Exhibit 99.1

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


          AIRGATE PCS, INC. RECEIVES NASDAQ staff determination letter
           Company plans to appeal delist notice for continued listing

ATLANTA  (February  3,  2003) -  AirGate  PCS,  Inc.  (NASDAQ/NM:  PCSA),  a PCS
affiliate  of  Sprint,  today  announced  that it has  received  a Nasdaq  Staff
Determination  letter  dated  January 28, 2003,  indicating  that because of the
Company's  failure to regain  compliance  with the  minimum  $1.00 bid price per
share   requirement  for  continued   listing   contained  in  Marketplace  Rule
4450(a)(5),  its securities  are subject to delisting  from the Nasdaq  National
Market at the opening of business  on February 6, 2003,  unless it appeals  this
determination.  Additionally,  Nasdaq has  determined  that the Company does not
comply  with the  minimum $10 million  stockholders'  equity  requirement  under
Maintenance  Standard 1, as set forth in  Marketplace  Rule  4450(a)(3),  or the
market  value  of  publicly  held  shares  and  minimum  bid  requirement  under
Maintenance Standard 2, as set forth in Marketplace Rule 4450(b)(3) and (4), for
continued listing on The Nasdaq National Market.

The  Company  intends  to file an appeal and  request a hearing  before a Nasdaq
Listing Qualifications Panel to review the Staff Determination.  There can be no
assurance the Panel will grant the Company's request for continued listing.

Until the Panel reaches its decision,  AirGate's common stock will remain listed
and will continue to trade on the Nasdaq National Market.

About AirGate PCS

AirGate PCS,  Inc.,  including  its  unrestricted  subsidiary  iPCS,  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 14.5  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.

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

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