PHILADELPHIA-Less than two weeks after it purchased two 10-megahertz licenses in northern Mexico for $58 million, Iusacell began offering digital personal communications services.
Bell Atlantic Corp. owns 42 percent of Iusacell and took management control of the cellular operator in February 1997. The new licenses in regions 1 and 4 include the U.S.-Mexico boarder regions of Monterrey and Tijuana and are contiguous with Bell Atlantic’s PCS licenses in the southwestern United States.
Iusacell, which already serves 70 percent of the 94 million people in Mexico, plans to expand digital service to the rest of its more than 76 million potential customers through 1999 and already has invested $60 million in a planned $200 million network upgrade, said Bell Atlantic.
“Using our [Code Division Multiple Access] platform, Iusacell and Bell Atlantic can eventually leverage their networks into an extensive North American footprint and explore purchasing synergies and other efficiencies,” said Tom Bartlett, chief executive officer of Iusacell and president and CEO of Bell Atlantic International Wireless.
Iusacell recently increased its distribution network by 32 percent and established two new customer service centers in Leon and Naucalpan, Mexico, to help meet the anticipated customer demand for PCS services, said Bell Atlantic. The new centers combine customer support for Iusacell’s cellular, paging, rural telephony and long-distance service offerings.
