[...continued from Last Post] To maximize revenue, profit and ensure 24 hour high quality service availability there is a new pricing plan needed for dual mode cdmaOne terrestrial and Globalstar systems.
If subscribers have on their handset a "CURRENT PRICE PER MINUTE" display which reflects instantaneous demand at the cell or via Globalstar, they are able to decide whether to make a call at that time or defer their call until the price is more to their liking.
For terrestrial, as demand builds, the base station could increase the price so that any caller could still connect and enjoy high quality voice. This could range from free calling in very quiet times to $100 per minute or whatever it takes to ensure there is space available for a caller to simply dial through any time they like.
Suppose you were in the process of being attacked by highwaymen, you wouldn't be too worried about $100 per minute and you would prefer to complete your call immediately rather than wait for some salesman calling his wife to say he is a few minutes late to finish his call. And if you should see the price is only $0.01 per minute late in the evening, you might like to quietly sit and yak to your wife from the hotel to your heart's content. You might not have a long chat if you see $100 per minute.
By adopting such a price plan, people will get maximum use from their phones and enjoy cheap calls, the system will always be busy which will maximize revenue, handsets will not be operating at full power so battery life will be better, voice quality will not be degraded, cell coverage will not shrink unduly, customers will swap from competitor systems to these ones and life will be hunky dory for all.
There will of course be some people who want to have a fixed price per month plan, or a fixed price per minute or whatever. They too can have what they want. Their average call costs would be higher than the auction plan callers since they are seeking a premium service. The various pricing plans would need some decent calculations to optimize them for maximum profitability and to balance demand. As long as there are about half the subscribers on "CURRENT PRICE IS ...." plans, then everyone could get the price plan they want.
With the Globalstar service, the auction system will need to be a bit more complex from the satellite point of view because it won't be able to give an instantaneous price based on instantaneous demand as it will have to predict the future demand on satellite power supply. Satellites will only get power on the sunny side of earth so they will have to maximize revenue and service availability over a longer period of time. It's no use selling some power too cheaply due to low instantaneous demand only to find it running out 30 minutes later. Better to sell every electron volt at the highest price per orbit. This might mean nearly all the calls are made over Japan or Saudi Arabia and only the odd wealthy Kiwi gets to use the service.
After a month or so of operation, demand would settle into very obvious patterns and prices could be set accordingly. Even with this problem, as the satellite batteries deplete, the price could be escalated so that the battery would never actually run out, so service would always be available.
Although the cell site for a satellite is enormous and mobile, the same problem of near and far handsets applies and care would be needed to ensure distant callers don't get dropped due to increasing demand and resulting cellsite shrinkage.
I haven't heard of this auction system being considered, but it seems to be the way to maximize service and profits. Now that the technology, chips and software are in reach, the sooner the better!!
cdmaOne terrestrial and Globalstar satellites will run away with ALL the business.
Hey Presto! Maximum profit. Happiest customers. Busiest systems.
So far there hasn't been any mention of such a price system. How come? More people are happier if service is sold at the highest price. They will fund more constellations and service supply will increase most quickly. Subscribers and shareholders would both be better off. |
