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Nextel rings up new prices
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March 3, 1997: 12:37 p.m. ET
Digital communications company will bill cell phone users to exact second
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - In a move that could start a rate war in the competitive wireless market, Nextel Communications Inc. on Monday announced a new cellular phone pricing strategy.
The digital communications company, which boasts cellular phone pioneer Craig McCaw as chairman of its operating committee, said its new pricing plan will bill customers to the second after the first minute of usage.
Typically, cellular phone firms round up to the next minute, meaning that a call that lasts one minute and one second will be rounded up to a charge of two minutes.
In January, the company announced the elimination of roaming fees, allowing its customers to be charged their home rates even outside of their subscription area.
Competition is keen in the digital communications market because they are jockeying for the same 25 million business people.
The move could touch off a lowering of rates among other companies like AT&T Corp. and Sprint Corp., but so far those companies have stayed with their existing price structures.
The McLean, Va.-based Nextel began as a radio dispatch service before moving into the cellular market in 1995. 
--Randy Schultz
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Nextel
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