NATION BRIEFS

Safco Technologies Inc. announced the completion of TEC Cellular’s integration into the
company. TEC Cellular’s products, services and training now will be sold under the Safco brand. Safco acquired TEC
Cellular in April, 1997.

Anne Sleater, the AT&T Wireless Services Inc. employee wounded Jan. 14 in a random
shooting, has died of her injuries. Sleater, 30, was shot in the head during the rampage, in which gunwoman De-Kieu
Duy fired a handgun floor-to-floor in the building, which also contained a TV station.

Nextel Communications Inc.
announced it is offering fully integrated wireless service to southeastern Virginia. The local Nextel coverage area
includes the towns of Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Hampton, Newport News and
Williamsburg. Nextel provides wireless voice, paging and group or private two-way radio communication using
integrated Digital Enhanced Network technology.

SkyTel Communications Inc. announced plans to open a
customer service call center in the Dallas/Fort Worth area by the end of the year, in addition to its existing facility in
Jackson, Miss. SkyTel said it expects to hire about 125 employees for the 71,400-square-foot center. The company said
it chose Dallas/Fort Worth because the area has become a significant telecommunications hub. SkyTel also said it
finished moving its second network operations center to the area as well. The facility previously was located in
Washington, D.C.

Teligent Inc. said it launched its high bandwidth communications services in Atlanta, Boston,
Philadelphia and Wilmington, Del. Teligent said using its SmartWave technology allows it to offer small- and medium-
sized businesses the high data and voice network speed and capacity previously only available to larger companies.
SmartWave combines high-frequency radio transmission equipment with point-to-multipoint technology. This launch
brings to 19 the number of markets Teligent serves.

Rent Express Communications Inc. announced it will rent
Iridium Satellite Phone Services to its North American customers through agreements with Iridium North America and
Infosat Telecommunications, Iridium World Communications’ U.S. and Canadian service providers, respectively.

ABOUT AUTHOR