Cingular to invest in Southern states

Wireless services provider Cingular Wireless announced Wednesday that it will invest $700 million in 2002 to improve the call quality and network coverage in Florida, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. The plan involves increasing the number of digital voice paths in the four-state region by 100,000 to a total of 350,000, which increases the network's capacity to handle more calls at any given time. Cingular, a joint venture between BellSouth and SBC Communications, will install its equipment on 400 additional cell towers this year. About 70 percent of these will be on existing tower sites that hold other carriers' equipment.