US MobilComm Inc. announced it will complete the initial phase of construction for its Boston-to-Washington corridor of 220 MHz systems this month. US MobilComm said it will begin loading viice users in New York City this month and will begin loading in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington next month.
Message Center Beepers is beta testing transmitting pager text messages through the Internet system to subscribers. Users can send an electronic mail message to the pager within seconds. An acknowledgement option could also tell users the page has been received. Users can install a directory of customer names into their systems so personal identification numbers won’t be necessary.
Two investment companies have formed American Tower Corp. to acquire the rental communications towers business of Houston-based Bowen-Smith Corp. Chase Manhattan Corp. and Summit Capital Inc. want to build American Tower into a company with nationwide holdings, ready to expand with new wireless technologies.
Rockwell International Corp. offered $1.5 billion for Reliance Electric Co., which had agreed in August to be bought by General Signal Corp. for about $1.3 billion in their stock. For Rockwell, an acquisition would support its increased business in industrial automation and other commercial industries and yield annual revenue of more than $12 million, the company said. In the deal, Rockwell would sell Reliance’s telecommunications unit, which last year brought $440 million in sales. General Signal said it will pursue its current offer, noting it would be a tax-free transaction for shareholders.
AirTouch Cellular Data Group and D.W. Smith & Associates have signed a letter of intent to jointly develop software that will offer field service organizations access to the cellular digital packet data network. The two companies said they will introduce CDPD versions of D.W. Smith’s ServicePlus host software solution and its remote communications tool called Technician Toolbox in early 1995. These solutions are already offered in versions tailored for the circuit-switched cellular data network.
USA Mobile Communications Holdings Inc. has signed a definitive purchase agreement to acquire Professional Communications Inc. PCI provides radio paging service throughout Upstate New York, Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio with about 40,000 pagers in service, USA Mobile said. The company said recent and pending acquisitions, including PCI, will boost its subscriber base to more than 720,000 customers.
Phoenix Wireless Group has formed strategic relations with Tadiran Telecommunications where Tadiran will supply universal switching platforms and related hardware for Phoenix’s wireless communications platform technology. Florida-based Phoenix develops wireless networking products and telephone systems to expand and augment telephone service in markets where little or no telecommunications access exists. Tadiran is an Israel-based manufacturer of telecommunications and wireless systems.