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Motient to Reduce Cost Structure And To Enter Renegotiations Regarding Senior No


/FROM PR NEWSWIRE WASHINGTON DC 202-347-5155/
TO BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY EDITORS:

Motient to Reduce Cost Structure And
To Enter Renegotiations Regarding Senior Notes

Mutual Agreement to Terminate Rare Medium Merger

RESTON, Va., Oct. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- In light of current economic
conditions, Motient Corporation (Nasdaq: MTNT), announced today cost reduction
actions aimed at maintaining targeted profitability goals and reducing funding
requirements. Central to this action was a reduction in force at both its
Reston VA and Lincolnshire IL locations that is expected to result in a 25
percent decrease in staff. These reductions were broad-based but coordinated
to maintain the high level of network performance and customer care that are
characteristic of Motient's offerings.
"Our continuing focus is to achieve break-even operating cash flow by mid-
2002," said Walter V. Purnell, Jr., President and CEO of Motient. "Even
though our core business revenue and subscriber base have continued to rise
throughout these difficult economic times, we needed to take all prudent
actions necessary to ensure our success in achieving this goal."
Additionally, the company announced that it will not fund the $20.5
million interest coupon payment on its 12.25% Senior Notes due October 1,
2001. The company is currently in the process of retaining a financial
advisor to assist in connection with a possible restructuring of the Senior
Notes.
"We are confident that with a reduced cost structure and a restructured
balance sheet, this company will be in a better position to fully leverage its
high-capacity network advantage in the wireless data market," said Bart Snell,
Senior Vice President and CFO of Motient. "More than ever, our eLink(SM) and
BlackBerry(TM) by Motient services are proving their value to American
businesses, and we owe it to our shareholders, bondholders and more than
250,000 subscribers to unlock the value in our network."
In a related event, Motient reported today that the Boards of Directors of
both Motient and Rare Medium (Nasdaq: RRRR) have mutually agreed to terminate
their pending merger. In concert with this, the $50 million Rare Medium loan
to Motient has been extended to October 8, 2001. Additionally, Motient no
longer plans to pursue a 1-for-10 reverse split of the company's outstanding
common stock.

About Motient Corporation
Motient (http://www.motient.com ) owns and operates an integrated
terrestrial/satellite network and provides a wide range of two-way mobile and
Internet communications services principally to business-to-business customers
and enterprises. The company provides eLink(SM) and BlackBerry(TM) by Motient
two-way wireless email service to customers accessing email through corporate
servers, Internet Service Provider (ISP) and Mail Service Provider (MSP)
accounts, and paging network suppliers. Motient serves a variety of markets
including mobile professionals, telemetry, transportation, field service, and
nationwide voice dispatch offering coverage to all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the
U.S. Virgin Islands, and hundreds of miles of U. S. coastal waters.
eLink is a service mark and Motient is a trademark of Motient Corporation.
The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the
exclusive properties of, and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited and are
used by permission. "BlackBerry by Motient" - used by permission.

This press release contains forward looking statements, including
statements regarding future performance of Motient and its network, Motient's
future operating cash flow, the possible restructuring of Motient's Senior
Notes and Motient's ability to fully leverage its network. Factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward looking
statements in this news release include Motient's serious short-term liquidity
needs, Motient's substantial debt, competition in the wireless industry,
general economic conditions, market acceptance of Motient's products and
services, the reliability and cost of Motient's supply of wireless handheld
devices, and Motient's dependence on a relatively small number of customers.
Many of these and other factors are described in Motient Corporation's
registration statement on Form S-4 filed on June 26, 2001 and in Motient's
annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000 and its other
periodic filings and reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Copies of such reports and filings are available upon request from Motient
Corporation's Investor Relations Department.

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SOURCE Motient Corporation

/CONTACT: Eric Swank, Vice President, Corporate Planning and InvestorRelations,
[phone] or [e-mail], or Donald L. Campbell,Director,
Corporate Communications, [phone] [e-mail], both of
Motient Corporation/

/Web site: http://www.motient.com/

Oct-01-2001 13:56 GMT
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