Contact:  Will Seippel
          Chief Financial Officer
          404-525-7272

                                AIRGATE PCS, INC.
                    DELAYS FILING ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K

ATLANTA  (December  30,  2002) - AirGate  PCS,  Inc.  (NASDAQ/NM:  PCSA),  a PCS
affiliate of Sprint,  today  announced  that the filing of its Annual  Report on
Form 10-K is being delayed to allow  additional time for the Company to complete
its review of certain  matters  and for the  completion  of its fiscal year 2002
audit by the Company's independent auditors, KPMG LLP.

The  Company is filing a  Notification  of Late  Filing on Form  12b-25 with the
Securities and Exchange Commission,  which will extend the Company's deadline to
file its Annual  Report on Form 10-K to January  14,  2003.  The delay in filing
will  provide  additional  time to allow the  Company  to  complete  a review of
balances  owed to the Company by Sprint and the  Company's  subscriber  accounts
receivable balances,  and to address other matters that may arise, including the
impact, if any, of potential adjustments from this review on prior periods. This
delay will also permit the  Company's  independent  auditors  to complete  their
audit.  The completion of the audit,  including  KPMG's  evaluation of AirGate's
business plans and related matters and the effect of an iPCS  bankruptcy  filing
for AirGate, will determine the consequences, if any, on KPMG's audit opinion.

AirGate's  senior  secured  credit  facility  requires that the Company  deliver
audited  financial  statements  accompanied  by an  unqualified  opinion  of its
independent auditors by December 30, 2002, along with certain related documents.
The  Company's   inability  to  meet  this  requirement   could  result  in  the
administrative  agent sending the Company  notice of default.  The Company would
have 30 days to cure this  failure.  Even if the  lenders  opt not to  declare a
default under these circumstances, they are not obligated to honor draw requests
until  these  requirements  have  been  met.  AirGate's  business  plan does not
anticipate the need for an additional draw during this period.

Similarly,  AirGate's  discount notes require that the Company  deliver an audit
opinion of its independent  auditors,  along with certain related documents,  by
December  30, 2002.  The failure to do so could  result in the  Trustee,  or the
holders of at least 25 percent of such notes,  providing a default notice to the
Company. AirGate would have 60 days to cure this failure under the notes.

As previously announced, due to near-term liquidity issues, iPCS, a separate and
unrestricted  subsidiary of AirGate,  has engaged  Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin
Capital to assist in restructuring  its  relationship  with its secured lenders,
public  noteholders and Sprint. It is likely that any restructuring will involve
a federal bankruptcy proceeding,  and that AirGate's ownership in iPCS will have
no value after the restructuring is complete.

In addition, iPCS will be unable to deliver the audited financial statements and
audit  opinion  required  by the iPCS senior  secured  credit  facility  and the
indenture  under which its notes are issued.  While iPCS has cure periods  under
these  agreements,  iPCS does not  anticipate  it will be able to satisfy  these
requirements  during the cure  periods.  iPCS is working  with its  lenders  and
noteholders on a  forebearance  agreement,  however,  there is no assurance that
such negotiations will be successful.

AirGate and iPCS are legally separate  corporate entities that are independently
funded. As an unrestricted subsidiary,  iPCS lenders,  noteholders and creditors
do not have a lien or encumbrance on assets of AirGate.  Further, AirGate cannot
provide capital or other  financial  support to iPCS.  Management  believes that
AirGate's  operations  will  continue  independent  of the  outcome  of the iPCS
restructuring.

When  filed,  the  Company's  Annual  Report on Form 10-K  will  report  charges
associated with the impairment of goodwill,  and tangible and intangible  assets
related to iPCS, Inc. These impairment  charges are estimated to be $735 million
for the year ended  September 30, 2002.  Included in these charges is a goodwill
impairment of $261 million recorded by the Company in the second fiscal quarter.
In the fourth fiscal quarter, the Company expects to report an impairment charge
of tangible and intangible assets related to iPCS of approximately $474 million.

AirGate PCS is canceling the  conference  call to discuss its fourth quarter and
fiscal 2002 results previously scheduled for today,  December 30, 2002, at 10:00
a.m. ET. The call will be rescheduled in the near future.

