PacBell’s Digital Service to Arrive in S. Calif.

After months of preparation, Pacific Telesis Group’s Pacific Bell Mobile Services expects to launch its PCS wireless phone service in Southern California on Thursday. PCS--personal communications service--is an all-digital offering that works on special phones and is designed to compete with traditional analog cellular service. Both PCS and advanced digital cellular networks can send pages and short messages to phones in addition to voice calls. The digital technology also makes it more difficult for cloners to make calls and charge them to unwitting wireless users. Prices range from $19.95 a month for 10 minutes of air time to $74.95 a month for 400 minutes, plus extra per-minute charges. The phones, which will be available at hundreds of stores, run from $99 to $249. PacBell would have brought the service to the Southland sooner, but overwhelming demand in San Francisco depleted the stock of phones and required the company to hire and train 300 additional workers, said Steve Sitton, president and general manager for Pacific Bell Mobile Services in Los Angeles. On Thursday, the service will be available in 80% of the state.