PrimeCo Personal Communications begins offering Oahu service as part of a 16-city national launch - the largest simultaneous rollout ever for a wireless carrier.
PrimeCo joins Honolulu Cellular and GTE Mobilnet, the two established players on Oahu, as well as VoiceStream Wireless, which launched its network in February.
VoiceStream and PrimeCo use the newest generation of digital technology, called personal communications services. PCS is lauded for offering better call quality and security than the older analog technology used by longtime players, including Honolulu Cellular and GTE Mobilnet.
But one of the big drawbacks - at least for now - is breadth of coverage. The technology is so new that PCS phones can't work in many parts of the country or even on some of the neighbor islands because the antenna networks still are being built.
Because of the type of digital technology PrimeCo uses, called CDMA, the company says calls made on its system will sound noticeably better than those placed on competing networks on Oahu.
But "we'll let the customers out there decide that," said Jeff Brennan, vice president and general manager for PrimeCo in Hawaii.
PrimeCo is pricing its services to be competitive, but not to be the cheapest in town, Brennan said. The company is relying more on its network reliability and features to draw customers, he said.
It offers two basic packages: one for $18 a month that does not include "free" minutes; airtime is charged at 25 cents per minute. The other package costs $40 monthly and includes 100 minutes; additional airtime is 21 cents per minute.
The suggested retail price for the PrimeCo phone is $199.
Unlike the other carriers, PrimeCo offers a standard feature that allows customers to punch a few buttons on their phones to get a running total for their monthly bills. The phones also can be programmed to alert a customer via text message when 80 percent of a self-established spending limit is reached.
PrimeCo is the first company to launch a mass-market network in the United States using the CDMA technology, which proponents tout as the system of the future. But CDMA has yet to be proven commercially, making the PrimeCo launch - months behind the original unveiling date - of great interest throughout the industry.
"This is kind of the acid test," said Harvey Luke, isle general manager of VoiceStream. Luke's company uses a digital technology called GSM, the main alternative to CDMA.
Both technologies convert voices into digital bits of information, enabling more efficient use of airwave space than the standard analog systems.
PrimeCo, which employs 55 people locally, spent nearly $22 million to purchase its Hawaii PCS license. It has invested more than $25 million thus far in the local network, Brennan said.
The company expects to launch Maui service next month and add the Big Island and Kauai in early 1997.
A third PCS carrier, Pocket Communications, is scheduled to enter the local market in March.
