In August 2000 President J. Wade Gilley announced that he had negotiated, and UT had signed, a contract through which Cricket Communications Inc. would provide cell phone service covering the campus to students in exchange for a payment to the university of $5,000 a month from September 1, 2000 through January 31, 2002, and an additional one-time payment of $2.50 for each person signed up for the service after an initial three thousand contracts had been signed.
The service area for the phones initially included only the campus, with promises of coverage in Knoxville by October 30. The service plan included voice mail, caller ID, and call waiting, as well as a Nokia phone, battery, charger, and UT faceplate for the phone. The package cost $199 for two semesters or $249 for the entire year. (There was also a $100 deposit on the phone, of which $100 was to be returned if the phone was returned to Cricket in good condition.) UT allowed Cricket to set up three on-campus sites for sales of the phone and also allowed the company to install several cell towers on campus, for which UT provided electricity and charged Cricket for the amount of electricity used. UT required Cricket to be fully responsible for all cell site installation activities as well as for any repairs to university buildings resulting from the installations, operation of the towers, or removal of the towers. Funds from the compact ($85,000 through January 2002 if fewer than three thousand students contracted for the service) were to be put into the trustees’ scholarship program.