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| PCS Partnership Wins New Licenses and Continues to Attract New Customers |
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CIRI's partnerships
with VoiceStream Wireless Corporation, a leading
provider of personal
communications services (PCS), continue to expand with coverage to new
service areas. Cook Inlet/VoiceStream Wireless presently provides PCS
or digital wireless telephone services in Tulsa, Oklahoma.;
Phoenix, Arizona; and Seattle, Spokane, and the rest of Washington under
the brand name VoiceStream.
One of CIRI's
partnerships with VoiceStream Wireless recently won additional wireless
telephone licenses in a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auction
of broadband PCS licenses. The new licenses allow the company to provide
service in Chicago, Illinois and surrounding markets; Dallas, Texas and
surrounding markets; Omaha, Nebraska; and northern Louisiana.
The partnership
plans to build wireless telephone networks in these new
markets, launching
service in about a year.
"We're very excited
about these new markets," said CIRI President and CEO Carl Marrs. "The
cost of wireless phone service has come down
substantially,
making it more affordable to more people."
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"This is certainly
a growth market; everywhere I turn I see people using
wireless phones
from the business professional to the high school kid," added Marrs.
The company uses
the GSM-based technology for its advanced digital wireless communications
networks. GSM or Global System for Mobile Communications
provides feature-rich, digital technology and use of "smart cards," assuring
call privacy and fraud prevention as well as excellent voice quality.
GSM is widely used in the United States and throughout Europe and Asia.
 The VoiceStream
brand has enlisted the use of film and television actor
Jamie Lee Curtis
in its "Get More" marketing campaign. Curtis endorses the company's philosophy
of giving customers more minutes, features and service at the best prices.
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| Long Awaited Heritage Center |
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The Alaska Native
Heritage, which began as a dream nearly 25 years ago, has officially
opened its doors to the public.
The Center
offers visitors and guests the opportunity to view and experience up
close all of Alaska's Native cultures at one location. This first-of-its
kind facility, located just 12 minutes from downtown Anchorage, is nestled
on a 26-acre parcel of wooded land.
The Center
encompasses a 26,000 square foot Welcome House and five traditional
village sites, each representing a different aboriginal group. A journey
through the Welcome House includes a film introduction to Alaska's Native
people, viewing of contemporary cultural exhibits, artist demonstrations
and traditional song and dance performances. Performers and storytellers
share through legends, songs and dances in the Gathering Place while
artists and tradition bearers tell stories from their hearts and hands
throughout the Hall of Cultures.
During the
summer, the five traditional village sites come alive with activity.
The Athabascan; Yup'ik and Cup'ik; Inupiaq and St. Lawrence Island Yupik;
Aleut and Alutiiq; and Eyak, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian village sites
are located along a half-mile trail wrapping around Tiulana Lake. At
each village site, village dwellers eagerly await passing visitors to
share stories from the past. Alaska Natives show how they live in harmony
with the land and environment using traditional techniques to construct
the dwellings, build kayaks and to give fishing and hunting demonstrations.
With its doors
open, the Alaska Native Heritage Center welcomes visitors to a gathering
place celebrating, perpetuating and sharing Alaska Native tradition.
The Center
is open daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. For the first summer season, May
1 to September 30, 1999, the Alaska Native Heritage Center extends "prepaid
admission" to
 Alaska
Natives, made possible by substantial contributions by the Alaska Native
regional corporations. Upon entry, Alaska Native guests will be asked
to verify their tribal or Native corporation identification.
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