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Technology Stocks : CLST - CellStar Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: 4-UR-Eyes-Only who wrote (169)	12/9/1997 1:39:00 PM
From: Clint E.	Respond to of 641

Good luck with your shrs. I got out this morning. It is acting very weak(any rally is being sold into, the vol on up days keep shrinking, ...) Too much violent price movement in a stock is not a good sign. Clint

To: 4-UR-Eyes-Only who wrote (169)	12/10/1997 8:51:00 PM
From: JOHN A.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 641

GOOD news, anyone? CARROLLTON, Texas, Dec. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- CellStar Corporation (Nasdaq: CLST) announced that it is expanding its prepaid business. The Company has completed a strategic equity investment in Topp Telecom, Inc., ("Topp") a leading provider of prepaid cellular phones and services. Topp's prepaid phones are available in over 5,000 retail locations throughout the U.S., including more than 3,000 Radio Shack stores. Topp's branded prepaid cellular service, TracFone, does not require in-store programming and is programmed and activated by Topp directly with the customer. Currently, Topp has over 30,000 active prepaid subscribers with approximately 300 new subscribers added daily. TracFone is currently the only wireless phone that delivers retailers one SKU nationwide that is sold "off the shelf" as other consumer products. CellStar is providing all distribution and facilitation services for Topp. "We are looking forward to our strategic relationship with CellStar. Their buying power should enable us to deliver top quality, low cost brand name phones to our distribution partners and customers over the years to come. In addition, we exit the inventory and fulfillment business and focus on technology, cellular activations and customer service. Finally, CellStar's global presence should enable us to grow our business outside of the U.S.," said F.J. Pollak, President and CEO of Topp. "Topp's technology, existing distribution, customer base and strong carrier relationships fit well with our prepaid strategy. Topp's system enables cellular carriers to offer prepaid cellular service in rural markets without having to make a significant up-front investment," said Daniel T. Bogar, Vice President, South American Operations of CellStar. "We feel that prepaid cellular provides value-added service for the carrier and should give the provider recurring revenues and cash flows," added Mr. Bogar. CellStar currently operates a prepaid system in Venezuela with 35,000 customers and has plans to participate in other prepaid systems through its subsidiary, ACC-CellStar, a new company recently formed by CellStar to focus on the wireless prepaid market. Topp is a vertically integrated provider of prepaid cellular service today. Topp owns proprietary software that converts normal phones into prepaid cellular phones without any hardware modifications and operates its own activation call center. Topp can activate cellular lines through carrier agreements as a reseller or agent in over 98% of the cities in the United States, including Puerto Rico. Topp also has secured retail distribution of its products with major retailers and cellular carriers. CellStar Corporation is a global integrated wholesaler and retailer of wireless phones and other wireless communications products with operations in the United States, the Asia-Pacific Region, Latin America and the United Kingdom. The Company is one of the world's largest non-carrier wholesale distributors of wireless phones for Motorola, Inc., Ericsson, Inc., and Nokia Mobile Phones, Inc. and is also a wholesale distributor of wireless phones for QUALCOMM, Sony and NEC Corporation in the United States. SOURCE CellStar Corporation CO: CellStar Corporation ST: Texas IN: TLS SU: 12/09/97 08:55 EST prnewswire.com