NEWS Geotek receives $115 million in additional financing
Geotek Communications, Montvale, NJ, has raised $75 million in private financing from a group of investors. In a separate transaction, Geotek obtained a commitment for a $40 million credit facility from a Soros Investment Partnership, which will bring the Soros Group’s total investment in Geotek to $100 million. Geotek will use the funds to finance the continued expansion of its FHMA networks in the United States. Since the beginning of the year, Geotek has launched networks in Philadelphia, Washington and Baltimore and is scheduled to begin offering commercial service in New York, Boston, Miami and Dallas by the spring. By the end of 1997, Geotek intends to deploy FHMA networks in at least 35 U.S. markets, including Atlanta, Chicago and San Francisco.
In related news, SmartRoute Systems, Cambridge, MA, has reached an agreement with Geotek to provide enhanced information services over the Geotek digital FHMA network. The venture will provide Geotek’s mobile users with a wide array of SmartRoute Systems traveler information, including specific traffic conditions, turn-by-turn street directions, actual airline arrival and departure times and dynamic route guidance. These services, which target commercial vehicle operators with dispatch centers and fleets of vehicles on the roadways, will initially be offered in Boston.