Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Fewer opt to jump on cell-phone bandwagon

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 07 Jan 2003 13:07:04 -0500

Fewer opt to jump on cell-phone bandwagon

By Tom Giles
Bloomberg News Service

SAN FRANCISCO — Wael Mohammad saw firsthand that AT&T Wireless
Services Inc. and other U.S. national mobile-telephone carriers had a slower
holiday season this year.

As manager of Wireless One, a San Francisco seller of mobile phones,
Mohammad reported no increase in AT&T Wireless sales during the holiday
season over last year. Nextel Communications Inc. had a "slight" gain, he said.

"National carriers are crying, complaining that the fourth quarter wasn't all that
good," said Mohammad, 29, who has sold phones since 1996. Neither
discounts nor phones with cameras and games were enough to lure new
customers in a nation where half the population already has a mobile phone, the
manager said.

AT&T Wireless, Verizon Wireless Inc. and rivals probably signed up 25
percent fewer customers in the quarter compared with a year earlier, capping
the worst year for growth, analysts said.

Many people decided against buying phones amid a sluggish economic
recovery and as unemployment remains at an eight-year high, they said. Earlier
price cuts left little room for holiday discounts.

The six biggest national wireless companies probably added 3.2 million
customers in the latest quarter, said Legg Mason analyst Craig Mallitz.

For 2003, new subscribers are likely to drop to 11.2 million from 13.2 million
in 2002, Mallitz said.

U.S. wireless companies gained 4.8 percent more customers in the first half of
2002, the slowest rate ever, bringing total subscribers to 134.6 million,
according to the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Jan/07/bz/bz11a.html

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