After reorganizing the business two years ago, Chadmoore Wireless Group Inc. today boasts a market capitalization of $38 million and is moving toward becoming a giant in the specialized mobile radio industry.
On the basis of spectrum, Chadmoore ranks third behind Nextel Communications Inc. and Pittencrieff Inc., said David Chadwick, Chadmoore vice president, technology and development.
The company has grown by working with existing operators, said Chadwick. Rather than just acquiring systems, Chadmoore seeks to form joint ventures with existing operators who know more about the communities where they operate. Chadmoore brings to the table the necessary capital, spectrum and backbone equipment a small player may need to survive, Chadwick commented.
As such, the company is paying with leveraged dollars. The spectrum costs less, so the company can offer service at a lower cost, he added.
Based in Las Vegas, Nev., Chadmoore is online to roll out digital mobile telephone service throughout the South. Business/industrial users that need both vehicle-to-vehicle dispatch and mobile telephone interconnect communications for their fleets are Chadmoore’s primary customers. Chadwick said he believes his company will seize disgruntled cellular customers, specifically high-end users tired of paying exorbitant prices, in addition to traditional dispatch clients.
“The face of dispatch is changing,” remarked Chadwick. Cost has dropped to $15 to $20 per unit, and $10 a month for service. Chadwick added that his company’s mobile telephone service can save users 40 percent compared with cellular service for two times the amount of airtime, over a year’s time.
In expanding its business, Chadmoore is pursuing a two-tiered business strategy. Through its joint ventures with or acquisitions of existing operators, Chadmoore aggregates channels, increasing system capacity. As such, the company seeks new subscribers to fill the open capacity. Second, the company markets additional features and enhanced services to its subscribers to increase revenues.
Cities with between 250,000 and 1.5 million people and linked by substantial interstate highway traffic represent Chadmoore’s primary market target for SMR ventures. Such a scenario presents an opportunity to build regional systems, the company’s main goal.
Chadmoore provides analog service and plans to start digital SMR service in Memphis, Tenn., in the third quarter using Motorola Inc.’s integrated dispatch enhanced network, or iDEN, technology. Thereafter, the company will deploy the iDEN technology throughout its properties in the South.
Chadmoore currently owns and operates an analog-based system in Memphis with 3,800 subscribers and holds irrevocable, five-year “option to acquire and manage” agreements with more than 1,200 licensed SMR stations in more than 60 cities, serving 18 million people. The company has groups of properties in Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Iowa.
Motorola’s digital equipment has dispatch, messaging, data and mobile telephone capabilities and is scalable, said Chadmoore. As companies expand business, their systems can be adjusted for capacity and coverage increases. The iDEN equipment also allows customers to plan their migrations from analog to digital service. So “we don’t have to turn off analog customers to make room for potential digital customers,” said Chadwick. Chadmoore is in discussions with Motorola regarding financing for its digital networks.
Digital SMR will provide 10 times the capacity of existing analog channels and call clarity and quality is akin to cellular, said Chadmoore.
