Device Arena

Viettel, a leading mobile operator in Vietnam, Alcatel-Lucent and Research In Motion (RIM) today announced the launch of the BlackBerry® wireless solution in Vietnam. Using BlackBerry® smartphones, Viettel customers will be able to wirelessly send and receive emails, make phone calls, browse the Internet, send text messages and access corporate and lifestyle applications when on the move.

At launch, Viettel will offer its customers the BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8100 and the BlackBerry® 8700 and the BlackBerry® Curve™ 8320 smartphones as well as BlackBerry® Enterprise Server for corporate customers and BlackBerry® Internet Service for smaller businesses and individual users.

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Alcatel-Lucent has been highly commended for its partnership with Telstra in building Telstra’s Next IP™ network. The commendation was in theWorld Communications Awards’ category for Best Project Management and the achievement was acknowledged at the awards ceremony held in London on the evening of November 26, 2008.

Alcatel-Lucent is one of Telstra’s strategic suppliers and the end-to-end network integrator for their wireline transformation project, which has established the largest business network in Australia, servicing 95 per cent of businesses.

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This holiday season, consumers who use YELLOWPAGES.COM can browse and buy featured products currently in-stock at over 40,000 national retailer locations. This time-saving addition to retailer listings is made possible through a content agreement with Krillion™ (www.krillion.com), the product-centric local search engine that connects Web-influenced buyers with in-stock, in-store merchandise.

By presenting consumers with products that are available and on sale at local brick-and-mortar retailers that they’ve searched for, YELLOWPAGES.COM shortens their path to purchase. When selecting the “More Info” profile page for a specific retail location on YELLOWPAGES.COM, bargain hunters are immediately presented with “This Week’s Deals” — a selection of popular products currently in stock at that particular store. Additional “Price Comparison” and “Similar Product” links create an even richer consumer experience. Consumers can use these features to locate what they are looking for and finalize a purchase on the retailer’s website with just a couple of clicks.

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AT&T today announced AT&T Business Solutions has been awarded a $4.9 million, three-year networking and managed services contract with Berry Plastics, a leading manufacturer of plastic packaging, products, films, tapes and coatings. Berry expects to enhance its delivery and use of technology across the company by consolidating legacy disparate networks onto a single, ubiquitous Internet Protocol (IP)-based network platform built by AT&T Business Solutions to facilitate Berry’s ability to cost-effectively grow its business.

Under this agreement, AT&T Business Solutions will provide an IP-based Virtual Private Network (VPN) to 76 domestic locations, centralizing network management throughout the company. VPN enhances the speed in which Berry can operate by prioritizing data and voice information transfer. Similarly, Berry’s new network is designed to be more reliable, with real-time secondary routes backing up data at an AT&T data center.

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Sprint today announced that it is enhancing its industry-leading open approach by partnering with location aggregation platforms Veriplace(TM) by WaveMarket (www.wavemarket.com) and WHERETM by uLocate Communications (www.where.com) to help developers create new location-based services for Sprint customers. These platforms protect the privacy and security of Sprint customers while offering third-party mobile, Web, WAP, SMS and widget developers a consistent way to create applications that use the customer’s location information to provide customized information and services, as long as permission has been provided.

“We’re excited to help application developers create innovative location services for Sprint customers by working with these platform enablers,” said Len Barlik, vice president of wireless and wireline services for Sprint. “The privacy and security of our users is the highest priority for us, which is why we selected Veriplace and WHERE. Both platforms have powerful but intuitive privacy systems that ensure the appropriate permissions are obtained prior to accessing location information.”

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Sprint is about to make wireless history again by bringing the mobile broadband future to its customers now. The 4G leader announced it will make the first 3G/4G dual-mode device, which operates on both the Sprint 3G and 4G networks, available in retail stores Dec. 21.

The Sprint 3G/4G USB Modem U300 delivers the power of the Now Network(TM), the nation’s largest and most dependable mobile broadband 3G network*, while also harnessing the turbocharged speeds of WiMAX on the new Sprint 4G network. Sprint launched 4G in Baltimore in September and plans to launch in other markets across the country throughout 2009. This versatile device will enable customers to experience blazing fast Internet access, greater productivity and enhanced multimedia quality throughout 4G markets, and offer access to the dependable Sprint 3G network virtually everywhere else. The 3G/4G USB modem represents another major development in truly un-tethered broadband access.

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Motorola today announced additional actions to further reduce costs amid continuing global economic challenges. These measures include changes to employee compensation and benefit programs as well as changes to executive compensation.

As part of the overall cost reduction program, Motorola is revising its employee compensation and benefit programs across the company. Effective March 1, 2009, to better align with industry norms, Motorola will permanently freeze its U.S. pension plans, preserving vested benefits accrued by employees and retirees but eliminating future benefit accruals. Motorola intends to continue to provide funding to meet its pension obligations to present and future retirees.

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An independent arbitrator has ruled on a benefits agreement for 43,000 union-represented employees of AT&T.

The ruling calls for new hires to begin paying a 20 percent share of the costs of their benefits, including medical coverage, beginning immediately and for current employees to pay a 20 percent share by 2012. Currently, the employees pay 11 percent of the costs of their medical coverage. The arbitrator’s ruling calls for the cost share to remain at 11 percent in 2009. Existing employees will not see any change until the cost share increases to 14 percent in 2010, 17 percent in 2011, and 20 percent in 2012.

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Marking the one year anniversary of AT&T U-verseSM in Columbus, AT&T today announced that AT&T U-verse TV is now available to more than 50 communities in the area. In the year since AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets launched service, AT&T U-verse TV has expanded significantly and redefined the television experience for Columbus-area residents, using a 100 percent digital platform that enables new, innovative features and takes TV competition to a whole new level.

Since introducing U-verse TV, AT&T has made the service available to more Columbus customers on an ongoing basis. AT&T U-verse services are currently available in the following local areas: Bexley, Blendon Township, Bloom Township, Brice, Brown Township, Canal Winchester, Clinton Township, Columbus, Concord Township, Dublin, Etna Township, Franklin Township, Gahanna, Genoa Township, Grandview Heights, Grove City, Groveport, Hamilton Township, Harlem Township, Harrison Township, Hilliard, Jackson Township, Jefferson Township, Liberty Township, Lithopolis, Madison Township, Marble Cliff, Mifflin Township, Minerva Park, New Albany, Norwich Township, Orange Township, Pataskala, Perry Township, Pickerington, Plain Township, Pleasant Township, Powell, Prairie Township, Reynoldsburg, Riverlea, Scioto Township, Sharon Township, Shawnee Hills, Truro Township, Upper Arlington, Violet Township, Washington Township, Westerville, Whitehall and Worthington.

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Today Sprint released the findings of the Sprint Survey on Mobile Value, which evaluated how U.S. consumers are using their mobile phones and making financial decisions in today’s challenging economic times. For downloadable high-resolution charts and graphs of the survey, visit www.sprint.com/presskits.

This year 72 percent of respondents decreased their overall household spending, with 22 percent spending the same and only six percent reporting an increase in spending. While watching their finances closely, 83 percent of respondents still choose to own a mobile phone, and more than half (56 percent) say they are “inseparable” from their mobile phone throughout the day.

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