Motorola Inc’s Cellular Subscriber Group in Libertyville, Illinois, has acquired an 18% interest in Telular Corp, a manufacturer of advanced fixed wireless telecommunications products in Wilmette, Illinois on undisclosed terms. Motorola already had a cross-licensing agreement with Telular and the new pact provides the start-up with working capital and access to Motorola engineering, sales and other resources. The excitement is caused by a patented system that enables users of standard telephones bypass the local monopoly phone company and divert their calls via wireless networks. We could supplement regular local phone services to provide back-up systems, wireless alarm systems, anyplace wireless could give the effect of having a regular phone, Robert Weisshappel, general manager of Motorola’sCellular Subscriber Group told the Wall Street Journal. The Telular equipment is already used to provide emergency wireless back-up for office and hospital phone systems, but could also enable phone users to bypass the Bell system entirely and use cellular and other wireless services if these were cheap enough to make it worthwhile. Of more immediate interest is the facility for phone companies to extend wireless service to rural communities without the need to cable. Where wired phones must be activated by a dial tone before they can make a phone call and cellular phones require a user to key the phone number and press send to set up the call, Telular’s software simulates a dial tone electronically, so the wired phone acts as if it’s connected to the phone network where in fact it is linked to the Telular box, which then sends the call to the cellular system using a Motorola radio transceiver.
