MobileMedia to Acquire Paging Network : Telecom: The purchase of MobileComm for $945 million is the largest deal of its kind in the industry.

MobileMedia Corp. bolstered its position as the nation’s second-largest paging company Thursday by acquiring BellSouth Corp.’s paging network, including its MobileComm subsidiary, for $945 million.

The deal is the largest in the paging industry, where several established players have combined in recent months as new companies jump into the business and technology makes new services possible.

A key attraction for MobileMedia are MobileComm’s two-way nationwide paging licenses. MTel Corp.’s SkyTel subsidiary is expected to begin the first two-way service next week, allowing customers to send brief responses to the people who page them.

MobileMedia is the second-largest paging company, with 2.1 million subscribers, and MobileComm is No. 3, with 1.7 million. Together, they will have an estimated $560 million in revenue.

“They will provide some serious competition for PageNet, the largest carrier,” said industry analyst Ann E. Lynch of BIS Strategic Designs in Norwell, Mass.

Plano, Tex.-based Paging Network Inc., often called PageNet, has 5.4 million subscribers.

The agreement calls for BellSouth to become a reseller of MobileMedia paging services, ensuring that the Atlanta-based regional Bell operating company remains a full-service communications company.

BellSouth expects to record an after-tax gain of about $350 million as a result of the deal. The company’s stock rose $2 to $72 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Stock in Ridgefield Park, N.J.-based MobileMedia rose $1.375 to $27.875 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

The companies bring different strengths to the merger, analyst Lynch said. MobileComm has concentrated on developing nationwide service while MobileMedia, which primarily provides regional paging, has moved ahead in devices such as alphanumeric beepers that can receive brief messages.