BANGOR (AP) – As more Mainers rely on cell phones and demand that gaps in coverage be closed, the industry is making use of shared cell towers that allow several companies to occupy the same space.

Mesa Communications Group LLC, based in Virginia, owns and leases tower space to cell phone companies all over the East Coast and is Maine’s largest cell phone tower proprietor. The company has a network of 65 towers running from the southern tip of the state to the end of Interstate 95, all of which serve more than one carrier.

“We try to concentrate in second- and third-tier markets. Clearly all of Maine outside of Portland would qualify as that,” said Jack Rupert, the company’s vice president of acquisition and development.

In response to consumer demand, cell phone companies are expanding their areas of coverage into the rural reaches of Maine.

“The number of cell phones is starting to outnumber land lines, and cell phone companies are starting to be more aggressive in their packaging,” Maine Public Utilities Commission spokesman Phil Lindley said.

Gov. John Baldacci called for increased wireless coverage in his State of the State address. His ConnectMe proposal would ensure cell phone service in all of Maine’s communities by 2008. “We are looking to extend into thinly settled areas” of the state, said Kim Kenway, a lawyer who represents both U.S. Cellular and Unicel, Eastern Maine’s largest cellular phone companies, “if for no other reason than for public safety purposes.”

The public has been clamoring for constant, uninterrupted coverage and elimination of areas where service is unavailable. “The biggest complaint we get is lack of service,” said Wayne Jortner, a lawyer with the Maine Public Advocate’s Office “There are huge gaps in coverage, and we’re in the process of compiling as much data as possible to find out where those gaps are.”

While cell phone companies remain guarded about the locations of their towers, Mesa Communications has no such concerns.

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Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com

AP-ES-03-19-05 1332EST