Leap Wireless International, Inc. (NASDAQ:LEAP), a leading provider of innovative and value-driven wireless communications services, today announced its ongoing efforts to restore network and retail service to its Cricket customers in areas hit by Hurricane Ike and related storms this past weekend. Crews standing by responded immediately to the storms with pre-positioned recovery assets as the Company secured additional resources from multiple locations and deployed technical teams to restore service in areas of the four states that sustained damage or experienced continued loss of power - Texas, Ohio, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. To help assist customers, Cricket mobile service centers have been deployed to the hardest-hit Houston and Galveston areas to charge mobile phones (for Cricket customers and non-customers alike), as well as to perform account activations and provide other key aspects of customer support for those who cannot travel to one of the Company’s open stores. In addition, the Company is providing free or reduced rate roaming, extended payment periods, and other services available to Cricket customers who had to leave their homes because of the storms. Although this event was not anticipated, the Company expects to demonstrate continuing successful progress for both the quarter and the remainder of the year.
“Cricket teams in all four states, with the help of Cricket employees from across the nation, are working around the clock to restore full network service and regular retail operations as soon as possible,” said Doug Hutcheson, President and CEO. “Our thoughts and prayers are with our customers who suffered losses in these storms and we are proud of the dedicated efforts of our Cricket employees, including many whose personal lives have been affected by the storms. Our employees have worked and continue to work with little rest to restore service and open stores in the areas affected by Hurricane Ike. We would like to thank our committed Cricket team for their extraordinary efforts over the past week.”
In Texas, Cricket teams spent much of the prior week preparing for Hurricane Ike’s arrival by protecting retail operations and securing network equipment which limited virtually all significant damage to the Company’s facilities and network. In addition, the Company pre-positioned over 130 back-up generators ahead of the storm and continues to increase the number of generators and mobile service centers it has deployed to support customers impacted by the hurricane.
At the peak of the storm, a majority of the Company’s sites in the affected areas of Texas were off-line due to continued commercial power failure, and network teams have worked diligently to get a significant number of these sites back in service. The Company, however, expects that many sites and retail locations will remain out of service until commercial power is restored in the coming days. In the areas of Texas most impacted by the storms, approximately half of the Company’s retail operations are currently open at reduced hours to accommodate a mandatory curfew. Cricket employees from closed store locations, many of them storm victims themselves, have been temporarily reassigned to open retail locations to handle larger-than-normal customer volumes. Other Cricket employees who are unable to work because of closed stores have formed a “chain-saw brigade” to help their friends and neighbors cut through the debris that has littered the Houston-Beaumont area.
Severe storms also knocked-out power to markets in Ohio, Kentucky and Pennsylvania over the weekend, resulting in network outages and store closures for our customers. In Ohio, network teams have restored service to nearly half of the affected sites. The situation in Kentucky and Pennsylvania was less severe, but significant, with a substantial number of cell sites now back in service and retail operations expected to return to normal service by the end of the week.
“The storm came in the midst of a period during which the Company has made solid progress, particularly on our new initiatives, giving us confidence that the company will successfully navigate through this event,” continued Hutcheson. “The solid progress of our new market launches continues, we expect continuing success of our mobile broadband product introduction as we roll out service across Cricket markets, and we recently launched a new flat-rate unlimited mobile video service which has shown good initial momentum. In addition, work continues as expected in enhancing the footprint in our existing markets. All in all, we are pleased with the Company’s progress and we remain positive about the prospects of the business even as we deal with the short-term disruptions that we and our customers have experienced over the past week.”
About Leap
Leap provides innovative, high-value wireless services to a fast-growing, young and ethnically diverse customer base. With the value of unlimited wireless services as the foundation of its business, Leap pioneered its Cricket® service. The Company and its joint ventures operate in 29 states and hold licenses in 35 of the top 50 U.S. markets. Through its affordable, flat-rate service plans, Cricket offers customers a choice of unlimited voice, text, data and mobile Web services. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., Leap is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “LEAP.” For more information, please visit www.leapwireless.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements, including discussions regarding the status and progress of our business, reflect management’s current expectations based on currently available operating, financial and competitive information, but are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in or implied by the forward-looking statements. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could affect our forward-looking statements are detailed in the section entitled “Risk Factors” included in our periodic reports filed with the SEC, including our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2008 and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2008.
All forward-looking statements included in this news release should be considered in the context of these risks. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Investors and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements.
Contacts:
Greg Lund, Media Relations,
858-882-9105
glund@leapwireless.com
or
Amy
Wakeham, Investor Relations, 858-882-6084
awakeham@leapwireless.com
