Telephone and Data Systems Inc. and Darien Telephone Co. announced that TDS’ Camden Telephone Co. affiliate of St. Mary’s, Ga., has acquired controlling interest in the Georgia rural service area 12 wireline cellular market, which serves 211,000 pops between Savannah, Ga., and Jacksonville, Fla. TDS also announced the purchase of Nelson Ballground Telephone Co. located in Nelson, Ga., and Myrtle Telephone Co. from Colonial Telephone Holdings. Myrtle Telephone is located in Myrtle, Miss. In an unrelated transaction, the company announced the completion of the sale of TDS’ Lake Livingston Telephone Co. of Lake Livingston, Texas, to Oregon Farmers Mutual Telephone, Oregon, Mo.
Metrocall Inc. announced it surpassed the one million subscriber mark during March. Metrocall recently announced agreements to acquire Parkway Paging Inc. of Dallas, Satellite Paging of New York/New Jersey and Message Network of Florida.
Glenayre Technologies Inc. announced it has licensed its network protocol, the Wireless Messaging Transfer Protocol, to Real Time Strategies Inc. The protocol is an emerging industry standard that provides efficient connection of narrowband personal communications services network components, Glenayre said. Glenayre said it developed the WMtp to support the additional requirements of new NPCS systems as well as the needs of rapidly expanding paging networks.
Mobile Telecommunication Technologies Corp. announced it is adding 400 customer service jobs as it expands its two-way paging network. Mtel said the jobs, which will be full-time, entry-level positions, will be added in Jackson, Miss., where the company is based. The announcement comes after the company recently laid off 40 employees.
Watkins-Johnson Co. announced it received an order exceeding $11 million for converter subassemblies from Lucent Technologies Inc. The order will be used in Lucent’s personal communications services systems, WJ said. WJ specializes in semiconductor manufacturing equipment, subassemblies and transceivers for wireless communications and radio frequency electronic products for government applications.
Shared Technologies Cellular Inc. announced it has signed a letter of intent to purchase certain assets of its only remaining portable cellular phone rental franchisee. STC said the proposed agreement will strengthen its ability to provide cellular phone rentals across the United States. The purchase price is about $3 million consisting of cash, assumed liabilities and stock of STC, the company said. The assets of this franchise currently generate annual revenues of $3.5 million through its operations in California, Arizona, Nevada and Florida, STC said.
