Scottsdale, AZ, February 10, 2009 - Sparkplug Communications, a leading provider of fixed wireless business broadband services, today announced that wireless-industry veteran Joel Payne has been named Vice President of Engineering and Operations as part of the company's continued growth. He will be responsible for leading the company's engineering and operations teams across all markets, as well as helping to drive product and company strategy.

Payne brings over 17 years of experience in the wireless telecommunications field to the position. He most recently served as Executive Director for Radio and Network Engineering at AllTel (formerly Western Wireless Corporation). While at Alltel, Payne led a team that designed, deployed and managed a wireless cellular network that provided service to over one million cellular subscribers.

The addition of Payne adds another highly experienced telecommunications industry veteran to Sparkplug's core leadership team. This move comes on the heels of the hiring of Maria Farnon as Vice President of Marketing. Both executives will help Sparkplug continue its rapid growth in the wireless business broadband market. Since 2006, the company has seen significant growth both through mergers and acquisitions with other fixed wireless providers and through the expansion of its business broadband and data access services across seven states and five metropolitan markets.

"Joel is an outstanding addition to Sparkplug's executive leadership team. We will benefit immensely from his experience, proven record of success and passion for technology," said Michael Ruley, CEO of Sparkplug. "Despite these trying economic times, Sparkplug's business continues to grow steadily. By expanding our core leadership team we will be able to deliver customer solutions faster and more reliably for businesses that are demanding dedicated connections for high density applications."

Working with an established company in a rapidly growing market attracted Payne to join the team at Sparkplug. "The opportunity for fixed wireless has never been greater with companies increasingly on the lookout for high-value data transport solutions," Payne said. "Reliable broadband like what Sparkplug delivers is critical to companies ability to take advantage of money-saving technologies like cloud computing and hosted software solutions. I feel privileged to lead a very strong technical team as we continue to expand our offerings to take advantage of these opportunities."

Payne brings a wealth of knowledge in the wireless telecommunications sector to Sparkplug. During his seven years at Alltel, Payne's accomplishments included the planning, design, and integration of four mobile technologies into a single cell site architecture, enhancing the company's ability to significantly grow its roaming revenue. Prior to Alltel, Payne served as Vice President Engineering and Operations for the Great Lakes Region at Nextel Corporation where he led a team of 240 engineers and technicians who doubled the switching capacity of the entire network. Payne has also held management positions with Aerial Communications, now owned by T-Mobile, AT&T Wireless Services and US West NewVector.

About Sparkplug

Sparkplug is a leading fixed wireless broadband service provider currently operating networks across five states, including the metropolitan markets of Chicago, Nashville, Des Moines, Phoenix and Las Vegas. The company offers a suite of high-speed data, voice over IP, and other managed services over its own network to business, education and government customers. All enjoy the benefits of fast, scalable and easy-to-deploy broadband service. Customers can choose from a complete range of symmetrical bandwidth service options starting at 2 Mbps with speeds up to 1 Gbps at a fraction of the typical cost. The company also provides high capacity data services and transport to many of the nation's leading telecommunications providers. For more information, visit www.sparkplug.net.

Media Inquiries:
Carolann Samuels
Kendall Communications
(303) 495-2999
carolannsamuels@mac.com