calling modemstat through Python

I need to have a method to determine when the cellular modem connects or disconnects so I started writing a python script that calls “modemstat ?” and looks for GPRS Registration changing. The problem I am running into is that os.popen() doesn’t seem to be supported on the Transport WR21. Is there another way to retrieve the cellular status through python?

I tracked down that I should be using digicli to make the call but my copy of python.zip doesnt include anything related to digicli.