The E-Plus consortium plans to launch Germany’s second private cellular telephone service in Berlin next month: We will offer inexpensive and user-friendly calling charges, and want to underline the plural, it says. E-Plus will also offer mobile facsimile and data transfer services, answering machine services and electronic boxes for short messages. It invested $410m last year and plans outlay of $590m in 1994, while total investment to the end of 1997 is expected to reach $2,360m. E-Plus currently has 800 employees and says it expects to increase its total workforce to around 2,000. The consortium consists of Thyssen AG, Veba AG, BellSouth Enterprises Inc, Vodafone Group Plc and several east German companies; it is currently building 700 base stations and plans a total of 6,000 installed by the end of 1997 when the service should be available to 98% of the population.
