Ford to offer wireless service
Sprint deal to put technology in cars
March 15, 2000
BY GREG GARDNER
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Ford Motor Co. and Sprint PCS, the wireless-communications unit of Sprint Corp., will combine forces to offer wireless telephone and Internet services in vehicles next year, people familiar with the plan said.
The service is to be offered on some models of 2001 Lincolns and include phones that can be removed from the vehicle, those people said. While both companies declined Tuesday to comment on a possible linkup, Ford scheduled a briefing today with a "leading telecommunications company," and Sprint PCS's president said his company will unveil an auto industry accord.
"Tomorrow, I'll tell you all sorts of things," Sprint PCS President Andrew Sukawaty said at the Merrill Lynch & Co. telecommunications conference in New York.
Automakers are trying to bring more electronic services into vehicles to generate revenue beyond what consumers pay to buy and maintain them.
General Motors Corp.'s OnStar unit offers voice Internet access on some 2000 models and expects to boost the number of subscribers tenfold this year to 1 million.
"Ford is playing a little bit of catch-up in this area," said David Garrity, an analyst with Dresdner Kleinwort Benson. "The service revenue industrywide could reach about $10 billion annually within the next five years."
In September, Sukawaty said Sprint PCS expected additional revenue of up to $3 billion within three years from data and automotive services and its communications-tower business. At the time, he said it expected to unveil automotive services in the next 12 to 18 months.
"This is just another example of how wireless is creeping into every aspect of our lives," said Walter Piecyk, an analyst at Paine Webber Inc. who rates Sprint PCS "buy."
Ford's new service would go beyond its Rescue roadside emergency system that Lincoln offers as a $2,000 option on its Continental and LS models. The luxury division sold 176,493 Lincolns in the United States last year.
GM in January picked Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp. to provide a wireless network to support OnStar, which also started as a roadside-emergency service using satellites to track vehicles and wireless communications to summon help.
DaimlerChrysler AG and Motorola Inc. offer StarTac wireless phones that drivers can use with voice commands in some 2000-model Mercedes-Benz vehicles. |
