Subject: [NEXTEL-1] CINGULAR TO ACTIVATE NETWORK

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 03:41:34 -0400

CINGULAR TO ACTIVATE NETWORK
Author(s):    Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff Date: July 21, 2003 Page: C1 Section:
Business
Cingular Wireless, the second-largest cellular carrier in Greater Boston, is
activating a

region-wide network this week that will finally allow Cingular to offer advanced
services, including digital camera phones, handsets that work in Europe, and much
faster wireless data services. Despite its leading position and its status as one
of the first two cellular carriers in Boston in 1984, when it was called Cellular
One, Cingular locally has lagged several months behind AT&T Wireless, Sprint PCS,
T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless in offering next-generation phones and services.

This week, Cingular will catch up by officially launching services over a new GSM
(global system for mobile) network, which the company said will provide coverage
everywhere Cingular now has service in New England. GSM, the dominant wireless
protocol in Europe, is used by more than 70 percent of all wireless subscribers
globally and supports a wide selection of phones that include cameras, MP3 music
players, Internet access, full-color videogames, and other features.

Cingular is about halfway through a three-year project to add GSM service
throughout its national service territory, including several rural markets like
northern New Hampshire and Vermont where it is jointly building out GSM coverage
with AT&T Wireless.

The new network should over time also sharply increase voice calling capacity for
Cingular, reducing dropped calls and all-circuits-busy problems. Mark Bees, the
New England general manager for Atlanta-based Cingular, said GSM channels can
handle 2 1/2 times as many calls as current digital channels and eight times as
many as analog.

Because of the huge potential efficiency gains, Cingular is offering big
incentives to buy new GSM handsets, typically 50 percent more calling minutes than
the same-priced plans using its older TDMA digital network. For example, a
$40-a-month plan with 400 minutes on the old network will get 600 minutes on GSM,
and a $20 plan with 200 minutes will get 300 minutes on GSM, Bees said.

Analysts said Cingular's move into GSM, even if long overdue, should improve its
competitive footing. Outside of a unique "rollover" plan that lets subscribers
carry forward unused calling minutes from month to month, Cingular has been
hard-pressed to project a clear competitive advantage comparable to Verizon's
focus on network reliability, T-Mobile's aggressive pricing, or Nextel
Communications' walkie-talkie "DirectConnect" feature.

Adding GSM service "will definitely spruce up their handset line a little bit and
give them parity with other carriers in services," said Christopher J. Foster, a
wireless industry analyst with Technology Business Research in Hampton, N.H.

Foster said Cingular, which is a 60-40 joint venture of Baby Bell giants SBC
Communications and Bell South, "has built a great brand name, but I don't think
they've taken it to the tactical level, the next level where they can explain to
customers what advantage they have. I think that's their biggest flaw."

Andrew Cole, senior vice president and wireless practice chief with Adventis, a
Boston-based consulting firm, agreed that Cingular has suffered from
"undifferentiated" services. Cole said it is probably the carrier most vulnerable
to losing customers when a new federal policy takes effect Nov. 24 letting
wireless subscribers keep their old phone number when switching carriers. New GSM
handsets and services could help Cingular reduce net subscriber losses, Cole said.

Cole and Gartner wireless analyst Phil Redman said that, despite offering camera
phones almost nine months later than Sprint PCS and AT&T first did in Boston,
plenty of opportunity remains for Cingular.

"They're late to the party, but there's still a lot of party left" for wireless
photo services, Redman said.

For voice calls, New England Cingular GSM subscribers will also get a
no-roaming-charge local calling zone that covers areas from northern New Hampshire
to South Carolina, although subscribers could still face 79-cents-a-minute roaming
fees along the Eastern Seaboard in areas where Cingular has to use AT&T or
T-Mobile networks. The old local zone extends only from southern New Hampshire to
Rhode Island and Connecticut.

By late this year, Bees said, Cingular plans to roll out in the Boston market a
higher-speed wireless data service called EDGE that can provide Net access at
speeds of 70 to 200 kilobits per second, up to five times as fast as a dial-up
landline modem and twice to three times as fast as current Cingular GSM data
offerings.

Besides camera phones, another advanced model Cingular can now offer in Boston is
a Nokia 3300 that includes a built-in MP3 player, FM radio, and a full-alphabet
keyboard for writing messages.

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=0FC70348303215B8&p_docnum=1

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