Bell Atlantic Invests in Fixed Wireless Company As Part of DSL Deployment Strategy

Bell Atlantic Invests in Fixed Wireless Company As Part of DSL Deployment Strategy

Stake in Radix Wireless, Inc., Will Help Expand Infospeed DSL Deployment

April 3, 2000

NEW YORK - Bell Atlantic has made an investment in Radix Wireless, Inc., the developer of one of the most advanced broadband fixed wireless technologies in the industry. Bell Atlantic intends to use the new technology when it is developed to expand deployment of its Infospeed^sm DSL service.

As part of the agreement, Radix Wireless - based in Mountain View, Calif. - will develop a broadband fixed wireless system designed to meet Bell Atlantic's requirements. Fixed wireless systems can be used to supplement or in some cases replace traditional wired telephone systems to deliver telecommunications services to customers. When available, the Radix technology should allow Bell Atlantic to economically provide broadband services to otherwise hard to reach customers, with minimal provisioning and installation time.

"The most flexible and cost-effective way to meet our aggressive deployment of broadband data services is to be prepared to deploy our Infospeed DSL product through a combination of technologies," said Mark Wegleitner, Bell Atlantic's chief technology officer. "This combination is intended to include placing Infospeed DSL over wires from our central offices and remote terminals, as well as via a fixed wireless system.

"We look forward to beginning field trials of this new technology before the end of next year."

Infospeed DSL is Bell Atlantic's brand name for DSL, or Digital Subscriber Line technology, which provides Internet access to businesses and consumers at speeds up to 126 times faster than a 56 kilobits per second (Kbps) modem, depending on the Infospeed package selected. By taking advantage of unused capacity on existing telephone lines, the current Infospeed DSL product allows users to use a single phone line to send faxes or make phone calls while they're surfing the Internet.

The new fixed wireless technology will be effective in making the DSL product available to widely dispersed homes and businesses or to customers located in rural areas. In both cases, the new technology will allow Bell Atlantic to overcome current limitations involving a customer's distance from one of the company's central offices or remote terminals.

"Bell Atlantic is committed to providing the broadest possible deployment of high speed access for our customers," said Wegleitner. "We are confident that our investment in Radix will ultimately improve our ability to offer broadband services to our customers in a cost-effective and timely manner."

Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications and information industry. With nearly 44 million telephone access lines and 12 million wireless customers worldwide, Bell Atlantic companies are premier providers of advanced wireline voice and data services, market leaders in wireless services and the world's largest publishers of directory information. Bell Atlantic companies are also among the world's largest investors in high-growth global communications markets, with operations and investments in 23 countries.