DALLAS-PrimeCo Personal Communications L.P. launched its PrimeTravel service, which allows subscribers to roam throughout the nation using dual-mode/dual-band handsets manufactured by Sony Corp.
The company also announced it has implemented over-the-air activation.
PrimeCo has signed roaming agreements with its parent companies-AirTouch Communications Inc., Bell Atlantic Corp. and U S West Media Group-to form a cellular footprint covering almost the entire country, said the company.
Through PrimeTravel, PrimeCo customers will gain access to wireless services in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit, Minneapolis, Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Seattle.
PrimeCo last week also launched its OTA technology, which allows customers who purchase a new phone from a retailer to obtain a phone number within 30 seconds by making a single call from the new handset, said the company.
“Over-the-air activation will provide customers greater convenience,” said Lowell McAdam, president and chief executive officer of PrimeCo. “When it is fully deployed throughout our service areas, customers will no longer need to bring their phone to a PrimeCo location to be reprogrammed or to request a new phone number.”
Through PrimeTravel, calls initiated on analog networks will be billed at 69 cents per minute, in addition to long-distance charges. Calls initiated from PrimeCo service areas will be billed at the customer’s usual home-market rates, said PrimeCo. The dual-mode phones retail for about $250.
PrimeCo’s licenses cover Norfolk and Richmond, Va.; Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando and Tampa, Fla.; Chicago; Green Bay, Madison and Milwaukee, Wis.; Mobile, Ala.; New Orleans; Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio, Texas; and Maui and Honolulu, Hawaii.
