Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Bell Mobility to add walkie-talkie feature to CDMA phones

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 02 Oct 2003 08:45:13 -0400

Sep. 30, 2003. 07:12 AM
Bell Mobility to add walkie-talkie feature to phones
Telus currently dominates market
Analyst questions Bell's technology

TYLER HAMILTON
TECHNOLOGY REPORTER
Bell Mobility says it will offer a walkie-talkie
feature in its mobile phones next year in a
direct challenge to Telus Mobility's dominant
push-to-talk service, a premium business
product known simply as Mike.

Michael Neuman, president of Bell Mobility, said he expects the introduction of
rival push-to-talk services in Canada will put Burnaby, B.C.-based Telus on the
defensive as new handsets and competitive prices enter the mainstream market.
"We see it as an important new category for us," Neuman told the Star. "It's been
very good for Telus, but we shouldn't leave it all for them."

Neuman said Bell Mobility has a push-to-talk service under development, housed
under an agreement struck last November with Sprint PCS on the joint collaboration
of new mobile phone services. Both companies share the same CDMA wireless
technology.

"We would go at this in much the same way that Sprint does," said Neuman, pointing
out that Bell would enter the market only after Sprint has taken the plunge.

Nextel Communications Inc. of Reston, Va., and Toronto-based Clearnet
Communications Inc., now part of Telus Corp., launched the first push-to-talk
services in their respective countries in 1996. Motorola Inc. has been the
exclusive provider of both the handsets and the iDen technology that powers the
networks.

Users of push-to-talk simply press a button on the side of their phones to speak
instantly with another individual or to a group of individuals who have been
pre-programmed into the handset. This group-talk function has proved handy for
professionals who need to communicate collaboratively and instantly with
individuals in different locations
.
Marketed primarily as a business product, push-to-talk has been a cash cow for
both Nextel and Telus, which consistently have outperformed the rest of the
wireless industry with the highest average revenues per subscriber and the lowest
average churn rates, the latter being a measure of customer loyalty.

Customers are more loyal and pay more because in the past there have been no
alternatives.
But alternatives are emerging. Verizon Wireless launched a push-to-talk service
over its digital cellular network in August, Sprint PCS is expected to be in the
market by the end of the year, and AT&T Wireless and Cingular likely will
introduce similar products in early 2004.

Suddenly, Nextel is under attack by rivals who see push-to-talk as a significant
source of new revenues.
And wireless equipment and handset makers such as Nokia, Ericsson and Siemens are
expected to break Motorola's proprietary grip in the market.

"Some (mobile phone) manufacturers have taken the view that, in the future, all
their handsets will be both push-to-talk and normal cellular phones," said Neuman.
"It will become a consumer product. You can envisage family members using it with
each other."

However, some analysts said the Verizon offering and other rival products will
have a difficult time matching the quality of the iDen network.
"It's an inferior product, that's the biggest problem," said Dvai Ghose, a telecom
analyst with CIBC World Markets. "The product is not prime-time yet."

Indeed, some customers of the Verizon service are already complaining about five
seconds or more of delay when trying to connect through push-to-talk, whereas the
offerings from Nextel and Telus consistently connect in less than one second.
Nextel launched a lawsuit last week against Verizon, which has been airing TV ads
claiming its product is superior.
"What you've got to ask Bell is why would anybody shift to your product from
iDen's when yours is not as good," said Ghose.
That may explain why Rogers Wireless is taking a less bullish approach to
push-to-talk. "We're not actively pursuing it at this time but we're watching our
partner, AT&T Wireless, and we're watching them closely," said Rogers Wireless
spokesperson Heather Armstrong.

 Tyler Hamilton

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1064873412061

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