Sprint PCS Continues Growth in Hacienda

By Jay Hipps, Hacienda Network Staff Writer

New Office will Double Local Engineering, Network Services Staff

Fresh from reporting the best quarter in wireless communications history, Sprint PCS is expanding their offices and doubling their technical workforce in Hacienda.

The company is leasing an additional 12,024 square feet of space at 4683 Chabot Drive, bringing Sprint's Hacienda total to 69,971 square feet.

Record-Setting Growth

Their growth in the park reflects the growth experienced throughout the organization. Sprint PCS added 836,000 subscribers nationwide in the fourth quarter of 1998, exceeding the previous high quarter ever recorded by a U.S. wireless carrier.

"We sold approximately twice as many wireless phones as our nearest competitor," says Chip Graves, Northern California area vice president of Sprint PCS West Region. "We turned on service in December of 1996, so for us to hit the 2.57 million mark at the end of our second year is phenomenal growth."

Sprint's technical staff housed in Hacienda will be critical to the company's continued expansion.

"We'll be hiring on our technical services and network operations side," says Graves. "They'll be working in Northern California and the Bay Area in particular but also throughout the western region."

These new employees will play key roles in the creation, maintenance, and expansion of the network of transmitters and receivers known as "cell sites" which serves as the infrastructure to the Sprint PCS network.

"The site acquisition people will look for the appropriate locations for new cell sites," explains Graves. "There will be design engineers for the physical cell sites themselves, RF engineers who will tune the sites, and others who will integrate each particular site onto our existing network."

Central Valley Service Expansion

Last week, the company announced an affiliation agreement which will allow additional service in the Central Valley.

"Our footprint in the Central Valley is going to increase dramatically in the next month or two," says Graves. "We currently are in Fresno, and will be picking up Stockton and Visalia and building out Bakersfield."

Coverage of the greater Bay Area is from Gilroy on the southern end to Sonoma and Napa counties in the north. The I-80 corridor to Sacramento currently also has coverage. Expansion is planned in the coming year to Santa Cruz.

"We're in the process of developing plans that will by the end of this year allow us to provide continuous service up to Reno and Tahoe, and we also expect fully to have connected our Northern California system down Highway 5 with the Southern California system," he adds.

The company's expansion is not unique to California, however. Sprint PCS already operates the largest digital PCS network in the nation, which serves most major metropolitan areas.

Field Operations, Too

In addition to their offices on Chabot Drive, the company maintains a sales and marketing office at 4256 Hacienda Drive, which works with advertising, third party retailers, and other sales teams.

Photo: Nancy Bellecci, facilities manager for Sprint PCS, stands in their new 12,024 square foot space.

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