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SpatialNews Press Release
Sprint to Deploy Life-Saving Wireless Assisted GPS System by QUALCOMM For E911 Wireless
Callers -- World's Most Accurate Wireless Phone Location System Provides Groundwork For
Future Location-based Applications and Safety Features
KANSAS CITY, Mo., Nov 9, 2000 - Sprint PCS (NYSE: PCS), the nation's fastest-growing,
largest all-digital, all-PCS nationwide wireless network, today announced it will be using a handset-based GPS (Global
Positioning System) solution from QUALCOMM Inc. (Nasdaq: QCOM) to fulfill the requirements of the FCC E911 Phase II
mandate.
QUALCOMM's sophisticated gpsOne(TM) solution, which features SnapTrack's Wireless Assisted GPS(TM), has proven to
be the world's most accurate, all- environment means of pinpointing callers who make emergency calls from their mobile phones.
QUALCOMM's solution will enable Sprint PCS customers to automatically send their position to emergency dispatchers with
high precision from almost anywhere they can place a call.
"The safety of our customers is paramount," said Charles Levine, Sprint PCS chief operating officer. "As the only nationwide
carrier with one technology -- CDMA -- at one frequency, our track record shows that we're able to quickly bring
life-enhancing solutions, such as Sprint PCS Wireless Web and Voice Command, to our subscribers. Now, with this life-saving
solution, we'll also have a springboard to build future location-based services."
For carriers such as Sprint PCS that choose a handset solution, the FCC Phase II mandate requires that by Oct. 1, 2001, 67
percent of position-enabled handsets must be locatable to within 50 meters. Under controlled trial conditions earlier this year,
Sprint PCS was able to locate this percentage of test calls to less than 30 meters -- more than 20 meters better than the FCC
mandate. Sprint PCS will begin offering the wireless assisted GPS-capable handsets in the second half of 2001.
"Having a single all-digital CDMA technology based on a single radio frequency gives us an advantage over our competitors,"
said Levine. "This allows us to deploy a single location technology, whereas many of our competitors must deploy a more
expensive and less accurate network overlay solution to accommodate multiple technologies operating at multiple frequencies. In
addition, having selected CDMA five years ago has given us the added benefit of GPS timing, which we use to synchronize our
calls today, and will provide us with better accuracy for E911 Phase II."
"The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International is extremely pleased that Sprint PCS has
taken the lead in complying not only with the letter, but with the spirit of the FCC's wireless public safety mandate," said Lyle
Gallagher, president of APCO International. "APCO has been a firm supporter of the FCC's E911 efforts to address a key
safety issue facing the public today -- how to respond to, and safeguard, the more than 100,000 mobile phone users who call
emergency dispatchers every day. Sprint PCS is to be commended for being the first out of the box to deploy the kind of highly
accurate location system the public safety community needs to most effectively respond to callers in need. As they say in the
emergency industry, 'time is tissue,' and precise location information will guide rescuers right to the caller in trouble, rather than
forcing them to waste precious time searching for them. This is really a positive step for the calling public and the public safety
community, and we hope to see other major carriers take equally positive steps to protect lives and property."
In addition to providing emergency E911 position location fixes for callers using the handsets, this gpsOne solution enables a
whole range of value-added location-based consumer and enterprise services for wireless subscribers that are privacy-friendly.
Subscribers will be able to choose services such as mobile directory assistance -- including locating ATMs, restaurants and
movies -- personal navigation, location-dependent advertising, improved roadside assistance and enhanced vehicle fleet
management. According to Levine, "Those services will enable our subscribers across the country to access important
location-sensitive information and even save money on products and services in nearby stores."
"QUALCOMM is excited to provide the world's first fully integrated position location solution for CDMA," said Don Schrock,
president of QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies. "We are committed to providing the most advanced and useful technologies
possible to meet the changing demands of the wireless CDMA market. The gpsOne solution, incorporating SnapTrack
technology, will enable Sprint PCS and their handset manufacturers to provide safety and other location-based services that will
enhance the quality of life for consumers throughout the U.S."
The gpsOne system, tightly integrated into the QUALCOMM MSM3300(TM) Mobile Station Modem (MSM) chipset and
built into the Sprint PCS phones that will be deployed in the second half of 2001, improves conventional GPS by combining
information from both GPS satellites and CDMA-based wireless networks to locate a wireless CDMA handset. While
traditional GPS receivers may take several minutes to provide a location fix, the gpsOne solution generally locates callers within
a few seconds. The technology allows callers to be located in a wide range of challenging call environments where normal GPS
receivers will not work, including inside houses and moving vehicles, under heavy foliage and in urban street canyons, usually
within 30 meters.
