GTE Corp is attempting to pre-empt the planned Personal Communications Services – currently stalled while impatient contenders wait for the US Federal Communications Commission to conduct its planned auction of frequencies – by offering low-cost US-wide service to lightweight pocket phones on its existing analogue cellular systems. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Stamford, Connecticut company will launch the service, called Telego, by the end of the year. Telego has been quietly tested for almost two years in Tampa, Florida among 3,000 customers.Subscribers will also be able to use their pocket phones as cordless phones around the house. Each user can be reached through one Telego number, but subscribers will not be able to roam far from a service area unless they sign up for a more expensive service. The charge will be $25 a month plus a per-minute charge – in Tampa, subscribers pay 25 cents a minute. GTE says it is also committed to pursuing Personal Communications Service licences in areas where it has no coverage.
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