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


                         AIRGATE PCS, INC. ANNOUNCES NEW
                       CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS


ATLANTA  (July 1, 2003) - AirGate PCS,  Inc.  (OTCBB:PCSA),  a PCS  Affiliate of
Sprint,  today  announced  that Bob  Ferchat  has  been  named  chairman  of the
Company's board of directors.

Ferchat,  68, brings  extensive  years of  experience  in corporate  management,
governance,  finance, and leadership to his new position.  He joined the AirGate
board in 1999  and has  served  as  chairman  of the  Audit  Committee.  Ferchat
previously  served as chairman,  president  and chief  executive  officer of BCE
Mobile Communications,  Inc. until January 1999. During his tenure there, he was
instrumental in successfully launching BCE Mobile's PCS network in Canada. Prior
to joining BCE,  Ferchat served as chairman and chief  executive  officer of TMI
and  previously  served as  president  of  Northern  Telecom  International  and
Northern Telecom Canada.

Commenting  on the  announcement,  Thomas  M.  Dougherty,  president  and  chief
executive  officer of AirGate  PCS,  said,  "We are very pleased to have someone
with Bob Ferchat's  experience take on the position of chairman of AirGate. As a
member of our board,  he has  already  played an  important  role in leading the
Company over the past four years.  Bob has tremendous  leadership  abilities and
the strategic vision to guide AirGate toward meeting its future objectives."

Ferchat  replaces  Barry J.  Schiffman,  who  resigned  from his position on the
board.  Dougherty  commented,  "Barry  Schiffman  has played an integral role in
leading the Company since its inception.  His dedication and hard work have been
important  factors  in the  growth  of  AirGate,  and we  thank  him for all his
contributions to the company during his tenure on the Board."

About AirGate PCS and iPCS

AirGate PCS,  Inc.,  excluding  its  unrestricted  subsidiary  iPCS,  is the PCS
Affiliate  of Sprint  with the right to sell  wireless  mobility  communications
network products and services under the Sprint brand in territories within three
states located in the Southeastern  United States. The territories  include over
7.1  million  residents  in  key  markets  such  as  Charleston,  Columbia,  and
Greenville-Spartanburg,  South  Carolina;  Augusta and  Savannah,  Georgia;  and
Asheville, Wilmington and the Outer Banks of North Carolina.





iPCS, Inc., a wholly owned unrestricted  subsidiary of AirGate PCS, Inc., is the
PCS Affiliate of Sprint with the right to sell wireless mobility  communications
network  products and services under the Sprint brand in 37 markets in Illinois,
Michigan,  Iowa and eastern Nebraska.  The territories  include over 7.4 million
residents in key markets such as Grand Rapids,  Michigan;  Champaign-Urbana  and
Springfield, Illinois; and the Quad Cities areas of Illinois and Iowa.

AirGate  and iPCS  are  separate  corporate  entities  that  have  discrete  and
independent  financing sources,  debt obligations and sources of revenue.  As an
unrestricted subsidiary, iPCS's lenders, noteholders and creditors do not have a
lien or  encumbrance on assets of AirGate.  Further,  AirGate  generally  cannot
provide capital or other financial support to iPCS.

About Sprint

Sprint  operates  the  largest,  100-percent  digital,  nationwide  PCS wireless
network  in the  United  States,  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.  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 72,000 employees worldwide
and  nearly  $27  billion  in  annual  revenues  and is  widely  recognized  for
developing, engineering and deploying state-of-the-art network technologies.

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