QUALCOMM's MSM3300 solution features the highest level of wireless modem integration, incorporating not only the gpsOne
and SnapTrack position location technology, but also Bluetooth wireless connectivity capabilities, Moving Pictures Experts
Group Layer-3 (MP3) digital music support and other multimedia functions.
The Forrester Group has called location-based services the "killer app" for mobile data applications and services, and believes
that thin-client, location-relevant services will dominate the mobile e-commerce and consumer wireless data markets. Some
market studies predict that the location-based services industry may be worth as much as $32 billion annually by 2005.
During the next year, Sprint PCS will work with its major network vendors to test and install the necessary network
infrastructure to support the handsets. These new network systems will calculate a 9-1-1 caller's position and route the calls to
the appropriate Public Safety Answering Points.
GPS is a system of satellites that orbit the Earth and provide positioning and timing information based on measurements taken
between two or more of these satellites and receivers on Earth. With the assistance of the new network systems being deployed
by Sprint PCS, the receiver inside the handset is able to collect ranging information from these satellite signals as well as other
information inherent in the CDMA system that Sprint PCS uses.
About QUALCOMM
QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies is a developer and supplier of CDMA chipsets, hardware and software solutions, and
tools, with more than 115 million MSM chips shipped worldwide. QCT offers wireless position location technology by
SnapTrack, a wholly owned subsidiary of QUALCOMM that pioneered Wireless Assisted GPS and owns patents that are
fundamental to the cost-effective deployment of assisted GPS-based location systems. QCT supplies chipsets to the world's
leading CDMA handset and infrastructure manufacturers including: Acer Peripherals, Inc., ALPS ELECTRIC CO., LTD.;
CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD.; FUJITSU LIMITED; Hitachi, Ltd.; Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd.; KYOCERA
CORPORATION; LG Information and Communications, Ltd.; Samsung Electronics Ltd.; SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.; and
Toshiba Corporation, among others.
QUALCOMM Incorporated ( www.qualcomm.com ) is a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless
communications products and services based on the Company's CDMA digital technology. The Company's business areas
include integrated CDMA chipsets and system software; technology licensing; Eudora(R) email software for Windows(R) and
Macintosh(R) computing platforms; satellite-based systems including portions of the Globalstar(TM) system and wireless fleet
management systems, OmniTRACS(R) and OmniExpress(TM). QUALCOMM owns patents which are essential to all of the
CDMA wireless telecommunications standards that have been adopted or proposed for adoption by standards-setting bodies
worldwide. QUALCOMM has licensed its essential CDMA patent portfolio to more than 90 telecommunications equipment
manufacturers worldwide. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., QUALCOMM is included in the S&P 500 Index and is a 2000
FORTUNE 500(R) company traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market(R) under the ticker symbol QCOM.
About Sprint PCS
Sprint PCS operates the largest 100 percent digital, 100 percent PCS nationwide wireless network in the United States, already
serving the majority of the nation's metropolitan areas including more than 4,000 cities and communities across the country.
Sprint PCS has licensed PCS coverage of nearly 270 million people in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
For more information, visit the Sprint PCS Web site at www.sprintpcs.com . Sprint PCS is a wholly owned tracking group of
Sprint Corporation trading on the NYSE under the symbol "PCS."
Sprint is a global communications company at the forefront of integrating long-distance, local and wireless communications
services, and a large carrier of Internet traffic. Sprint built and operates the United States' first nationwide, all-digital, fiber-optic
network and is a leader in advanced data communications services. Sprint has $20 billion in annual revenues and serves more
than 20 million business and residential customers.
QUALCOMM, OmniTRACS and Eudora are registered trademarks and gpsOne, MSM3300, MSM and OmniExpress are
trademarks of QUALCOMM Incorporated. SnapTrack, Wireless Assisted GPS, GPS Indoors and Location on Demand are
trademarks of SnapTrack, Inc. Globalstar is a trademark of Loral QUALCOMM Satellite Services, Incorporated. Windows is
a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple Computer Inc. ARM is a registered
trademark of Advanced RISC Machines Limited. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
CONTACT:
Jeff Chaltas, Manager of Media Relations, 816-559-5398, email,
jchalt01@mail.sprintpcs.com, or Dan Wilinsky, Director of Media Relations,
816-559-3600, email, dwilin01@mail.sprintpcs.com, both of Sprint PCS; or Anita
Hix of QUALCOMM, 858-658-5879, email, ahix@qualcomm.com
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