
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 13, 1990                   TAG: 9006130105
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

CONTEL ADDS TO PHONE COVERAGE

Contel Cellular of Roanoke has expanded its cellular-telephone coverage area with a 150-foot tower on Purgatory Mountain, near Buchanan.

Pending final Federal Communications Commission approval, the company hopes to add a half-dozen other towers in the New River Valley, Smith Mountain Lake and Lexington areas, said Dan Kelsey, Roanoke branch manager. Contel has three other towers, on Tinker Mountain, 12 O'Clock Knob and in Statesman Industrial Park.

Application has been made to the FCC for cellular service to the Harrisonburg-Staunton-Waynesboro area, to connect with the Roanoke area.

The Purgatory Mountain tower should add up to 30 miles to the coverage area, Kelsey said.

Eventually, he said, a customer will be able to drive along Interstate 81 from Pulaski to Harrisonburg and talk to the same person by telephone. A computer hands the call to the next cell or tower. - Staff report

by CNB