Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Focus on Customers, Tower Summit Told

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 15:10:39 -0500

Focus on Customers, Tower Summit Told
BY RHONDA WICKHAM
OCTOBER 29, 2003

LAS VEGAS - In the keynote address at the Sixth Annual Tower Summit & Trade Show, Virgil
Stites, vice president of Sprint Sites USA, said the industry needs to keep its eye
trained on important issues while pursuing good operational practices.
Although there are many holes left by the FCC with regard to LNP and E911, Stites said the
renewed focus on customers and network quality was bringing the issue's focus where it
needed to be. Operationally, he called on industry participants to continue doing what it
takes to seek new solutions for expansion and capacity even with opposition from local
municipalities and activist groups. 'Commitment to our customers, that is what is
important,' he said.

In the following keynote general session, three carriers identified drivers for wireless
infrastructure. Neville R. Ray, vice president of engineering and operations for T-Mobile
USA, said capacity, coverage and call quality are the watchwords of voice. As subscriber
use increases to an average of 600-800 minutes per month, he said T-Mobile is working on
the densification of the network and better spectrum reuse. The company is employing a new
AMR codec that improves voice quality. And the company is working on 'driving coverage
into residential areas.'

Co-panelist Jon Morris, national real estate manager for AT&T Wireless, agreed, saying his
company's focus has been on convention centers and airports in the past and now it is
moving to non-traditional areas such as residential areas.  James Meyers, assistant vice
president of national site development for Sprint PCS, said wireless voice has plenty of
room to grow and the current move is toward landline displacement.

However, as carriers try to build out into non-traditional and residential areas, they
find themselves encountering greater organized opposition to towers. 'The suburbs are a
different ballgame because it will always be someone's backyard,' said T-Mobile's Ray.

Universally, all of the carriers identified backhaul as the single largest expense that
they are actively trying to contain or reduce. All three carriers told the audience they
were pursuing alternative technologies in an attempt to move away from traditional LEC
models and get the same performance.
http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=newsat2direct&starting=2&pubdate=10/29/03

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