NEWS BRIEFS

Prime Companies Inc. said its wholly owned subsidiary, LMDS Communications Inc., accepted a $4 million financing package from a major financial institution for construction of its local multipoint distribution services infrastructure.

Lucent Technologies Inc. introduced an Automated Paging System for on-site and wide area paging systems. While operating primarily in the low band UHF radio frequency band for campus environments, the system can connect to wide area networks so messages can be forwarded to devices on wide area paging networks. Callers contacting the system automatically will be forwarded to the user’s pager number without the need to dial a separate pager or personal identification number, the company said. Lucent is targeting the system at the health care, education, manufacturing, car dealership and retail industries.

Leap Wireless L.L.C. completed a transaction to acquire personal communications services licenses in North Carolina from AirGate Wireless L.L.C. The deal includes F-block licenses and covers approximately 3.6 million potential customers in Charlotte, Greensboro and Hickory-Lenior, N.C. This latest acquisition increases Leap’s license rights to approximately 29.2 million potential customers in markets across the country for use by its domestic subsidiary, Cricket Communications Inc. The Federal Communications Commission previously approved Leap’s deal with AirGate, subject to several conditions, but an unnamed competitor has filed an application for review of the commission’s decision.

CI Wireless, a designer and manufacturer of products for wireless communications systems, announced new contracts with Code Division Multiple Access personal communications services carriers totaling more than $34 million.

Aether Systems Inc. will acquire LocusOne Communications Inc., a private wireless supply chain fulfillment solution provider, for $40 million in cash. LocusOne customers include Office Depot, NuCo2, Suntory Water Group and MAC Papers. Aether’s original focus was providing wireless data solutions for the financial services industry. Aether said the acquisition adds a vertical market to its interests.

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