The mobility service BellSouth Mobility Inc. intends to launch in its new D- and E-block markets not only fills in coverage gaps in the carrier’s existing cellular footprint, but boosts BellSouth’s total pops by 11 million.
BellSouth is the nation’s third largest cellular operator, reporting 3.6 million cellular customers at year end 1996.
BellSouth currently is selecting cell sites for the new networks it will build in the Southeast and hopes to offer service in some markets by the end of this year.
Selection of an equipment vendor is underway; value of the equipment has been estimated at $200 million.
BellSouth operates 850 MHz service primarily in the Southeastern United States, covering more than 40 metropolitan statistical areas and 35 rural service areas.
The company is gradually converting its 850 MHz analog networks to Time Division Multiple Access technology, of which IS-136 is the most advanced commercial application.
BellSouth’s 39 new licenses are for 10 megahertz of spectrum at 1900 MHz. The properties were acquired for fill-in purposes, neatly fitting into coverage gaps in the cellular networks.
“There is very little [market] overlap,” said Ed Reynolds, executive vice president of BellSouth Cellular Corp.
BellSouth will launch TDMA IS-136 service in 37 of those 10 megahertz properties. Customers will be able to roam between the 850 MHz and 1900 MHz networks by using dual-frequency handsets.
Two of the 10 megahertz properties will be turned over to BellSouth Mobility DCS, the subsidiary which operates a 1900 MHz cluster in Tennessee and the Carolinas. The DCS network uses Global System for Mobile communications technology, which allowed BellSouth to launch the system last July. The new Augusta and Savannah, Ga., markets will become a part of that GSM footprint.
Reynolds said BellSouth’s goal is to be a “full service telecom provider in the Southeast.” That means wireless service at 850 MHz and 1900 MHz, long-distance service where possible, local phone service and video.
BellSouth is a regional Bell operating company, offering wired telephone service in the Southeast. The company reported adding a million new lines in 1996, giving BellSouth more than 22 million domestic access lines. Business access lines grew 8.1 percent in the fourth quarter.
The company has announced its intention to buy Wireless Cable of Atlanta in a stock swap valued at $43.5 million. With the service licenses of Wireless Cable, BellSouth hopes to provide wireless cable TV service in Atlanta using digital multichannel multipoint distribution system technology.
