WIRELESS WEB CONTENT CALLED MORE IMPORTANT THAN TECHNOLOGY

NTT’s i-mode system is succeeding in Japan because company selected technology that worked best for content providers, Natsuno said, rather than technology that’s best for network providers: “Content is everything. If you have good content, you will get subscribers, and if you have subscribers you will get even more content. You also have to have the best business model for content providers [NTT shares revenue with them and provides revenue collection]. If you do that, it eventually will be profitable for us” network providers. He said i-mode already was generating $400 million revenue annually for content providers.

Same model may not work everywhere because cultures are different, market researcher Iain Gillott said, and because business models are different. However, Natsuno said, “the Japanese people are not a different species.”

I-mode success does demonstrate that high data rates and large amount of bandwidth isn’t necessary, Gillott conceded. I- mode operates at 9.6 kbps, rate that’s available anywhere in U.S., and more than half data rate of AT&T Wireless’ 19.2 kbps. He said regular mantra at previous CTIA conventions had been about need for more wireless spectrum to allow higher data rates, but that doesn’t get as much attention anymore. However, other speakers at keynotes and elsewhere during convention continued to press for more spectrum.

Speakers did discuss plans for 2.5- and 3-G systems with higher data rates. Thomas Trineer, AT&T Wireless vp-portal development, said company planned to begin deploying 3-G in 2003, and Natsuno said NTT would start “commercializing” it in May, with data rate up to 384 kbps, potentially allowing mobile and interactive TV on wireless devices. Trineer indicated AT&T was moving toward European Community’s Universal Mobile Telecom System (UMTS), mainly because wireless providers with 4 times as many subscribers as those with CDMA were moving in that direction. “The key is being on the volume platform,” he said, because that means there will be more applications for volume platform. AT&T is “migrating” toward standards that are as common as possible with NTT, Trineer said, although there still will be “some differences.”

Despite interest in i-mode, WAP-based data services have been successful, said Michael Buhrmann, senior vp of Openwave Systems. He said WAP had grown to more than 14 million subscribers from none in Sept. 1999, with 70 million WAP-enabled handsets. He predicted “tremendous growth” as carriers began to understand market. Pixo Pres. David Rothschild said there already were 5 million Web pages optimized for WAP, but there were 3 billion pages on Internet: “We have got to get the Internet on the phone. We don’t have to wait for new technology, we can do it today.” -- Michael Feazel

CTIA Notebook…

Several carriers at CTIA show outlined plans for 3rd- generation wireless rollout, including Sprint PCS blueprint for 3G migration starting at end of year. Sprint PCS Pres. Charles Levine said company planned to spend $700-$800 million to start wireless high-speed packet data through cdma2000 1x nationwide in 2002. Sprint said that by early 2003 it would move to 2nd stage with speeds of up to 307 kbps, with data rates reaching up to 2.4 mbps at peak speeds with cdma2000 1xEV data-only version. Sprint projected that in early 2004 speeds would reach 3-5 mbps. It said rollout later this year would involve equipment from Lucent, Motorola, Nortel, Qualcomm. Levine said company was “working closely with its infrastructure vendors in the testing, preparation and planning for 3G deployment.” Cingular Wireless also laid out 3G plans, including first phase deployment to enhance its GSM network with General Packet Radio Service called Wireless Internet Express. Service will debut in Cal., Nev. and Wash. in 2nd quarter, company said. Carrier’s other GSM markets, N.C., S.C., eastern Tenn. and coastal Ga., will receive service later in year. Company didn’t provide details on handsets or pricing. AT&T Wireless Chief Technical Officer Rod Nelson reiterated carrier’s plan to deploy General Packet Radio Services on its GSM infrastructure in 2nd half of year. Noting that company was in quiet period, he declined to give details such as pricing plans for i-mode type offerings that AT&T Wireless may deploy following last year’s alliance with Japan’s NTT DoCoMo. DoCoMo’s offering will become part of company’s service set, although Nelson declined to provide details on timing. Acknowledging success of i-mode in Japan, he said it offered way to provide additional services to grow business. In U.S., where laptops and PDAs are more prevalent than in Japan, services targeted at those devices offer growth opportunities as well, he said. AT&T Wireless reiterated plan to begin deploying Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service standard in 2003 “subject to the availability of network equipment and customer devices.”

