International cellular phone rental

The North American Cellular Network, an organization of 50 carriers led by McCaw Cellular, AirTouch, Southwestern Bell, BellSouth, Comcast and others, plans to extend its cellular call delivery reach overseas before the end of this year through a new agreement with U.K.-based Vodafone Ltd.

Customers of carriers with membership in the NACN already can receive calls virtually anywhere in the U.S. or Canada. As a result of the Vodafone agreement, these customers will be able to buy or rent a new phone equipped with a special billing card that will allow them to take calls while traveling in many foreign countries.

The billing card, provided by Vodafone, will contain calling plan information of the customer being called. That information will be relayed to a domestic switch on an NACN carrier's network, allowing the switch to find the customer and transmit the call, said a spokesman for McCaw.

The new phones, card included, probably will retail for about $800, said the spokesman. However, the NACN hopes to establish some kind of rental program under which the new phones, produced by Motorola and possibly other manufacturers, can be rented from participating NACN carriers by customers before they take trips overseas, said the McCaw spokesman. The phones also eventually will be available in some foreign countries.