Not exactly. AMPS licenses were granted to *two* carriers in every
> market: one "wireline" (incumbent LEC) telephone company, and one
> independent carrier. So it is only right to say that *half of* the
> original cell phone carriers were the telcos.
Pat is right -- most of the A carriers were LECs from somewhere else, or perhaps for the first 15 minutes someone who bought a kit to bid in the cellular auction and then turned around and sold his ticket to SBC or Bell Atlantic.
R's,
John
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But SBC in those days was Southwestern Bell, and its eastern boundary was Missouri. Please correct me as needed, but weren't all or most of the -A- or 'competing' carriers in fact one 'Celluar One' (as a brand name) or another? I know here in southeast Kansas the A/B thing got screwed up somehow; where Sprint (the old United Telephone) is the 'B' or established telco in the northern part (old 913 area code) of the state and 'Alltel' is the 'A' carrier when you get south where I am (the old 316 and now 620 area code) Alltel is the 'B' carrier and Cingular Wireless is the 'A' carrier, which they inherited when they took over AT&T's old territory here. But in the 1980's SBC would have never dared to go up to Chicago to hawk their wares. It just wouldn't do. That's why they had to have their make believe company 'Cellular One' do it for them. I know our local 'Cell One' is a Dobson thing, and they are on the 'B' side here along with Alltel. PAT]