Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 1, 1995 TAG: 9506010064
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Ericsson Corp., a Texas-based subsidiary of a Swedish company, said it has signed a $300 million contract with Pacific Bell Mobile Systems to provide the equipment that Pacific Bell needs to begin offering PCS, a new mobile telephone service, in its California and Nevada service area.
The Ericsson GE plant in Lynchburg will manufacture the base stations, including transmitters and receivers, and the small, 7-ounce phones that Ericsson will need to fill the contract.
John Peniche, a spokesman for the Lynchburg plant, said Wednesday the plant is in the process of completing the assembly lines for the equipment and already has begun making it.
The 850,000-square-foot plant in southeast Lynchburg is undergoing a 116,000-square-foot, $35 million expansion and will add 440 workers over the course of this year, bringing total employment to 2,700, Peniche said.
Ericsson has been expecting additional business as the result of the Federal Communications Commission's auction of PCS radio frequencies, which began last year, Peniche said. An auction already has been held for PCS licenses for every metropolitan trading in the United States, and additional licenses for the country's basic trading areas will be auctioned this summer.
PCS is a technology similar to cellular telephone technology but it uses smaller digital phones that consume less power than traditional cellular phones, meaning batteries last longer. PCS providers may offer the same advanced features offered by wire-based phone companies as well as electronic-data transfer and video-conferencing virtually anywhere on the globe.
The PCS 1900 system that Ericsson will supply Pacific Bell will cover most of California and Nevada, including the cities of San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego, Fresno, Reno and Las Vegas. Ericsson's PCS 1900 phones will fit easily into a pocket or handbag, the company said.
Pacific Bell Mobile Services is a subsidiary of Pacific Bell, which is a subsidiary of Pacific Telesis Group of San Francisco.
Ericsson, which has 75,000 employees working in more than 100 countries, manufactures three lines of products in Lynchburg: mobile radio systems for government, police and industry; cellular phone systems; and cellular phones.
by CNB