About  AirGate PCS

AirGate PCS, Inc.,  including its  subsidiaries,  is the PCS Affiliate of Sprint
with  the  exclusive  right to sell  wireless  mobility  communications  network
products and services under the Sprint brand in territories  within seven states
located in the  Southeastern  and  Midwestern  United  States.  The  territories
include  over  14.6  million  residents  in key  markets  such as Grand  Rapids,
Michigan;  Charleston,  Columbia,  and  Greenville-Spartanburg,  South Carolina;
Augusta and Savannah, Georgia;  Champaign-Urbana and Springfield,  Illinois; and
the Quad Cities areas of Illinois and Iowa. AirGate PCS is among the largest PCS
Affiliates of Sprint. As a PCS Affiliate of Sprint, AirGate PCS operates its own
local  portion  of the PCS  network  from  Sprint to  exclusively  provide  100%
digital,   100%  PCS  products  and  services  under  the  Sprint  name  in  its
territories.





About Sprint

Sprint operates the nation's  largest  all-digital,  all-PCS  wireless  network,
already  serving  more than 4,000  cities and  communities  across the  country.
Sprint has  licensed  PCS  coverage  of more than 280  million  people in all 50
states,  Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  In August 2002, Sprint became
the first  wireless  carrier in the country to launch next  generation  services
nationwide  delivering faster speeds and advanced applications on Vision-enabled
phones and  devices.  For more  information  on  products  and  services,  visit
www.sprint.com/mr.  Sprint  PCS  is a  wholly-owned  tracking  stock  of  Sprint
Corporation  trading  on the NYSE  under the  symbol  "PCS."  Sprint is a global
communications  company with  approximately  75,000 employees  worldwide and $26
billion in annual revenues and is widely recognized for developing,  engineering
and deploying state-of-the art network technologies

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995

Except for historical  information  contained herein, this news release reflects
management's  current  forecast  of  certain  aspects of the  Company's  future,
including future events and anticipated  financial and operating results.  These
statements  and forecasts are forward  looking  statements  made pursuant to the
"safe-harbor"  provisions  of the Private  Securities  Litigation  Reform Act of
1995.  Since these forward looking  statements are based on factors that involve
risks and  uncertainties,  actual  performance and results may differ materially
from those  expressed or implied by such forward looking  statements.  This news
release is based on current  information  which is dynamic  and subject to rapid
and even abrupt changes.

Factors that could cause actual  results to differ  include:  the  liquidity and
potential  restructuring  of iPCS,  including the potential loss of all value in
the iPCS common  stock held by AirGate;  the  unsettled  nature of the  wireless
market; the current economic  slowdown;  the potential impact on revenues of new
service  offerings by  competitors of  increasingly  large bundles of minutes at
increasingly lower prices; the  competitiveness and impact of Sprint PCS pricing
plans, products and services; the ability to successfully launch and leverage 3G
products and services;  subscriber credit quality; the potential to experience a
continued high rate of subscriber turnover; the ability of Sprint PCS to provide
back office,  subscriber care and other services;  inaccuracies in data provided
by Sprint;  new  charges  and fees or  increased  charges  and fees,  charged by
Sprint;  the prices  charged by Sprint for its services;  subscriber  purchasing
patterns;  potential  fluctuations in quarterly  results;  an adequate supply of
subscriber equipment;  risks related to our ability to compete with larger, more
established businesses;  rapid technological and market change; risks related to
future growth and expansion;  rates of penetration in the wireless industry; the
potential need for additional sources of liquidity;  impacts of spending cuts on
network quality;  subscriber retention and subscriber growth; anticipated future
losses;  the  significant  level of  indebtedness  of each of AirGate  and iPCS;
adequacy of bad debt and other reserves; the potential to continue to experience
a high rate of  customer  turnover;  and the  volatility  of AirGate  PCS' stock
price.

For a detailed  discussion of these and other cautionary  statements and factors
that could  cause  actual  results to differ from those  contained  in this news
release,  please refer to AirGate PCS' filings with the  Securities and Exchange
Commission  ("SEC"),  especially in the "investment  considerations"  section of
AirGate  PCS' Form 10-K for the fiscal  year ended  September  30, 2001 and Form
10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2002 and in subsequent filings with the SEC.

                                      -END-