* See our section on GSM in North America

With 205 million Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications customers in 141 countries in five continents, GSM is clearly the world's overwhelming choice for digital wireless phone service. In Canada and the United States, there are nearly 5 million GSM customers -- growing at a rate of five per minute.

Because these wireless phones are marketed under local, national and international company brands around the world, many customers are unaware of the GSM technology that powers the network. They may also be unaware that their local wireless service provider is part of a much larger, GSM global network.

The North American GSM Alliance LLC, a group of 17 U.S. and Canadian digital wireless communications companies, believes it is important that customers know about the power that GSM brings in providing superior quality, reliability and security, as well advanced functionality in wireless voice and data services.

As a first step to increasing customer awareness, the GSM Alliance has created a new branding logo, ``GSM Global Network(SM)''

``There is only one digital wireless phone service that can be used around the globe. And that's GSM!'' said Bob Brown, Executive Director of the North American GSM Alliance LLC. ``Our new brand logo campaign is designed to support the local, regional and national marketing efforts of our member companies by accentuating its global power.''

The new logo brand made its debut today at the 42nd GSM Plenary in Montreal, where GSM delegates from 141 countries and regions around the world are meeting, and in selected advertising in national U.S. and Canadian publications.

``This is only a preview. Over the next few months, it will begin to appear in point-of-sales collateral, advertising, packaging, products, services and more,'' Brown said. ``As we transition to the use of this logo, we believe it will help customers associate the world superiority of these phones with the high-quality service we provide.''

The new ``GSM Global Network'' logo was designed by THINK New Ideas, Inc. which is one of the leading Internet and Intranet systems developers and interactive communications solutions providers in the new technology and digital communications arena. The company operates from its offices in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Torrance, London and Sofia, Bulgaria.

The logo, which depicts a section of the globe encircled by dashes, tested very favorably in multiple focus group sessions conducted throughout major markets in North America. One consistent finding was that the promise of global roaming creates high expectations for call quality, clarity and capability. This is an important differentiation benefit for GSM service. ``GSM Global Network'' means customers get the best service available locally by virtue of the fact that they are using the world's fastest-growing and most widely-used digital wireless technology standard.

North American GSM Alliance members include: Aerial Communications, Inc., Airadigm Communications, Inc.; BellSouth Mobility DCS; Conestoga Wireless Company; Cook Inlet VoiceStream Wireless PCS; DIGIPH PCS; Iowa Wireless Services, LP; Microcell Telecommunications Inc.; NPI Wireless; Omnipoint Communications LLC; Pacific Bell Wireless; Powertel, Inc.; STPCS Joint Venture, LLC; TWS, Inc.; Western Total Communications; VoiceStream Wireless Corp.; and Wireless 2000 PCS. The GSM Alliance works in cooperation with North American GSM equipment manufacturers: Siemens, Motorola, Lucent Technologies, Nortel Networks, Nokia and Ericsson. 


* See our section on GSM in North America