Our roots go all the way back to 1968 when Tony Sabino, our President, went to work for John Henry of Henry Bros. Electronics Inc. Tony began working for HBE as a technician, primarily servicing Motorola/Sylvania nurse call and TV systems in hospitals and nursing homes throughout the greater NY Metropolitan area.
In the early 1970’s HBE developed a relationship with Motorola’s two-way radio division and eventually became a Motorola Service Station (MSS). Tony stayed with the newly formed relationship side of the business, specializing in the installation and support of Motorola provided radio communication systems. Throughout the seventies, the radio segment grew to become the largest part of the business.
1980 saw HBE becoming the licensee for one of the first Specialized Mobile Radio systems in the NY Metro area. Owning and operating SMR systems was the new business model in the communications industry and became the precursor to cellular systems. HBE eventually expanded its SMR operation and added an additional system. 1983 saw Tony helping to negotiate one of the first cellular agency agreements in the country with the AMPS division of AT&T. We played an important roll in bringing cellular communications to the local marketplace. In 1986 we were the number One sales and service agent for NYNEX Mobile Communications in our area. Thanks to our reputation for excellent customer satisfaction we negotiated a contract to become the technical service provider to NYNEX Mobile (later Bell Atlantic) and provided technical staff for seven of their cellular phone centers until the mid 1990’s.
The rapid growth and expansion of HBE’s radio communications segment caught the eye of Communications Group Inc., a publicly held company, who in 1986 bought HBE from the three Henry brothers, John, Hank and Ray. It turned out to be an ugly marriage. But something good came out of it. Tony Sabino, Leo Kane and Bob Markson formed Regional Communications Inc. for the sole purpose to buy back the radio communications business and take the company private once again. In 1989 Regional became the successor to the radio communications business.
In 1989 Regional Comm became a two-way radio dealer for the brand-new Motorola Radius product line and by 1991 became a charter two-way radio dealer for Motorola, providing factory authorized sales and service for its land mobile products group.
In 1990 we moved into the world of data by becoming a Certified System Integrator for RAM Mobile Data’s nationwide Mobex wireless data system. The early 1990’s saw Regional’s expansion into 900 mHz paging, building and operating one of the first private carrier wide area paging systems in the NY Metro area. This new technology, combined with years of experience in the healthcare marketplace, helped to make us a leader in customer owned paging.
Thus, began the modern era.