Montvale, New Jersey-based Geotek Communications Inc began operating its new Frequency-Hopping Multiple Access digital speech and data network in Philadelphia, claiming it to be the first wide-scale deployment of the system in the US: an investment partnership of George Soros also signed a definitive deal to buy an additional $10m of preferred shares, increasing its total investment in the company to $50m; it says that frequency-hopping will enable it to construct a wireless network with fewer cell sites than competing technologies, making the infrastructure costs of its network lower than competitors; it plans to conduct a series of mobile demonstrations later this year, with commercial availablity in Philadelphia planned in the middle of 1995; by 1997, it plans to be operating in 35 major US markets where it has Specialised Moble Radio licences.
