Firms to Merge Cellular Operations: Comcast Corp....

Firms to Merge Cellular Operations: Comcast Corp. and Metromedia Co. said they will combine their Philadelphia-area cellular telephone operations in a deal worth $550 million. The combined systems would serve a population of more than 7.3 million in a region stretching from northern New Jersey to Wilmington, Del. The Philadelphia system has a cellular phone service area of about 4.9 million and the deal would include Metromedia’s interest in the New Brunswick-Long Branch, N.J. cellular system, with a service area of 291,000, the companies said.