A Far Reach in Wireless Communications.

• Author: COLBY, KENT L.

Cellular service is growing in popularity and providers are gearing up to serve more of the state.

Whether in the throbbing heart of Alaska's metropolitan hubs or in the bush, chances are you can phone home. Cellular telephone and wireless communications services are far reaching in the Last Frontier and the technology is growing.

From Barrow to Ketchikan, the Pribilofs, much of the Aleutians, the North Slope and throughout Alaska's Interior, there is most likely a cellular service provider near you. It's a broad statement considering Alaska's size. In fact, much of the state is not covered by wireless or cellular. But, what service there is, directly aligns to the state's population.

Staking Claim

Both Alaska Communications Systems and AT&T Wireless claim that the respective companies they purchased filed the first claim on the gold mine of cellular service in Alaska. MACtel, now owned by ACS, panned its first customer in August of 1988. Mcaw Cellular, currently AT&T Wireless, mined its first nugget the same month of the same year. According to Carl Reed, general manager of AT&T Wireless' Alaska operations, Mcaw beat MACtel by three weeks.

Cellular Expands

As with the gold rush of a century ago, today's companies are in search of more gold-in the form of customers who want constant communications. Cellular companies throughout the state have built, sold, merged, bought, expanded and evolved since that first start in 1988. Today, according to the Federal Communications Commission, there are some 17 active licensees in the state. It is difficult to break down just how many individual cell sites that includes, as most all of Alaska's cellular providers are in a constant state of flux. The bigger companies have mostly all upgraded to digital, while still supporting existing analog phones. Much of the expansion for AT&T Wireless, a subsidiary of national telecom giant AT&T, is filling voids in the existing footprint that reaches from Homer to Trapper Creek, Glennallen to Valdez. Reed said the company is building at a vibrant rate and is scheduled to bring up 20 to 32 new cell sites within the next two years.

Manager since 1993, Reed acknowledges his bias when he said his company is a technology leader in the state. "We generally build and the others wait to see if it works before proceeding." He says the company had digital data by the end of last year, giving customers access to e-mail and the Internet via cell phone. Called Pocket Net[TM]...