WASHINGTON—Nextel Communications Inc. said it donated 1,500 mobile phones to public safety and law enforcement officials in New York, Washington, D.C., and Boston in the aftermath of terrorist strikes Tuesday that destroyed the World Trade Center and inflicted heavy damage on the Pentagon.
Mobile-phone networks of Nextel and other wireless carriers were severely tested by the crush of calls in the Northeast and throughout the country.
“The traffic volume was extraordinary,” said Audrey Schaefer, director of corporate communications at Nextel. However, Schaefer said Nextel two-way dispatch and mobile messaging—which are not dependent on the public telephone network—proved valuable in enabling subscribers to communicate when mobile telephone calls could not get through.
Schaefer said Nextel is working with Motorola Inc. to distribute an additional 5,000 phones to federal, state and local authorities.
