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Cricket Communications Announces Opening of Washington D.C. Government Affairs Office

^{Published on 2010-06-09 04:15:18 - Market Wire}
 

SAN DIEGO--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Cricket Communications, Inc., a leading provider of unlimited wireless services and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Leap Wireless International, Inc. (NASDAQ:LEAP), today announced the opening of a Washington D.C. government affairs office and named telecom veteran Russ Merbeth to head the new office as Cricketa™s Vice President of Government Affairs.

aThe opening of our new office continues our commitment to educate legislators and regulators on the competition and innovation that mid-sized carriers, such as Cricket, bring to the industry and ensure that the regulatory environment continues to support a fair opportunity for these carriers to provide innovative services to customers, many of whom would otherwise be under-served,a said Rob Irving, Leap Wireless senior vice president and general counsel. aThere are myriad crucial policy decisions that will chart the course of wireless for years to come and Cricket fully intends to be a strong voice in these matters. Russ is a seasoned and well respected executive and we are very pleased that he has joined us to head up this important function for the company.a

Mr. Merbeth has more than 20 years of public policy advocacy experience in Washington, most recently serving as Federal Counsel and Assistant General Counsel for Integra Telecom in D.C., a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC). Before joining Integra Telecom, Mr. Merbeth served the same function with other telecommunications providers, including Birch Telecom, Escehlon Telecom, and Winstar Wireless. Mr. Merbeth previously served on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of COMPTEL, the national trade association for facilities-based competitive telephone service providers, and on the Operating Board of ALTS, a trade association that represented competitive local exchange carriers and merged with COMPTEL in 2004.

About Cricket

Cricket is the pioneer of simple and affordable unlimited wireless services with no long-term commitments or credit checks required serving more than five million customers in 35 states and the District of Columbia. Cricket offers wireless voice and broadband Internet services over the latest technology, high-quality, all-digital 3G CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO wireless network. Cricketa™s wireless voice service plans include unlimited anytime minutes, unlimited U.S. long distance, unlimited text and picture messaging, unlimited text to Mexico, unlimited Mobile Web, unlimited directory assistance, as well as a variety of calling features and feature-rich mobile applications such as popular games, ringtones and wallpapers. Cricket Broadband provides unlimited Internet access anywhere within Cricketa™s coverage areas at speeds comparable to DSL. For more information on Cricket, visit [ www.mycricket.com ]. Cricket is offered by Leap Wireless International, Inc., headquartered in San Diego, Calif. For more information on Leap, visit [ www.leapwireless.com ].

Leap is a U.S. registered trademark and the Leap logo is a trademark of Leap. Cricket, Jump, the Cricket aKa and Flex Bucket are U.S. registered trademarks of Cricket. In addition, the following are trademarks or service marks of Cricket: Cricket By Week, Cricket Choice, Cricket Connect, Cricket Nation and Cricket PAYGo. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.