bill@gauss.eedsp.gatech.edu (05/16/91)
I saw the following on the news wire.
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HAYWARD, CA (MAY 16) PR NEWSWIRE - GTE Mobilnet today announced the
first "encryption" or scrambling system packaged for the cellular-
consumer market. It allows customers to scramble their conversations,
preventing the possibility of illegal monitoring by people with
scanners or other devices. GTE Mobilnet will offer the scrambling
service and accompanying device to its California customers in early
June, and will expand it to the Pacific Northwest and the Hawaiian
Islands in the coming months.
"This service is perfect for the average caller concerned about the
immediate privacy of his or her mobile-telephone conversations," said
Tony Frank, market manager for GTE Mobilnet's Pacific Region. "Once
you connect the device to your mobile or transportable phone, you
simply push a button to automatically scramble your part of the
conversation. If both parties have the service, the entire conversation
is scrambled and protected from scanners and other non-authorized
listeners, who are breaking the law."
GTE Mobilnet developed the system because some customers -- mostly
government accounts and defense contractors -- are concerned about the
illegal use of scanners that can monitor radio waves over which mobile-
telephone signals move, allowing them to listen to others' conversations.
"With this system, the voice quality is excellent and the scrambling
doesn't delay the conversation," Frank said. "An eavesdropper with a
scanner will hear unintelligible noise."
Frank said the device, which is about the size of a pocket
calculator, will work for installed car and transportable cellular
phones -- but not handheld mobile telephones. It can easily be
installed by customers between a mobile telephone's handset and the
transceiver.
GTE Mobilnet is a wholly-owned subsidiary of GTE Corp. (NYSE: GTE)
GTE also owns 90 percent of the outstanding shares of Contel Cellular
Inc. and, through these entities, provides cellular telecommunications
products and services to more than 50 million "POPs." (POPs refers to
the population of an area multiplied by the company's percentage
ownership in the cellular system serving the area.)
GTE is a world leader in its three core businesses --
telecommunications, lighting and precision materials. Its combined
revenues and sales in 1990 were $21.4 billion with net income of $1.7
billion. GTE subsidiaries, operating in 48 states and 41 countries,
include the largest U.S.-based, local-telephone company, combined
cellular interests that make it the second-largest, cellular-service
provider in the United States and Sylvania Lighting, the third-largest
producer of lighting products in the world.
CONTACT: Janet Henderson, 713-586-1418, or Mobile, 713-882-178, or Dorea
Akers, 203-965-3188, or after 5 p.m. 203-968-2360, both of GTE Mobilnet.
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Bill Berbenich Georgia Tech, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
uucp: ...!{backbones}!gatech!eedsp!bill Internet: bill@eedsp.gatech.edu