Frontier Communications announced it will resell Cellular One’s cellular services in Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, and in metropolitan Detroit and Grand Rapids, Mich. Under the agreement between the two companies, Frontier will market cellular services to small- and medium-sized businesses under the name Frontier Mobile Line, Frontier said. Customers will receive a single invoice for all Frontier long-distance charges, the company said.
Mobile Telecommunication Technologies Corp. said its total number of paging and voice messaging units in service as of the end of 1995 increased by 135,600 units to 1 million. Mtel’s fourth-quarter increase caps record annual growth of 561,900 units during 1995, the company said.
VLSI Technology Inc. said its board or directors has authorized a company stock repurchase program effective for the coming fiscal year ending Dec. 31. The program provides shares to be issued to employees under the company’s stock option and stock purchase programs, VLSI said. Purchases may be made in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions at management’s discretion.
CellStar Corp. announced it will become an investor in a new corporation called CellStar West. The transaction establishes a West Coast location for CellStar’s wholesale cellular and other communications products, CellStar said. CPD Inc., a wholesale distributor of cellular telephones, accessories and other communications products, will contribute assets and liabilities of its distribution business, CellStar said. CellStar will contribute 80 percent of the new corporation and CPD will contribute 20 percent.
Voice Powered Technology International Inc. announced it has signed an agreement with MobileComm for the purchase and joint marketing of a voice organizer/pager, which uses VPTI’s proprietary VoiceLogic voice recognition technology. VPTI said the voice organizer/pager combines the functions of a numeric pager and an organizer into a single product. Under the terms of the agreement, VPTI will develop and manufacture the product exclusively for MobileComm with MobileComm acting as the exclusive service provider. The companies will jointly market the product, VPTI said.
Telephone and Data Systems Inc. has proposed the transfer of its minority ownership interests in certain cellular markets to United States Cellular Corp. for a proposed purchase price of $116.7 million. The minority interests subject to the proposal represent about 675,000 population equivalents, the company said. The TDS proposal has been submitted to an independent committee of the United States Cellular board of directors for approval, along with definitive documentation and compliance with regulatory requirements.
