Top Two PageNet Executives Resign

Paging Network Inc. Chairman George Perrin and Chief Executive Glenn Marschel resigned amid weak demand for a new pager, and the struggling company named former Sprint Corp. executive Jack Frazee to their posts. Frazee, 52, was president and chief operating officer of Sprint for three months, retiring in 1993. PageNet has stumbled in the introduction of its VoiceNow pager, which acts as a tiny answering machine, amid consumer concern that the device is too big and heavy. At the same time, customer growth in its traditional one-way paging business has increased more slowly than in previous years. Plano, Texas-based PageNet, the world’s largest paging company with more than 10 million customers, planned to introduce VoiceNow in 50 markets by 1998. The pager is now available in three. The company’s stock has fallen more than 41% this year. PageNet shares rose 75 cents to close at $9.44 on Nasdaq.