WAYNESBORO, Va.-GTE Wireless is selling the lion’s share of its Cincinnati personal communications services license to two Virginia telephone companies for $8.5 million.
GTE will keep only the Cincinnati metropolitan portion of the license. GTE intends to launch PCS service there early next year.
The buyers are CFW Communications Co. of Waynesboro, Va., and R&B Communications Inc. of Roanoke, Va. The companies will receive the West Virginia basic trading areas of Beckley, Bluefield, Charleston, Logan and Williamson, the Huntington, W.V.-Ashland, Ky., BTA, and the Portsmouth, Ohio, BTA.
However, GTE will buy from CFW and R&B their combined 60 percent limited interest in the Roanoke cellular partnership, for about $13.2 million. That move beefs up GTE’s cellular cluster in Roanoke.
CFW and R&B are partners in the Virginia PCS Alliance, which won two PCS licenses for Virginia in the C-block auction. Earlier this spring, Virginia PCS Alliance bought the Richmond, Va., major trading area license from PrimeCo Personal Communications for $16 million.
CFW is the managing partner of Virginia PCS alliance. The group is building a network based on Code Division Multiple Access technology to serve 1.5 million pops throughout the Virginias. Service may be launched by mid-1997.
GTE also is selling CFW its 10 percent limited interest in the Virginia rural service area 6 cellular market.
