Sprint Launches Second-Generation Cellular Phone System In Spokane

Sprint PCS turned on a $30 million network on Monday that will introduce second-generation cellular telephone technology to Spokane.

The city and Fresno, Calif., were the first of 65 areas where the company expects to launch service by the end of 1997, said Steve Nielsen, Sprint’s Northwest area vice president.

Portland will be added later this week, Seattle sometime during the first half of 1997.

Backers are promoting PCS, or personal communications services, as a vastly improved form of cellular service.

Based on digital and analog technology, PCS calls are less apt than conventional cellular to be dropped as they are switched from antenna to antenna, said Nielsen.

Other advantages, he said, include encryption, which prevents thieves from cloning numbers; longer-lasting batteries; and a number of features built in at no extra charge, such as caller ID, voicemail and call-waiting.

Nielsen estimated the cost is about 15 percent less than cellular. The handsets themselves are expensive, about $200, but calling is cheaper, he said.

An hour of calls per month, for example, costs $30.

Nielsen said Spokane was among the first because the number of antenna sites - 39 - was relatively small, and problems with location and interference with existing microwave users were solved relatively easily.

The Sprint system will extend from Cheney to Athol when the last two antenna are ready.

Sprint Corp. and its partners, Tele-Communications Inc., Cox Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp., acquired the license for Spokane and Billings in 1995.

The other license for the area is held by GTE Wireless. Spokeswoman Jennifer Rief said that system would be launched in the first quarter of 1997.

Together, the licensees for Spokane spent $11.9 million.

Nielsen said Sprint PCS spent a total of $2 billion on licenses for systems that will reach 190 million Americans. The company is investing another $3 billion in building the systems, he said.

Additional licenses may take Sprint PCS coverage to 260 million Americans.

“We’ll be the largest single provider nationwide,” Nielsen said.

Nielsen said PCS use between cities will not be possible initially. That option will be added when handsets are built with both digital and analog capability, he said.

Nielsen said Sprint PCS employs about 50 in Spokane.

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