Exhibit 99.1

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


             AIRGATE PCS, INC. ANNOUNCES FIRST QUARTER 2003 RESULTS

ATLANTA  (February  18,  2003) - AirGate  PCS,  Inc.  (NASDAQ/NM:  PCSA),  a PCS
Affiliate of Sprint (NYSE:  FON, PCS),  today announced  financial and operating
results for its first quarter of fiscal 2003.

Total consolidated revenues for the first fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2002
were $133.1 million compared with $81.7 million for the prior-year  period.  The
first fiscal quarter 2001 results  include only one month of operations of iPCS,
Inc.,  which was  acquired  by the  Company on November  30,  2001.  The Company
reported a net loss of $47.7 million,  or $1.85 per share,  for the three months
ended December 31, 2002, compared with a net loss of $29.6 million, or $1.68 per
share, in the first quarter of fiscal 2002.

Consolidated EBITDA,  defined as earnings before interest,  taxes,  depreciation
and  amortization,  was a loss of $3.5  million for the first  quarter of fiscal
2003.  On a  stand-alone  basis,  AirGate PCS achieved  positive  EBITDA of $2.5
million.

"We are pleased  with the  progress we made during the first  fiscal  quarter of
2003,"  said  Thomas M.  Dougherty,  president  and chief  executive  officer of
AirGate PCS.  "Notably,  we achieved positive EBITDA in our stand-alone  AirGate
PCS  operations,  or the  Southeast  region,  during the Christmas  quarter.  We
believe this is a significant  accomplishment  during what has continued to be a
very challenging business  environment for the wireless industry.  These results
have only begun to reflect our recent  initiatives  to reduce our costs,  and to
more  effectively  align our marketing  efforts with the current  demands of the
marketplace.

"A strategic  focus for fiscal 2003  continues to be on improving the quality of
our  subscriber  base,"  Dougherty  continued.  "We believe  our  `smart-growth'
strategy has allowed us to reach our key  objectives of having a greater  number
of higher value prime credit quality  customers  while  increasing our operating
cash  flow.  Approximately  two-thirds  of our  subscriber  base is in the prime
category,  with a similar  percentage  of our gross  additions  falling into the
prime classification  during the quarter. We will continue to focus on improving
the overall  credit  quality of our  customer  base.  While it is  difficult  to
provide guidance in this environment of slower subscriber  growth, we are paying
close  attention  to our  customer  acquisition  costs and  identifying  ways to
achieve higher productivity from our subscriber base and improve our cash flow."

"With respect to the second fiscal quarter, we expect to meet all covenant tests
for  stand-alone  AirGate PCS.  Based on the current amount drawn under our bank
credit facility,  AirGate PCS will need to generate  approximately $10.4 million
in EBITDA,  as defined by the  AirGate PCS credit  facility,  for the six months
ending  March 31,  2003 in order to be in  compliance  with the  senior  debt to
EBITDA  covenant.  While  we  believe  it will  be a  challenge  to  meet  these
obligations,  we have a proven  track record of meeting  these  covenants in our
stand-alone AirGate PCS operations.  Our management team is focused on improving
our operations in order to achieve this important objective," Dougherty added.

Additional financial and operating highlights for the first quarter of fiscal
2003 include the following:
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>


                              Quarter Ended December 31, 2002                             Quarter Ended December 31, 2001
                        ---------------------------------------------              -----------------------------------------------

                        -------------- -------------- ---------------              --------------- --------------- ---------------
                           AirGate         iPCS          Combined                     AirGate           iPCS       Combined
                        -------------- -------------- ---------------              --------------- --------------- ---------------

<S>                          <C>            <C>            <C>                       <C>             <C>             <C>
Ending Subscribers           352,809        236,628        589,437                   289,844         163,514         453,358
Gross Additions               55,621         45,299        100,920                    83,012          17,681         100,693
Net Additions                 13,670         20,934         34,604                    54,820          13,892          68,712
Churn*                          3.8%           3.2%           3.5%                       3.2%            2.0%            2.2%
ARPU                             $58            $53            $56                       $60             $55             $59
CCPU                             $54            $59            $56                       $64             $77             $66
CPGA                            $369           $346           $359                      $345            $365            $349
EBITDA                    $2,536,000    ($6,055,000)   ($3,519,000)             ($14,868,000)    ($6,051,000)   ($20,919,000)
Capital Expenditures      $5,626,000     $8,424,000    $14,050,000                $3,246,000      $3,880,000      $7,126,000
</TABLE>

* Churn is net of 30-day returns and a subscriber reserve adjustment.

