(mobile-ip 1512) Nynex and Bell Atlantic Cellular to Merge

[[e-mail]]

>From: Paul Robinson <[e-mail]>
Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA
-----
Nynex and Bell Atlantic Cellular to Merge

Article Summary From {Washington Post} and {Washington Times} 
of July 1, 1994.

Bell Atlantic, the wireline telephone company serving the area from
Virginia to New Jersey, plans to merge its Cellular Telephone operation
("Bell Atlantic Mobile") with the one operated by Nynex, the wireline
company operating in New York through Maine, creating a single mobile
company operating throughout most of the East Coast of the U.S.  It is
seen as a plum for Nynex's Cellular operations, which are considered to
have the lowest level of penetration into the market of any regional Bell
Operating Company. 

Nynex' Stock rose $1 to $37.88 a share; Bell Atlantic stock rose 63c to
$56 a share, on news of this announcement.  Estimates of potential income
of the as-yet-unnamed joint venture could reach US $13 Billion, with
revenue of US $1.2 billion.  It would have about 4,250 employees and 1.8
million customers.  The agreement is subject to regulatory and antitrust
approvals, and would, if approved, create the second largest mobile system
after McCaw Cellular, with 2.1 million subscribers. 

Last year the Cellular Industry announced it had connected its 17
millionth customer, and estimates are that 100 million will be connected
within 10 years.  But 92% of the [US] population still does not have cellular
service. 

This merger is probably in response to plans for up to six competing
mobile carriers using the new PCS telephone system which uses smaller,
less expensive base stations.  Bell Atlantic is competing for PCS licenses
in areas where it does not operate cellular systems.  The times as well as
the article in the Post fail to mention that the Washington Post Company
has a pioneer preference license for the Washington area. 

Bell Atlantic Mobile, the Cellular division of the local telephone 
company has only one competitor, Cellular One, which is owned by 
Southwestern Bell, the wireline company serving Texas and nearby 
states.  FCC regulations only permit two cellular companies in 
any one market.  Oftentimes the non-wireline company in a market is the 
wireline company somewhere else.

While Cellular One is considered the "upstart entrepenur", Bell Atlantic
Mobile has been running commercials with the voice of James Earl Jones,
[Who does the 'Welcome to Bell Atlantic' intro on local calls to 411; he
is also recognizable as the "This is C N N." in the hourly identifications
of that cable network, and is most famous as the voice of Darth Vader in
the {Star Wars} trilogy] saying such things as "A cellular phone can't be
used for local calls.  It can't be used for faxes.  You can't make
business calls on a cellular phone...Unless the call goes through" while
at the same time claiming it is NOT impugning the reliability of Cellular
One's network.  Bell Atlantic also became the first system to make its
phones operate while inside the mostly underground Washington, DC
Metrorail [Subway] System. 

Cellular One is also reacting, as it announced in May, by setting up its
systems so that a cellular subscriber need only have a single 10-digit
number [and calls can reach them automatically even while roaming].  Bell
Atlantic says it already has this is most of its areas and should have it
in the remainder by the end of the year. 

Heavy competition in the selling of cellular phones has caused the prices
to drop from the initial $2,500 in 1984 for a bulky car phone to $39 today
for a tiny Motorola "Flip Phone" you can carry in your pocket.  But the
constant and heavy demand for airtime and a lack of serious competition in
air time service providers has not caused cellular rates to change much
and have in many cases made rates virtually identical, as shown in the
table at the bottom of this article. 

Bell Atlantic has 235,000 subscribers; Cellular One has 252,000.
 
 
                      Table: Comparing Calls
 
  Bell Atlantic Mobile [owner: Bell Atlantic; has 164 cell sites] 
                                
                              A  I  R    T  I  M  E
                  Monthly      Peak           Off-Peak     
                   access   Rate    Free    Rate    Free   Other
Plan Name          fee     Per Min  Min.   Per Min  Min    Features*
 
Flex               $24.95   $0.39   None   $0.19    None    No
Value               43.95    0.50    60     0.30     60     No
Nights & Weekends   34.95    0.55   None    0.05    300     No
Casual User         19.95    0.75   None    0.75    None    No
   
 
   Cellular One [owner: Southwestern Bell; has 162 cell sites]
 
Premier           $139.95   $0.39   300     Free  Unlimited Yes
Work & Play         68.95    0.39    60     Free  Unlimited Yes
Smart Choice        46.95    0.39    60     0.19     60     Yes
Weekender           39.95    0.55   None    0.05    500     No
Economy             36.95    0.39    30     0.19     30     Yes
Guardian            25.95    0.39   None    0.19    None    No
 
* Features such as call waiting, call forwarding, conference calling,
messaging [voice mail?] and detailed billing.  Both companies offer such
features a la carte for about $1.50 to $5.00 a month. 
 
Peak hours are 7am to 9pm Mon-Fri except some holidays.  Price does not
include a telephone, one-time activation fee or long distance charges. 



---
Paul Robinson - [e-mail]
Voted "Largest Polluter of the (IETF) list" by Randy Bush <[e-mail]>
-----
The following Automatic Fortune Cookie was selected only for this message:

Finagle's Third Law:
	In any collection of data, the figure most obviously correct,
	beyond all need of checking, is the mistake

Corollaries:
	1.  Nobody whom you ask for help will see it.
	2.  The first person who stops by, whose advice you really
	    don't want to hear, will see it immediately.