it has approved a sub-contract award to VoiceStream Wireless Corporation to provide Wireless Priority Service (WPS) for the greater Washington, D.C. and New York City metropolitan areas.

“The National Communications System is excited about VoiceStream’s efforts toward testing and formally establishing an immediate Wireless Priority Service program that will assist national security and emergency preparedness (NS/EP) needs for key government decision makers, emergency responders, and private sector critical infrastructure personnel in the New York City and Washington, D.C. areas,” said Brenton C. Greene, Deputy Manager of the NCS.

DynCorp, the Systems Integration Contractor for the NCS’s Government Emergency Telecommunications Service, or GETS, awarded the sub-contract, which allows for VoiceStream handset units to be provided by the government to national security and emergency preparedness personnel with federal, state, and local government in the Washington, DC and New York City metropolitan areas. The Wireless Priority Service is planned to be operational within 60 days.

Greene also said the NCS will continue its work with VoiceStream and the Nation’s wireless communications industry to pursue a nationwide solution to wireless NS/EP communications by the end of 2002, “… that will enable us to balance national security and emergency preparedness needs while minimizing impact on consumer access to the same wireless infrastructures,” Greene added.

“We have been working closely with the NCS and DynCorp to ensure VoiceStream’s Wireless Priority Service will meet national security and emergency preparedness needs and that it goes into operation smoothly and quickly to meet these needs,” said Gary Jones, Director of Standards Policy for VoiceStream.

In times of national emergency or crisis, and in the event of a localized wireless network congestion, the system enables a limited number of designated national security and emergency preparedness users to have a greater chance of being able to place emergency calls by placing calls in a queue for the next available channel.

These authorized NS/EP users are governed by Federal Communications Commission Rules and Requirements whereby WPS priority assignments are for key personnel and individuals in NS/EP leadership positions. WPS is not intended for use by all emergency service personnel. The percentage of NS/EP WPS users on a wireless network compared to the wireless network’s customers base is expected to be less than 1 in 1,000 or less than .1 percent (1/10 of one percent).

The National Communications System, consisting of 22 federal member departments and agencies, is responsible for ensuring the availability of a viable National Security and Emergency Preparedness (NS/EP) telecommunications infrastructure.

Based in Bellevue, Wash., VoiceStream and its affiliates own licenses to provide service to more than 97 percent of the U.S. population. VoiceStream is a member of the T-Mobile International group, the mobile telecommunications subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom (NYSE:DT)

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