9-1-1 Industry Leader Gains Further Momentum as Additional Wireless Carriers
Sign Three-Year Contracts for Phase I and Phase II Services
Boulder, Colo. (January 29, 2002)-Intrado Inc. (NasdaqNM: TRDO), the nation's leading provider of solutions that manage and deliver mission-critical information for telecommunications providers, today announced its selection by four wireless carriers to manage the deployment and delivery of Phase I and Phase II wireless 9-1-1 (W9-1-1) services for their subscribers. Iowa Wireless, PYXIS Communications, and US Unwired have all recently signed three-year contracts with Intrado. Additionally, NECCI has agreed to renew its service agreement with Intrado for the next three years. These four agreements bring the total number of subscribers Intrado is contracted to serve to more than 67 million, representing over 50 percent of the wireless market and strongly supports Intrado's market leadership in wireless 9-1-1 Phase I and Phase II implementation.
Intrado will provide the essential wireless location technology foundation and service components to deploy Phase I and/or Phase II W9-1-1 service for these four carriers and to deliver the service in a highly reliable fashion over the terms of the respective agreements. The current agreements will support Iowa Wireless and NECCI in providing Phase I service and will assist PYXIS and US Unwired in the deployment and management of both Phase I and Phase II location technologies.
"It is critical that we provide our customers with access to the most reliable emergency services available while maintaining flexibility to respond quickly to changing market conditions," said Joe Sargent, network engineer, Iowa Wireless. "Intrado is responsive, price competitive and technologically diverse enough to meet our current and future location-based needs."
Wireless carriers employ Intrado's Phase I and Phase II solutions to ensure that when a subscriber dials 9-1-1, the proper emergency assistance will be deployed to the caller's location. Intrado's Phase I services provide the appropriate public safety answering point (PSAP) with the caller's 10-digit telephone number and cell site location when a subscriber dials 9-1-1. Intrado's Phase II services provide emergency communications personnel with Phase I information along with the subscriber's exact location. Intrado also collects, prepares and updates the critical database information required to support W9-1-1 services and coordinates 9-1-1 service implementation and operation with the PSAPs, existing local exchange carriers and 9-1-1 network providers.
"In this competitive market, it is important for us to offer our subscribers a quality product¾this includes dependable W9-1-1 service," said Larry Aisenbrey, general manager, NECCI. "For the last 3 years, Intrado has provided NECCI with high quality and highly reliable service. Extending our contract with Intrado was an easy decision, and we look forward to a long and successful partnership with the company."
Signing Iowa Wireless, PYXIS Communications, and US Unwired brings the total number of Intrado's wireless customers to 24, representing a total of over 107 million subscribers, of which approximately 67 million are now under contract with Intrado. Intrado has deployed Phase I 9-1-1 service to approximately 13.8 million subscribers and has been selected by eight wireless carriers to provide Phase II service. With its continued success in the wireless market, Intrado reinforces its position as the clear leader in the industry. Intrado has already been selected by seven of the top 10 wireless carriers to provide wireless 9-1-1 services.
"We chose to work with Intrado because of its competitive pricing and incredible service value," said Stephen Jantz, vice president and general manager, PYXIS. "By partnering with Intrado, we are able to capitalize on its expertise in emergency communications to ensure that emergency personnel are able to quickly locate subscribers who dial 9-1-1 from wireless phones in our area."
An industry leader and trusted expert in database management, network transactions and notification technology, Intrado continually demonstrates its ability to reliably support robust location service offerings for small and large telecommunications carriers and its commitment to customer service and industry innovation.
"These wireless carriers are committed to providing their subscribers with the most reliable and effective access to W9-1-1," said Dan Hoskins, vice president and general manager of Intrado's Wireless Business Unit. "We are using our industry expertise to implement highly capable and dependable W9-1-1 solutions that provide our customers with a high level of service and technology while remaining cost-effective."
Intrado's advanced wireless industry offerings support emergency response and location-based services and provide the necessary infrastructure support to meet all requirements for W9-1-1 services. Offerings include end-to-end services to facilitate interconnection from the wireless carrier system to the existing 9-1-1 network; assessment services to determine the most efficient plan for deployment; comprehensive 9-1-1 system testing; the industry's most comprehensive and accurate PSAP database to reliably deliver calls and caller information; and around-the-clock support from Intrado.
