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Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Cingular Makes Big Investment; Duke City Viewed As Vital Market

By Rosalie Rayburn
Journal Staff Writer
    Albuquerque's growing population and commercial base has prompted Cingular Wireless to embark on a $25 million spending spree to expand its system and services locally.
    The company's 2006 plan for New Mexico includes 90 new cell sites, six new retail stores in the area, and an agreement to sell products and services at 20 RadioShack stores.
    "Albuquerque is seen as one of the most important markets for Cingular," said Jeff McElfresh, vice president/general manager for Cingular's Desert Southwest Region.
    Cingular has studied growth patterns in the Southwest and, based on what has happened in Phoenix and Las Vegas, Nev., indications are Albuquerque will really take off in the next decade, he said.
    Cingular wants to be ready to capture the growing market. The investment to expand its network will boost Cingular's capacity to carry calls and increase its coverage area, he said.
    Enhancements planned this year will increase service area from Rio Rancho through to the Cedar Crest area of the East Mountains, and extend coverage into Santa Fe. By the end of 2006, the Cingular network will be able to carry 30 percent more calls than at the end of 2005.
    The investment means 80 new jobs in network construction, maintenance and at retail stores, McElfresh said.
    To date, Cingular has installed 20 of the 90 planned cell antenna sites. Engineers went to great lengths to locate the cell equipment on unobtrusively on existing building structures such as church steeples, said Mark Appel, Cingular's executive director of network services Desert Southwest.
    In one case, Cingular installed a cell tower as a flagpole which it erected next to an American Legion building in the Northeast Heights.
    Atlanta-based Cingular is the country's largest wireless carrier with 46 million customers nationwide. Cingular took the No. 1 spot in 2004, when it bought AT&T Wireless. Bedminster, N.J.-based Verizon is the nation's second largest wireless carrier with 42.1 million customers.