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                UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                              Washington, DC 20549

                                     FORM 4

                  STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP

    Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
       Section 17(a) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or
               Section 30(h) of the Investment Company Act of 1940

|_|  Check this box if no longer subject to Section 16. Form 4 or Form 5
     obligations may continue. See Instruction 1(b).

(Print of Type Responses)
________________________________________________________________________________
1.   Name and Address of Reporting Person*

Schiffman                           Barry                  J.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   (Last)                           (First)             (Middle)

505 Hamilton Avenue, Suite 310
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                                    (Street)

Palo Alto                             CA                 94301
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   (City)                           (State)              (Zip)


________________________________________________________________________________
2.   Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol

AirGate PCS, Inc. / "PCSA"
________________________________________________________________________________
3.   I.R.S. Identification Number of Reporting Person, if an entity (voluntary)


________________________________________________________________________________
4.   Statement for Month/Day/Year

March 4, 2003
________________________________________________________________________________
5.   If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Day/Year)


________________________________________________________________________________
6.   Relationship of Reporting Person(s) to Issuer
     (Check all applicable)

     |X|  Director                             |_|  10% Owner
     |_|  Officer (give title below)           |_|  Other (specify below)

     ____________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
7.   Individual or Joint/Group Filing (Check Applicable line)

     |_|  Form Filed by One Reporting Person
     |_|  Form Filed by More than One Reporting Person
________________________________________________________________________________



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           Table I -- Non-Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of,
                             or Beneficially Owned
================================================================================


                                                                                                 5.
                                                                                                 Amount of      6.
                                                                 4.                              Securities     Owner-
                                                                 Securities Acquired (A) or      Beneficially   ship
                                       2A.          3.           Disposed of (D)                 Owned          Form:     7.
                            2.         Deemed       Transaction  (Instr. 3, 4 and 5)             Following      Direct    Nature of
                            Trans-     Execution    Code         ------------------------------- Reported       (D) or    Indirect
1.                          action     Date, if     (Instr. 8)                   (A)             Transaction(s) Indirect  Beneficial
Title of Security           Date       any          ------------                 or              (Instr. 3 &    (I)       Ownership
(Instr. 3)                  (mm/dd/yy) (mm/dd/yy)    Code     V      Amount      (D)    Price     Instr.4)      (Instr.4) (Instr.4)
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FORM 4 (continued)

Table II -- Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned
            (e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities)

================================================================================


                                                                                                          9.
                                                                                                          Number    10.
                                                                                                          of        Owner-
                                                                                                          deriv-    ship
                                                                                                          ative     Form
             2.                                                                                           Secur-    of
             Conver-                            5.                              7.                        ities     Deriv-   11.
             sion                               Number of                       Title and Amount          Bene-     ative    Nature
             or                                 Derivative    6.                of Underlying     8.      ficially  Secur-   of
             Exer-            3A.      4.       Securities    Date              Securities        Price   Owned     ity:     In-
             cise             Deemed   Trans-   Acquired (A)  Exercisable and   (Instr. 3 and 4)  of      Follow-   Direct   direct
             Price   3.       Execut-  action   or Disposed   Expiration Date   ----------------  Deriv-  ing       (D) or   Bene-
1.           of      Trans-   ion      Code     of(D)         (Month/Day/Year)            Amount  ative   Reported  In-      ficial
Title of     Deriv-  action   Date if  (Instr.  (Instr. 3,    ----------------            or      Secur-  Trans-    direct   Owner-
Derivative   ative   Date     any      8)       4 and 5)      Date     Expira-            Number  ity     action(s) (I)      ship
Security     Secur-  (mm/dd/  (mm/dd/  ------   ------------  Exer-    tion               of      (Instr. (Instr.   (Instr.  (Instr.
(Instr. 3)   ity     yy)      yy)      Code V    (A)   (D)    cisable  Date     Title     Shares  5)      4)        4)       4)
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Director
Stock Option
(Right to                                                                       Common
Buy)        $.26     3/4/03             A    V  22,500        (1)     3/4/13    Stock    22,500          22,500      D
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Explanation of Responses:
Vesting Schedule: (1) Exercisable in three (3) equal annual installments as of
the Annual Meeting of Shareowners for Years 2004, 2005 and 2006, but not later
than May 1 of each year.


---------------------------------------------            -----------------------
      **Signature of Reporting Person                             Date


     /s/ Jennifer B. Froneberger                             March 5, 2003
---------------------------------------------            -----------------------
      *Jennifer B. Foneberger                                     Date
 Power of Attorney for Barry J. Schiffman



Reminder: Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially
          owned directly or indirectly.

**     Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal
       Criminal Violations.

       See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a).

*      Executed pursuant to a power of Attorney filed herewith.

Note:  File three copies of this Form,  one of which must be manually  signed.
       If space is insufficient, see Instruction 6 for procedure.

Potential persons who are to respond to the collection of information  contained
in this form are not  required to respond  unless the form  displays a currently
valid OMB Number.