National Paging

If anything, Southland Communications Inc. is persistent. On Monday, the financially strapped paging service in Santa Ana, which is tangled in legal troubles with securities regulators, announced for the second time that it has signed an agreement to merge with A+ Beepers of California Inc. in Torrance. Southland, which does business as National Paging, first broached the idea of a merger with A+ Beepers in October, 1989.

There was no snow at the Huntington Library in Pasadena, but the four sled dogs tethered there seemed acclimated enough. One amiably licked the face of a child in a stroller. The hubbub wasn't much like the Yukon, but the dogs were there to excite interest in Jack London's "The Call of the Wild." This was a far cry from a quiet conversation around a library table -- a series of which are being held in West Hollywood to discuss Rudolfo Anaya's "Bless Me, Ultima."

The nation's first national paging network could result from a tentative agreement announced Wednesday by CBS Radio and DiversiCom Telecommunications Group, a division of Costa Mesa-based American Diversified Capital Corp. Under the tentative agreement, DiversiCom would use a portion of the band of CBS's FM radio stations for its national paging. The CBS stations would provide data transmission service in cities throughout the country.

If anything, Southland Communications Inc. is persistent. On Monday, the financially strapped paging service in Santa Ana, which is tangled in legal troubles with securities regulators, announced for the second time that it has signed an agreement to merge with A+ Beepers of California Inc. in Torrance. Southland, which does business as National Paging, first broached the idea of a merger with A+ Beepers in October, 1989.

BellSouth Enterprises and CellTelco Nationwide Paging Partnership announced plans today to launch a joint nationwide paging service. The agreement between MobileComm, a BellSouth subsidiary, and CellTelCo is subject to regulatory approval. The operation would be managed by a committee including representatives of the two companies and would be marketed by MobileComm. The deal calls for CellTelCo to contribute its license for a nationwide paging system in return for 50% of the partnership.

There was no snow at the Huntington Library in Pasadena, but the four sled dogs tethered there seemed acclimated enough. One amiably licked the face of a child in a stroller. The hubbub wasn't much like the Yukon, but the dogs were there to excite interest in Jack London's "The Call of the Wild." This was a far cry from a quiet conversation around a library table -- a series of which are being held in West Hollywood to discuss Rudolfo Anaya's "Bless Me, Ultima."

Southland Communications, a Santa Ana paging company, said Monday that it has signed a letter of intent to acquire a Torrance company in a $12.5-million transaction. Southland, a publicly traded company that does business in Orange County as National Paging Co., has agreed to purchase A+ Beepers of California for $9.5 million in cash and notes. Southland also would assume $3 million of A+ Beepers debt, according to Ahmad Bayaa, Southland president.

The government auction of regional paging licenses ended Tuesday with nine groups submitting winning bids for licenses to offer a new generation of paging and messaging services. PageMart Inc. and PCS Development Corp.--a consortium that includes Arch Communications Corp., A-Plus Communications and USA Mobile Communications Inc.--were the big winners. Each offered to pay more than $90 million for five regional licenses, enough to gain nationwide coverage. In addition, American Paging Inc.

A paging service company that closed its doors Wednesday and fired all of its staff might have to leave its estimated 50,000 customers in Orange County and Los Angeles without service, its founder said. Company founder Larry Nichols blamed the financial woes of EconoPage of Southern California Inc. on national paging giant PageNet Inc., which supplied air time that EconoPage sold to customers.

BellSouth Enterprises and CellTelco Nationwide Paging Partnership announced plans today to launch a joint nationwide paging service. The agreement between MobileComm, a BellSouth subsidiary, and CellTelCo is subject to regulatory approval. The operation would be managed by a committee including representatives of the two companies and would be marketed by MobileComm. The deal calls for CellTelCo to contribute its license for a nationwide paging system in return for 50% of the partnership.

The nation's first national paging network could result from a tentative agreement announced Wednesday by CBS Radio and DiversiCom Telecommunications Group, a division of Costa Mesa-based American Diversified Capital Corp. Under the tentative agreement, DiversiCom would use a portion of the band of CBS's FM radio stations for its national paging. The CBS stations would provide data transmission service in cities throughout the country.

The former president of a Santa Ana paging company has agreed to give up $736,935 in profits made in securities trading to settle civil charges that he manipulated the company's stock, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday. Ahmad Bayaa also agreed to resign as president of Southland Communications Inc., to pay $137,248 in interest fees and place his 921,000 shares in company stock in a custodial account over which he will have no control, said Daniel R.

AT&T Corp. agreed Monday to sell its paging unit to Metrocall Inc. for $205 million in cash and preferred stock, as the nation's largest telecommunications company continues to shed businesses that are not central to its growth plans. The deal would allow Metrocall to expand its reach into next-generation services, acquire about 1.2 million subscribers and gain an exclusive five-year distribution agreement with AT&T. "This is a very attractive deal for Metrocall.