AirGate PCS will hold a conference call to discuss this press release  tomorrow,
Wednesday,  February  19,  2003,  at  10:00  a.m.  ET. A live  broadcast  of the
conference   call  will  be   available   on-line  at   www.airgatepcsa.com   or
www.companyboardroom.com.  To listen to the live call, please go to the Web site
at least 15 minutes early to register, download, and install any necessary audio
software.  For those who cannot listen to the live  broadcast,  a replay will be
available shortly after the call through the close of business on March 1, 2003.
<PAGE>

About AirGate PCS and iPCS

AirGate PCS,  Inc.,  excluding  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 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; and Augusta
and Savannah, Georgia.

iPCS, Inc., a wholly owned unrestricted  subsidiary of AirGate PCS, Inc., is the
PCS  Affiliate  of Sprint with the  exclusive  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.

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

This news release contains forward-looking  statements that are based on current
expectations,  estimates,  forecasts and  projections  about AirGate,  iPCS, the
wireless industry, our beliefs and our management's  assumptions.  Words such as
"expects,"  "anticipates,"  "targets," "goals," "projects,"  "intends," "plans,"
"believes,"  "seeks,"  "estimates"  and  variations  of such  words and  similar
expressions  are intended to identify  such  forward-looking  statements.  These
statements are not guarantees of future  performance  and involve certain risks,
uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict.  Therefore,  actual
outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecast in
such forward-looking statements.

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 potential  need for  additional  sources of liquidity;  the current
economic  slowdown;  the  potential  to  continue to  experience  a high rate of
customer  turnover;  our ability to predict future customer  growth,  as well as
other key operating metrics;  the  competitiveness and impact of Sprint wireless
pricing plans,  products and services;  the ability to  successfully  launch and
leverage 3G products  and  services;  customer  credit  quality;  our ability to
retain  customers;  the ability of Sprint to provide back office,  customer care
and other  services;  the prices  charged by Sprint for its  services;  consumer
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;  impacts  of  spending  cuts on  network  quality,  customer
retention and customer growth;  anticipated future losses; the significant level
of  indebtedness  of each of AirGate  and iPCS;  adequacy  of bad debt and other
reserves; 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 "risk  factors"  section of AirGate PCS'
Form 10-K for the fiscal  year ended  September  30,  2002 and Form 10-Q for the
quarter ended December 31, 2002, and in subsequent  filings with the SEC. Except
as  otherwise   required  under  federal  securities  laws  and  the  rules  and
regulations  of the SEC, we do not have any intention or obligation to update or
revise any forward-looking  statements,  whether as a result of new information,
future events, changes in assumptions or otherwise.


<PAGE>


Definitions of Terms Used:

The  following  are  terms  used in the  press  release.  None are  measures  of
financial  performance  under generally  accepted  accounting  principles in the
United  States.  These terms as used by the Company may not be comparable to the
use of these terms by other companies.

EBITDA: EBITDA (earnings before interest,  taxes, depreciation and amortization)
is a financial measure used in the financial community.

ARPU (average revenue per user):  Summarizes the average monthly service revenue
per customer,  excluding  roaming revenue.  ARPU is computed by dividing service
revenue by the average  subscribers  for the period,  net of an  adjustment  for
those customers not reasonably expected to pay.

Churn:  Churn is the monthly rate of customer turnover expressed as a percentage
of the  customer  base that  discontinued  service  during the  month.  Churn is
computed by  dividing  the number of  customers  that  discontinued  the service
during the month by the average subscribers for the period, net of an adjustment
for 30 day returns and those customers not reasonably expected to pay.

Net Additions:  Net additions refer to the increase in total subscribers between
periods,  net of an adjustment for those  customers not  reasonably  expected to
pay.

Ending  Subscribers:  Ending subscribers  exclude an estimate of new subscribers
added during the period who are not reasonably expected to pay.

                                     -END-

