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In 1987, Morgan O’Brien was a partner in the Jones Day law firm representing cellular and mobile-radio companies. He realized that it made sense to consolidate the scores of little companies offering mobile-radio systems – the kinds used by taxi fleets and delivery dispatchers. Together, these mom-and-pop outfits would constitute a national wireless company.
O’Brien decided to create the company himself. “I’m an entrepreneur trapped in a lawyer’s body,” he told Jones Day’s managing partner. Besides, he argued, if someone else pulled the mobile-radio outfits together, the new enterprise might not hire Jones Day to do its legal work. The firm agreed to let him build his new company in-house.
What did O’Brien know about creating a company? Not much. He wrote his business plan on a yellow legal pad; it had lots of ideas but no numbers.
What O’Brien did know was that the regulatory climate had changed at the Federal Communications Commission. In 1988 O’Brien petitioned the FCC to change its rules and allow his company, named Fleet Call, to transform its analog dispatch system into a cellular-phone-like digital configuration. Digital technology would allow the new company to give customers better access and improved voice quality.
“At first, everyone thought O’Brien was nuts to try anything so arduous,” wrote USA Today technology columnist Kevin Maney. O’Brien approached established companies for funding. “MCI turned him down three times. AT&T showed him the door.”
O’Brien’s legal team won, 5-to-0 at the FCC. Suddenly the pipsqueak company was a player. Financial backers started taking Fleet Call’s calls. By 1990 Fleet Call had acquired 100 smaller systems, converted to digital technology faster than the telecom giants had, and teamed up with Motorola, where engineers were working on digital calling using “specialized mobile radio” frequencies. In 1992 Fleet Call raised more than $100 million in a public stock offering.
Then disaster struck. In 1993, Fleet Call changed its name to Nextel and announced its launch of the first digital service in Los Angeles. O’Brien held a conference call with his engineers and the tech team at Motorola. “We’re ready,” they told O’Brien. The system launched and crashed. Nextel stock also crashed.
But O’Brien’s dream lived on with the help of telecom billionaire Craig McCaw, who supplied the investment needed to save the company. By the time O’Brien retired from Nextel in 2003, the company was a leader in wireless technology with 16 million subscribers, revenues of more than $13 billion, and 19,000 employees. Nextel then merged with Sprint.
Morgan O’Brien now has a new dream. “The communications system used by first responders is a disgrace,” he says. “Only a private-sector solution will work. I believe I can make a difference.”
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