Unicel to go forward with Millinocket tower plans

MILLINOCKET – The recent announcement of a pending sale of regional Rural Cellular Corp. for $757 million in cash by Nationwide Verizon Wireless has not altered Rural Cellular’s plan to put a 190-foot tower on Public Works Department property near a town garage.

Town Manager Eugene Conlogue told town councilors Thursday that he expects to be in touch with Unicel shortly to begin negotiations. Unicel must first finish a site survey and other research connected with the plan.

“We haven’t started on the lease agreement formally because they want to do this other stuff first,” Conlogue said.

The tower will cost Unicel $100,000 to $250,000 to install. It should alleviate dead spots and distortion caused by weak signals in the Millinocket Valley, the low-lying area in which downtown is located, as well as bolstering signal quality in areas north of town, Peter Hyszczak, sales director for Unicel’s Northeast territory, has said.

Cell phone service in rural Maine, particularly in the region comprising East Millinocket, Medway and Millinocket, is generally regarded as poor, particularly in the Millinocket Valley and in areas outside town proper, but has seen some improvement in recent years.

Rural Cellular Corp. provides wireless communication under the Unicel brand to territories in 15 states, including Maine.

Rural Cellular and Verizon announced the pending deal, which must get regulatory approval, on July 31. The tower installation would be in line with Verizon’s hopes of getting Verizon customers better cell phone reception in rural areas while allowing users of Rural Cellular’s Unicel network to find the same in urban areas such as Portland.

Rural Cellular’s Unicel network served 716,000 customers as of March 31, spread across 15 states including Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Unicel hopes to conclude negotiations and have the tower operational by Jan. 1.

In other town government news:

. Conlogue hopes to begin negotiations with Bee Line Cable over the company’s television service franchise in Millinocket within a few weeks or months, he said.

The franchise agreement lapsed on April 1, and Bee Line wants a new 15-year deal. Councilors Scott Gonya, David Cyr and Matthew Polstein expressed reservations about the 15-year length, with Cyr and Gonya saying they preferred 10- and five-year pacts, respectively.

. Nomination papers will be available Monday for two three-year council seats, one two-year seat and two three-year seats on the Millinocket School Committee.

Wallace Paul and Cyr are the councilors whose seats are up for election, with former council Chairman David Nelson’s seat also up. Nelson left the area for a job in Milwaukee in June.

Wendy Berube and Shelly Farrington are the school committee members whose seats are up for election.