With perhaps the most urban region to serve of any of the Baby Bells, Nynex Corp is seeking to pioneer a range of new methods of delivering telephone service, and following its plan to use part of its cellular spectrum to offer a digital pocket telephone service, (CI No 1,482), it has filed with the US Federal Communicatons Commission for an experimental licence to test and evaluate digital radio technologies as an alternative to copper wire or fibre into homes. The company reckons that use of radio in the local exchange carrier distribution system – the local loop – could result in better overall service quality and significant cost savings. It plans to test both the standard digital cellular Time Division Multiple Access system and the new Code Division Multiple Access concept pioneered by Qualcomm Inc on digital radio links between telephone company locations and residential areas in New York City, Boston, and White Plains, New York, starting next year. The tests will help to determine possible coverage areas, mobility, calling capacity and other engineering requirements for use of radio technology as part of the local loop, connecting to optical trunks, or up to the exchange.
