Cingular Sees Slow, Steady Progress in AT&T Wireless Integration
Only part of Cingular’s network integration with AT&T Wireless is done and the work probably will continue through 2006, Cingular CEO Stan Sigman said during a BellSouth presentation to analysts Tues. Cingular closed the AT&T Wireless merger in Oct. 2004. Sigman also announced that Cingular has launched its HSDPA-based 3G service to 52 communities in 16 markets.
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“We're currently 13 months into this process -- half way,” Sigman said. “I look at this 26-month process as similar to Cingular running the 26 miles of a marathon… We are halfway to the finish line and we are going strong.” He said Cingular had remained on target to meet its integration goals despite “back to back to back hurricanes that caused unprecedented damage” to its network.
Among details released Tues., Cingular now projects integration will be completed this year in 30 of 63 overlapping markets, with the redundant CDMA networks eliminated in all these markets. Cingular has also been adjusting the number of cellsites. The provider now has just under 48,000 cellsites, up from the 20,000 each the 2 carriers brought into the merger. Sigman added that Cingular RF engineers have spent almost a year determining which cellsite grid and coverage will provide the best coverage at the lowest cost.
Sigman said Cingular will add 4,000-5,000 cellsites by year-end 2006 while eliminating more than 12,000 cellsites in overlapping markets, including the 5,000 Cingular has sold to T-Mobile in Cal. and Nev.
Sigman said that, despite predictions by some that Cingular would lose customers after the merger, it has added 5 million, for 52.3 million subscribers total. “We haven’t just brought in subscribers,” he said: “We're doing a better job of keeping them. We have reduced churn by nearly a third, to just over 2% and we have improved revenue growth with each successive quarter since the acquisition was completed.”
Sigman said much remains unknown about what video programming will prove popular as subscribers plug into 3G networks. “We don’t know if customers are wanting to sit there for 2 hours and watch a movie or an hour and watch a series,” he said. “We're playing around for all these opportunities.”
Wireline-wireless integration between Cingular and parents AT&T and BellSouth is close, Sigman said. “Technology is there, particularly on the network side with the softswitches that are being rolled out,” he said: “What is necessary is the device side… You can’t just have one or 2 products. You have to have a broad selection. You have to have the Wi-Fi capability in a broad selection of devices. With our size, with our scale, we're able to work with the vendors and we believe we'll be able to deliver that.”