Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Push to talk' gets international hookup

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 03:48:52 -0400

Push to talk' gets international hookup
By Ben Charny
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
July 24, 2003, 4:40 PM PT

Motorola and Nextel Communications look set to make a cell phone walkie-talkie
feature called "push to talk" available to dialers internationally, as rivals
struggle to launch their own services inside the United States.

On Thursday, Motorola announced that Jordanian carrier Fastlink will be the first
company in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region to use push-to-talk (PTT)
technology. Fastlink plans to introduce a pilot version of a service similar to
Nextel's popular DirectConnect, which creates an instant connection between two
cell phones.
In addition, Nextel Mexico, owned by Nextel subsidiary NII Holdings, plans to
launch soon its own DirectConnect-like service in Tijuana and in Baja California,
Mexico, a source said.

Nextel, which is based in Reston, Va., has been the only company to offer a
walkie-talkie option for cell phones in North America for more than a decade. The
service uses PTT technology developed by Motorola. In May this year, Nextel CEO
Tim Donahue told the audience at a conference that the U.S. wireless carrier had
plans to push PTT beyond U.S.  borders.

With PTT, callers need only push a single button to connect to another cell phone.
It happens in less than a second, as with walkie-talkies. Because there's no time
spent dialing or making a connection to a network, calls are shorter and less
expensive than usual. It's won favor with corporations with mobile work forces
that can benefit from such instant communication.

In North America, Nextel is now facing challenges from U.S. carriers Sprint PCS,
Verizon Wireless and AT&T Wireless, which intend to launch copycat PTT services by
the end of the year. Pushing PTT outside the United States will provide Nextel and
Motorola with an even bigger advantage, Nextel executives have said.

http://news.com.com/2100-1037-5054037.html

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