The Westinghouse Electronic Systems Group in Linthicum yesterday won a new contract that will boost its involvement in the satellite communication business and help establish a seamless mobile telephone system covering the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The company said it has been selected by the Mexican government to build an $18 million satellite ground station in Mexico City that will provide mobile communications to any part of the country.
The facility will be designed so that it will operate with other ground stations that Westinghouse has built in Reston, Va., and Ottawa, Canada, as part of a communication system serving all three countries.
The local Westinghouse division already is a supplier to Washington-based American Mobile Satellite Corp. and TMI Communications of Canada to provide the telephones and design and build ground stations for mobile satellite communications systems designed to cover all of North America.
Westinghouse moved into the satellite communication business to lesson its dependence on declining military contracts. It is projecting that it will be a $1.5 billion business within 10 years.
In 1992, it received an $80 million contract from American Mobile for ground stations and phones that will be used in American Mobile's system that is designed to provide service anywhere in North America, filling gaps in the cellular phone service.
The mobile service is expected to be in place by the end of next year.
Dwight R. Hunsicker, manager of marketing and sales for Westinghouse's communication division, said the Mexico City ground station contract could lead to the production of between 50,000 and 100,000 mobile telephones.
The phones are designed for business customers that operate in remote regions where no other form of communication is available, he said. They are designed and developed by a work force of about 300 people at the Linthicum complex, but Mr. Hunsicker said they will be produced by subcontractors in other parts of the country.
Last summer, Westinghouse received an initial order for a minimum of 7,500 mobile telephones from Optus Mobile Pty. Ltd., a Sydney, Australia-based company looking to plug its country into a wireless satellite communications system within two years. They would enable a person to call anywhere in the world from Australia.
Richard A. Linder, president of the local division, said the company is seeking to tap into the growing Latin American market.