AT&T Restoration Effort Under Way in Gulf Coast States

AT&T Technicians Assessing Storm Damage to Telecommunications Network; Restoration Under Way as Emergency Communications Resources Being Made Available to Customers

Dallas, Texas, September 3, 2008

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) today announced that its restoration efforts are well under way across Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav.

Service Restoration

The company's wireless and wireline networks continue to perform well. The majority of wireless cell sites are functioning normally and customers are able to complete calls, send and receive text messages, access e-mail and connect to the Internet. AT&T network technicians have been dispatched to storm-impacted areas to assess damage and restore service. AT&T’s top priority is to restore affected sites to full capacity as quickly and safely as possible.

There may continue to be some service outages in the hard-hit areas of the Gulf Coast, as residents and business owners return to their homes and businesses.

  • In addition to the 2,000 employees currently dedicated to storm restoration, the company is moving more than 150 additional personnel into the storm-impacted area to support the restoration effort. Additional resources available and will be deployed as needed.
  • More than 1,500 generators are deployed or ready for deployment to provide power to wireless cell sites, central offices and remote terminals.
  • The company is monitoring restoration of commercial power at all locations where generators have been deployed. These generators will be either redeployed into Gustav-impacted areas or strategically positioned for use in areas threatened by the possible U.S. landfall of Tropical Storm Hanna.

Evacuee Support

In an effort to help residents stay in touch with family and friends during this emergency, AT&T is continuing to make emergency communications resources available, including:

  • Installing free phone banks and broadband connections for use by evacuees who are sheltered in San Antonio; at four shelters in Birmingham, Ala; and five shelters in Monroe, Bastrop and Shreveport, La.
  • Enabling free Wi-Fi access at hundreds of hot spots in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, including at select McDonald's restaurants, Barnes & Noble locations and AT&T Experience StoreSM locations, among others.
  • Providing 4,000 free wireless GoPhones with $15 in air time to thousands of evacuees from mandatory evacuation areas who are sheltered in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and south Texas.
  • Providing free phone calls for hurricane victims at all open company-owned retail locations across Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and portions of northwest Florida, including Pensacola, Fort Walton and Destin.

AT&T advises all wireless phone users in the affected areas to try text messaging when possible instead of making voice calls. During an emergency situation, text messages will often go through quicker than voice calls because they require less network resources. All of AT&T's wireless devices are text messaging capable.

Support in Disaster Areas:

AT&T is providing support for the American Red Cross and other government agencies to aid the overall disaster relief effort in the storm impacted areas by:

  • Providing more than 1,000 AT&T wireless phones for use by American Red Cross personnel.
  • Providing more than 500 AT&T wireless phones and 130 AT&T LaptopConnect cards for use by Florida National Guard personnel.
  • Providing hundreds of AT&T wireless phones for the Corps of Engineers in Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee.
  • Encouraging its customers to send $5 donations to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund by sending a text message from their mobile phones. A customer simply types the keyword GIVE to 2HELP (24357). A confirmation message will arrive within a few minutes, and the customer then replies YES to confirm his or her donation.

The company is taking steps to prepare equipment and facilities for a potential strike by Tropical Storm Hanna, which could threaten the Southeastern coast of the United States. The company is identifying areas for the staging of equipment for post-storm response, testing high-capacity backup batteries and topping off fuel for generators positioned at cell sites and switching centers.

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About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T operating companies, are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. Among their offerings are the world's most advanced IP-based business communications services and the nation's leading wireless, high speed Internet access and voice services. In domestic markets, AT&T is known for the directory publishing and advertising sales leadership of its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations, and the AT&T brand is licensed to innovators in such fields as communications equipment. As part of its three-screen integration strategy, AT&T is expanding its TV entertainment offerings. In 2008, AT&T again ranked No. 1 on Fortune magazine's World's Most Admired Telecommunications Company list and No. 1 on America's Most Admired Telecommunications Company list. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at www.att.com.

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