AT&T Wireless gets a makeover out West

Nortel Networks said Friday that it has won an $18.5 million contract to replace portions of AT&T Wireless' cellular telephone network in California, Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming with new equipment based on the standards known as GSM, Global System for Mobile Communications, and GPRS, General Packet Radio Service. Nearly every U.S. wireless carrier is now building new telephone networks that have more capacity for cellular telephone calls. Carriers are using equipment based on either GSM/GPRS or a faster variety of Qualcomm's Code Division Multiple Access.