About Iowa Wireless
Iowa Wireless Services, located in Des Moines, Iowa, is the result of the partnership between VoiceStream Wireless and Iowa Network Services. For more information, please visit the web site at www.iowawireless.com .
Based in Bellevue, Washington, VoiceStream Wireless is a nationwide provider of wireless communications services and operates using the globally dominant GSM technology platform. VoiceStream is a member of T-Mobile International, the mobile telecommunications subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom (NYSE: DT). Through its subsidiaries and other investments, Deutshe Telekom today serves more than 62 million wireless subscribers worldwide. For more information, visit the company web site at www.voicestream.com
Iowa Network Services was created in 1988 when 138 of Iowa's independent telephone companies joined together to provide competitive long distance service to their customers in over 300 Iowa communities.
About NECCI
North East Colorado Cellular, Inc., located in Fort Morgan, Colorado, doing business as CelularONE of NE Colorado, was established in 1991.
NECCI is a licensed A-carrier provider for northeast Colorado. Northeast Colorado is a six-county, predominantly rural, market. NECCI is the preferred provider in northeast Colorado with approximately 75% market share. NECCI uses Motorola technology and is currently in the process of upgrading from analog services to a CDMA based digital technology. Additionally, NECCI is proceeding with the installation of a hybrid solution for providing E911 Phase II services; utilizing a network solution where practicable and a handset solution throughout the remainder of the service area.
For more information visit the company web site at www.necci.com.
About PYXIS Communications
SpectraCom, Inc. d.b.a. PYXIS Communications is a wholly owned subsidiary of RT Communications, Inc. (RT) of Worland, Wyoming and was incorporated in the state of Wyoming on October 29, 1997. It was the vision of RT to create a subsidiary such as PYXIS to continue to provide to our state the highest quality of innovative telecommunications service.
Corporate headquarters for PYXIS are located in Worland, Wyoming. PYXIS has retail store locations in Casper, Cheyenne, Laramie, Gillette and Riverton, Wyoming. PYXIS is proud to be Wyoming's first digital wireless company to offer PCS services in a number of its main communities, bringing this state of the art telecommunications service to 63% of Wyoming's population.
Digital wireless services offered by PYXIS include Caller ID, Call Waiting, Voice Mail, Internet/Email Access, Short Message Service (SMS), and Call Forwarding. Some of the inherent benefits of our CDMA Digital technology include private conversations, no-hiss audio quality, longer battery life (days) and 14.4 data access.
For more information please contact Stephen Jantz at 307-377-0000.
About US Unwired
US Unwired Inc., headquartered in Lake Charles, Louisiana, holds direct or indirect ownership interests in three Sprint PCS Network Partners: Louisiana Unwired, Texas Unwired and Gulf Coast Wireless. Through Louisiana Unwired and Texas Unwired, US Unwired is authorized to build, operate and manage wireless mobility communications network products and services under the Sprint PCS brand name in 41 markets. US Unwired currently serves more than 200,000 Sprint PCS customers in portions of southern Tennessee, eastern Texas, southern Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, the Florida panhandle, and significant portions of Louisiana. In addition, US Unwired provides cellular and paging service in southwest Louisiana. For more information on US Unwired and its products and services, visit the company's web site at http://www.usunwired.com. US Unwired is traded on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol
"UNWR."
About Intrado
Founded in 1979, Intrado Inc. (NasdaqNM: TRDO) is pioneering the technology of Informed ResponseTM by providing telecommunications companies and public safety organizations with accurate, efficiently delivered, mission-critical information-enabling them to respond effectively, anywhere and anytime, regardless of location, device or protocol.
Intrado's industry knowledge in data management, network transactions, call handling and notification technology reduces the effort, cost, time and complexity associated with providing reliable communications information for 9-1-1, safety and commercial applications. Intrado recently received International Organization of Standardization (ISO) 9001-2000 certification. To receive Intrado press releases and company updates via e-mail, please register at Intrado's web site: http://www.intrado.com.
