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Cingular Launches Wireless Sites for Kentucky Derby

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky – (PRESS RELEASE) -- Cingular Wireless, the nation's largest wireless company, announced today that it is up and running with two new cell sites to serve its wireless customers -- in time for this week's 132nd running of the Kentucky Derby. These two sites will provide racegoers with enhanced coverage for their Cingular Wireless phones and data devices, allowing them to call friends and loved ones with race results, check out each horse's statistics via the Internet using their data devices, and even take and send their own "photo finishes" with their wireless phones.

"The Run for the Roses is enormously important to both Louisville residents and to horseracing fans around the world," said Rob South, Director of Sales for Cingular Wireless in Central Kentucky. "By bringing these cell sites online in time for the Derby, Cingular hopes to help our wireless customers better enjoy the entire Derby experience, and to communicate that sense of tradition and excitement to their friends and loved ones who can't be at the Derby themselves."

The two cell sites are also interesting in their own right. The first site, a permanent installation, is located directly adjacent to historic Churchill Downs, on South Fourth Street. The second site is a moveable site brought in especially to serve race fans. This Cell on Wheels, or "COW," is a self-contained mobile cell site that can be towed or driven into an area to provide extra call capacity during times of high call volume -- such as Derby Week.

"These COWS, and our COLTS, which are Cells on Light Trucks, allow Cingular to be prepared for periods of high call volume and to make sure our customers' calls get through clearly and easily," said Bill Plantz, Director of Network Operations for Cingular in Tennessee and Kentucky. "We're always striving to give our customers the best wireless network experience possible -- whether they are calling from home, from the office, or even from the Infield of Churchill Downs."

The COW, which is located on Churchill Downs property on the west side of the track, and the new permanent cell site were both brought online last week in preparation for expected high call volume and data usage during the Derby. The permanent Churchill Downs site is just one of more than 20 new cell sites Cingular will add to its Kentucky and Southern Indiana network by year's end. The company recently completed integration of its Cingular Wireless and the former AT&T Wireless networks in the Louisville area, giving customers access to more than 50 percent more cell sites, which translates into fewer dropped calls, improved call quality, new coverage where none existed before, and better in-building, in-car and pedestrian coverage.

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