Airadigm Communications Inc. is one of the few small business ventures that endured the delays, lawsuits, rule changes and exorbitant bidding prices of the C-block Federal Communications Commission auction for personal communications services and emerged a winner, unscathed and primed to fulfill the entrepreneurial vision around which the auction originally was designed.
“Our company represents what the C-band is all about,” said George Benson, chief executive officer of Airadigm and Wisconsin Wireless.
Airadigm President Carl Artman, who previously worked in Washington for congressman Mike Oxley (R-Ohio) and helped write spectrum auction legislation, stated, “The ability to draft legislation and actually follow it through and fulfill the vision we had on Capitol Hill is a great opportunity; a great experience.”
Little Chute, Wis.-based Airadigm is a partnership of Wisconsin Wireless, which owns 51 percent and the controlling interest of Airadigm, while the Oneida Indian Nation of Green Bay, Wis., holds a 49 percent investment. For about $71 million, the company scored 11 contiguous basic trading area licenses in Wisconsin and two in Iowa.
Oneida, which has generated significant revenue in the gaming industry, invested in the PCS venture as part of its plan to diversify into high-tech industries, said Bob Schulze, senior vice president of Airadigm.
The Oneida Nation has “extremely high competency in the business arena,” said Benson.
Airadigm plans to build its network using Global System for Mobile communications technology and start service later this year or early 1997, said Benson. Service will start first in Green Bay. The company intends to decide on an equipment supplier this month.
“We want to be the best in our areas,” although not necessarily the biggest, said Benson of Airadigm’s forthcoming PCS business. Competing A- and B- block licensees are Sprint Telecommunications Venture and PrimeCo Personal Communications L.P. Benson said Airadigm plans to bid in the F-block auction scheduled to begin Aug. 26.
Airadigm will target three market segments for its PCS service, said Benson. The company will position PCS as wireless local loop service-an extension of the home cordless phone-to consumer users. The company plans to integrate its PCS service with its in-building wireless business to capture business users. Airadigm also is seeking a slice of the mobile user market, professionals working from the office, home and their cars.
Paralleling the entrepreneurial pursuit of Airadigm’s PCS business and matched in potential opportunity is Wisconsin Wireless’ Critical Services Management business, which provides information security services to telephone interconnect companies, explained Benson. “There are synergies between what we’re doing with both industries.”
Specifically, CSM provides vendors and service providers of interconnect equipment with a computer device that interfaces and monitors private branch exchange telephone systems. When problems arise, CSM’s control center is signalled immediately and necessary repair or maintenance work can begin.
Wisconsin Wireless founders Benson and Roy Vande Hey previously owned and managed Telecom North, a company that distributed telephone interconnect equipment. Seeing opportunity in information security services, they sold Telecom North to one of its largest clients, Mitel Corp., in 1992, and started Wisconsin Wireless the same year.
