Cellular One activates new Concord switching station; boosts system capacity, enhances digital network capability and overall network reliability in a disaster

Business Wire, Oct 27, 1995

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 27, 1995-- Cellular One today activated a new switching system in Concord that boosts the company's ability to handle the rapid increase in cellular usage in the East Bay, sets the stage for further expansion of the company's exclusive digital network and provides additional protection against a system outage in the event of a natural disaster.

The Concord Mobile Telephone Switching Office, or MTSO, is an $8 million installation designed to increase overall capacity by 30 percent. It will handle some of the cellular traffic currently routed through Cellular One's Oakland and San Francisco switches. It also provides the digital infrastructure required for the expansion of the company's digital network to additional areas in Contra Costa County and to Napa and Sonoma Counties. The company also has a switch in Santa Clara.

An MTSO contains a cellular switch and other equipment that controls a cellular system. The switch's function is to channel calls as users travel throughout the system.

The new MTSO further strengthens Cellular One's system reliability and survivability in the event of a catastrophe. It is the company's first MTSO to feature a SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) switching capability, which utilizes switching techniques that substantially increase the ability of a network to heal itself automatically in the case of failure. SONET technology will be installed system-wide by mid-1996.

"We are seeing a tremendous increase in cellular usage in the East Bay," said Cellular One president Sue Swenson. "The Concord MTSO, combined with the expansion of our digital cellular network, ensures that we can continue to provide top quality cellular service to our East Bay and North Bay customers for years to come."

All of Cellular One's MTSOs are connected by a redundant fiber optic network. If one MTSO is incapacitated, part of the cellular system can be reconfigured and calls rerouted through the remaining MTSOs.

"We are preprogramming the Concord switch to respond automatically to a variety of default scenarios," said Brian Montgomery, Cellular One vice president of engineering. "We previously had to manually diagnose an outage and reroute calls through another part of the system to restore service. With SONET our network will be able to reroute service automatically with no disruption to our customers."

Cellular One is the leading cellular company in the Bay Area and the exclusive provider of digital cellular service. It is a partnership of two communications companies: AirTouch Communications, San Francisco; and AT&T Wireless Services, Kirkland, Wash.

CONTACT: Cellular One

Erin McCormick-Eggleton, 415/827-5702

or

Torme & Kenney

Steven Freemire, 415/956-1791