Metro Mobile also distributes propane, a business also acquired by Bell Atlantic in the deal.

Mr. Brennan of Metro Mobile said practices that had helped the company grow had also hurt it.

Companies Bell Atlantic agreed to buy Metro Mobile for nearly $2.5 billion in one of the largest deals in the cellular telephone industry.

"When the ambulance arrived, I was essentially dead," he wrote to Metro Mobile, his carrier.

Shortly after, he founded a cell phone company called Metro Mobile and later sold it to Bell Atlantic for $2.5 billion in 1991.

Metro Mobile charges a $150 monthly service charge, with all calls in Connecticut being toll free and an extra charge for calls placed out of state.

Like Metro Mobile, calls made in Connecticut are toll free.

That same year, he founded Metro Mobile.

Like most cellular systems, Metro Mobile does not turn a profit, is loaded with debt and has few real subscribers.

The gain of 8 cents a share is from the sale of an investment related to the acquisition of Metro Mobile, a cellular carrier.