Under a five-year, $300 million contract, Ericsson Inc. has been named the equipment supplier for Pacific Bell Mobile Services’ B-band personal communications services networks in California and Nevada.
PCS service is scheduled to begin early in 1997, said Pac Bell.
The order is among the largest ever placed for Global System for Mobile communications technology-based equipment according to Pac Bell. Ericsson will supply and implement its PCS 1900 network, including handsets, in Pac Bell’s licensed major trading areas of Los Angeles and San Francisco, encompassing most of California and much of Nevada.
The contract includes initial system configuration of mobile switching centers, home location registers, base stations and base station controllers, and is expected to be intact by the fourth quarter of 1996. Also, Ericsson will supply Pac Bell with its pocket-sized PCS 1900 handsets, which weigh less than seven ounces and are able to store a subscriber’s personal identification and profile information, including predefined, speed-dial numbers and calling services.
GSM proponents contend the technology provides superior digital voice quality and security, international roaming, built-in short messaging and billing flexibility. Pac Bell chose GSM because it’s “the most reliable and proven PCS technology today,” said Terence Valeski, vice president of marketing and business development.
Pac Bell favors Ericsson’s industry experience and reputation for producing good equipment, commented Lou Saviano, Pac Bell’s corporate communications manager. Pac Bell’s technical staff previously had been working with Ericsson, Saviano noted.
While the company maintains a strategy for rapid deployment, Saviano said it is not the company’s mission to be first to market, but to “have a high quality system up and running from day one.”
Cox Communications Inc. and WirelessCo Inc. are Pac Bell’s A-band competitors in the Los Angeles and San Francisco MTAs, respectively. WirelessCo is a consortium led by Sprint Corp., with partners Cox, Comcast Corp. and Tele-Communications Inc.
Cox, a pioneer’s preference winner, plans to introduce service in the Los Angeles MTA during the first half of 1996, most likely in the first quarter, stated Mark Bonavia, manager of corporate communications for Sprint. Cox and other Sprint affiliates, including Washington, D.C.-based American Personal Communications, will market products and services under the Sprint name.
APC, BellSouth Personal Communications Inc., GO Communications Corp. and Microcell 1-2-1 of Canada also have selected GSM technology for their systems.