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Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, Siemens and others said they were throwing their support behind markup language called XHTML, next evolution of Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). Companies said they would develop products, content and services based on that language. Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobil, Orange, Sonera, Telenor and Vodafone are among carriers that have expressed support for XHTML. “XHTML is a technology that will bring the mobile Internet and regular Web together and open a vast pool of content and applications to consumer,” said Philip van Houtte, vp-strategic market development for Ericsson.

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Qualcomm Chmn.-CEO Irwin Jacobs declined to elaborate on recent reports that Nextel was interested in moving to cdma2000 1x version for next-generation services. “Obviously, if they do so, we are very supportive of that,” Jacobs said at news conference. Asked about comments of Nokia officials that spectrum crunch diminished as new technology increased capacity, Jacobs said: “Let’s see, then I guess there’s no need to spend billions on auctions.” Costs for Wideband CDMA networks are likely to be higher than for cdma2000 because in case of latter, network build- outs are from scratch, meaning overall costs include cell sites and connections for backhaul, he said. Earlier time to market of cdma2000 can mean “significant cost advantage,” Jacobs said.

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Celvibe showed technology here that it said would allow wireless carriers to transmit live TV broadcasts directly to wireless devices. Technology works with 2.5- and 3-G networks connected to personal digital assistants, laptops, other handhelds. Company uses patent-pending MPEG-4 transcoder, compressed video or audio.

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Qualcomm will sell Globalstar satellite-based commercial data service under exclusive agreement announced here. Deal expands Globalstar service beyond Internet and e-mail to supervisory control and data acquisition, telemetry and other services, companies said. Fees are to be $10 per month and 15 cents per kbps. Globalstar also announced price reductions for its single- line Personal Reach service plans.

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Research firm New Networks Institute (NII) asked FCC, N.Y. PSC and N.Y. Attorney Gen.’s office to investigate findings by CWA that Verizon had falsified service quality data and committed other infractions. NII said neither FCC nor state regulators had followed up on CWA’s Nov. 2000 study of Verizon’s service quality reports. CWA study, submitted to N.Y. PSC as part of its oversight of Verizon’s alternative regulation plan, was based on experience of phone company workers.

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TAT-14 consortium of 50 international telecom providers, led by France Telecom, said Wed. it expected to begin service in June on undersea cable linking U.S. with 5 European countries. Consortium members held signing ceremony to mark completion of first phase of project. Second phase, providing automatic protection in event of fault, is expected to be concluded in mid- May. France Telecom will have 11% of capacity. Others using cable include AT&T-BT venture Concert.

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Cost of cell phone service edged up slightly in Feb., with average cost of service over 4 typical usage plans up 0.2% to $39.04, Econ One research firm said. Survey looked at 25 major cities and found changes reflected “minor plan tinkering” by carriers rather than changes in actual rates, Econ One said. -- www.wirelesssurvey.com.

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Superconductor Technologies announced SuperLink family of products that it said could increase cellular capacity average of 50% without building new infrastructure or cells. Products use Superconductor filters to improve cellular signal as well as new duplexers and amps developed by Paradigm Wireless Systems. Superconductor CEO Peter Thomas said products provided 180% capacity improvement in recent field trial on Alltel CDMA network. He said installing products cost less than 1/10 of that of adding cell sites, without need for approval for new cell sites.

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Boston Communications Group said it completed successful beta trial with Cincinnati Bell Wireless of its Wireless Wallet system for prepaid wireless and mobile commerce. It said system was “natural extension” of its prepaid wireless service and was “friendly” for “microtransactions” as small as 5-10 cents.