Nextel cellular phone

A week before announcing its blockbuster merger with OneComm Corp., Nextel Communications Inc. disclosed an order backlog of over 10,000 units as it marked the beginning of commercial operations in the San Francisco/Sacramento Valley area, its second California market.

With its digital signal processor chips in short supply across the industry, Motorola Inc. has been hindered in its assembly of subscriber units to an unanticipated degree, according to Nextel.

But the Rutherford, N.J.-based ESMR operator struck an upbeat tone concerning delivery schedules, its marketing strategy and its California expansion plans. Nextel said it has 1,700 ESMR units in operation, primarily in its Los Angeles market.

Portable Units To Ship in Volume Soon

From current deliveries to Nextel of 750 mobile units per week, Motorola "expects to significantly increase that volume," said Brian D. McAuley, Nextel's president and CEO. Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola is also expected to begin volume shipments of portable models to Nextel shortly.

Meanwhile, a OneComm spokesman said its own ESMR service schedule is unchanged: Seattle/Portland, Ore., on Sept. 1; Kansas City, Oklahoma City and Tulsa in the fourth quarter; and Minneapolis-St. Paul and St. Louis in the second quarter of 1995. To date, OneComm has gone commercial in Denver, its home market, where several hundred units are in service. Motorola expects to meet OneComm's delivery schedule without backlogs, according to a spokeswoman.