Berkeley Varitronics Systems Inc. won a contract to provide propagation analysis equipment to Qualcomm Inc. for international distribution of personal communications services and cellular systems. Berkeley values the arrangement at $750,000. The company also won a contract to design a 2.3 GHz wireless local loop system for Daewoo Telecom Ltd. and Sungmi Telecom Ltd. of Korea. The system will use 10-megahertz wideband Code Division Multiple Access modulation capable of supporting up to 80 simultaneous users per channel.
GTE Wireless will deploy Corsair Communications Inc.’s PhonePrint fraud prevention system in its Tampa, Fla., market and along the company’s Gulf Coast region. The system uses radio-frequency fingerprinting to detect and automatically disconnect fraudulent phone calls. The process is transparent to the customer and requires no phone number changes or interruptions to service.
PrimeCo Personal Communications L.P. signed agreements with Montgomery Ward, Dillards, Foley’s and OfficeMax, more than doubling the number of retailers carrying PrimeCo products, the company said. PrimeCo products now are available in more than 2,000 retail locations. The company launched service in November with nearly 1,000 retail outlets, including Best Buy, Circuit City, Computer City, Office Depot and RadioShack stores.
Retix, a data networking products provider, said its Wireless Solutions subsidiary will merge with Vertel Corp., another Retix subsidiary. Vertel supplies telecommunications management network products. Retix said the merger is a response to market-based opportunities for Vertel to provide network management applications to the cellular and broadband personal communications services markets.
Glenayre Western Multiplex has lowered rental rates for LYNX radios by 20 percent, said the company. The LYNX.cp2 T1 terminal is being leased for $75 a month, the LYNX 6 T1 for $515 a month, and the LYNX 2T6 with 2xT1 lines for $715 a month. Glenayre has long leased its LYNX T1 spread spectrum radios to users who need them only for a short period of time. Half the rental fee is applied against the purchase price, should the user decide to keep the radios, according to Glenayre Customer Engineering Manager Gordon Hodgson.
USN Communications said it dedicated its new Service and Solutions Center in Oak Brook, Ill. The 24,000 square-foot facility will operate 24-hours a day, seven days a week, with employees answering incoming customer calls. The company said its goal is to answer approximately 80 percent of incoming calls in nine seconds or less. An automatic call distributor system and trouble tracking system have been installed at the facility to handle customer service questions requiring technical account support, service and solutions, training and support and provisioning.
