[Teligent Announces First Call Over Commercially Available 'Point to Multi-Point' Wireless Equipment From Nortel]
VIENNA, Va., March 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Teligent, Inc. (NASDAQ:TGNT), a new integrated communications company, today announced completion of the first telephone call made in the United States over commercially available "point to multi-point" digital wireless equipment from Nortel (Northern Telecom).
"This is a significant milestone for Teligent," said Teligent Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alex J. Mandl. "This puts us on track to roll out commercial point to multi-point service during the second half of this year."
"This call is an equally important landmark for Nortel," said Nortel President and Chief Executive Officer John A. Roth. "We're excited to be a part of this historic effort, which shows that the development and delivery of point to multi-point equipment for the wireless local loop is proceeding at a rapid pace. Because of the potential cost advantages of point to multi-point, we expect this technology to revolutionize the local communications marketplace."
The successful "point to multi-point" call was placed from Teligent's Los Angeles offices to the company's corporate headquarters in Northern Virginia using Nortel's Reunion radio equipment and software. An initial version of the Nortel Reunion product will be used during the next few months by beta
customers in Los Angeles.
Teligent will commercially deploy a more advanced version of the product in Los Angeles and other markets as the company builds its advanced local communications networks in 74 major metropolitan areas. Teligent will use its high-speed, high-capacity fixed wireless networks to provide local, long distance, data and Internet services to small and medium businesses.
Teligent previously announced that it will launch commercial service in at least ten markets during the second half of 1998 -- Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Orlando, San Antonio, Tampa and Washington, DC.
"Point to multi-point" digital wireless networks will enable Teligent to serve many customer buildings from a single, centrally located base station. The base station routes customer calls or data connections to a Teligent switch, where the signals are handed off to other voice or data networks. Last Fall, Teligent used prototype wireless equipment to demonstrate the technical feasibility of a point to multi-point system during a network trial in Richardson, Texas.
In November, 1997, Teligent announced that it had named Nortel (Northern Telecom) as the preferred supplier and principal integrator of its nationwide system of local digital networks, with an agreement outlining an equipment purchase and vendor financing commitment valued at $780 million over five years. The Teligent network will feature Nortel's scaleable, fixed wireless access and local, long distance and ATM switching systems.
SOURCE Teligent, Inc.
-0- 03/18/98
/CONTACT: Robert W. Stewart of Teligent, 703-762-5175 or, pager, 888-894-7812/ |
