Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 10, 1990 TAG: 9007100065
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KIM SUNDERLAND NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
As part of its expansion in Western Virginia, Contel Cellular has requested two special use permits to build communication towers in the Blacksburg and Shawsville areas.
"Contel hopes to have towers up and down the interstate," said Montgomery County Planner Joe Powers.
The company announced last month it was adding towers in the New River Valley and at sites near Buchanan, Lexington and Smith Mountain Lake so its customers can use their car telephones continuously as they drive along Interstate 81 from Pulaski to Harrisonburg.
A public hearing on the permits, which are required for transmission towers in the county, is scheduled July 23 at 7 p.m. in Courtroom B in the cocnty courthouse in Christiansburg.
"This is all part of the ongoing enlargement process of the system," said Michael K. Smeltzer, Contel's Roanoke attorney.
Plans are for the 185-foot-tall cellular telephone communication towers, with equipment buildings at the base, to be built on Prices Mountain, just outside Blacksburg, and on Pedlars Hill in the Shawsville area.
William H. Price, of Price Real Estate in Blacksburg, is leasing approximately 2.5 acres to Contel for the Prices Mountain tower.
He said the telephone tower will be built on a private road off Virginia 657 adjacent to C&P Telephone's microwave tower and the county police tower.
"This is the highest elevation in the area," said Price. "That alone makes it attractive to those interested in communications."
The second tower will be built at a site near Virginia 635, which is being leased by Charles W. Wells Jr. of Elliston.
Smeltzer, Contel's attorney, said the location was good because of its proximity to Interstate 81.
Because a cellular system works through a network of low-powered transmission towers, they need to be positioned at intervals within a geographical area.
As a vehicle moves from one tower or "cell" site to the next, a computer hands off the call to the next cell.
The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association predicts that the 3.5 million cellular telephone users in the United States today will increase to 10 million by 1993.
Contel hopes to continue adding cell sites throughout the area as needed to serve its growing customer base, said Dan Kelsey, a Contel branch manager.
Contel recently expanded its Roanoke coverage area with the addition of a new cell site on Purgatory Mountain. Other rural service areas, awarded by the Federal Communications Commission, are also pending for Contel.
by CNB