I guess the Sprint delay was inevitable based upon the complete lack of visibility for new 3G1X handsets. I can't imagine why the US is struggling to join the 3G bandwagon behind Korea and Japan. I am absolutely amazed that Kyocera cannot come out with a real 3G handset at this point. 100% of all phones in Korea are being shipped with cameras and color screens. It is outrageous that 0% of the phones being sold thru PCS and VZ have 1X chips, cameras, color monitors, or anything remotely interesting.
Fortunately, we are at the beginning of a long transition away from 2G services like dial up to high speed DSL and CDMAONE WAP phones to 3G1X mobile broadband services. It is long overdue for companies like WorldComm to come up with new products to mirror image wireless plans for local and long distance for regular phone service. $49.99 for all you can call (local and long distance) is not a bad deal by any stretch of the imagination. Too bad they don't throw in DSL for another $30 or $40 a month. That's the main reason younger people are keeping their landlines. (Older people keep it for practical reasons.) I hope the local phone companies come out with a competitive offer soon. Maybe I could finally get DSL service for the second line. It would be great to get a combo (voice and dsl) for under $100 a month.
Every pig has it's price, even in this ridiculous market. It's kind of comical to hear people say the telecom market is caving in when I paid $400 for my cell phone bill last month. I hope the regional bells move quickly to provide new services (like DSL) to replace the reduction in revenues from lower voice packages. I also hope that the wireless companies that benefit from the capacity improvement of 1X can design call plans to let us use our cell phones during the day without running the fear of depleting "anytime minutes". I am literally having to tell people to stop calling my cell phone during the day. It's nuts!! I guess I'll have to go back to spending my whole day on the SI threads.<vbg>
I think the fear of wireless replacement is clearly exaggerated. I would love to pay $50 for landline (like the neighborhood plan by mci), $40 for dsl, and $50 for 5000 anytime minutes per cell phone. Maybe the cell phone companies could be so kind as to restart the count every time a time bucket exhausted. It would be conceivable to pay for 2 or 3 buckets a month. That's fine with me, but charging triple rates for exceeding anytime minutes is abusive.
One comment about the macro scene in the high yield market, there is an unbelievable demand for fixed instruments. With the high number of bankruptcies, the demand for existing debt should begin to increase. However, people continue to get crushed for catching the falling knife. PCS is an excellent example. The company only needs $1 billion in commercial paper next year. The figure drops to $100 million in 2004. No wonder why infrastructure companies are now under $2 - NT, ERICY, and LU.
The era of outrageous telecom spending is over for awhile. Now the telecom companies have some time to reflect and apply some good old marketing to their services. Frankly, the lack of decent marketing and advertising in the US has been a problem for several years as people got caught up with technology solutions that never made it to the market. Suddenly, the products and services seem so near as to be real. 3G is not a mirage that is going to disappear, although it appears that PCS and VZ are doing their best to screw things up.
It doesn't matter whether people get their color screens and cameras on their cell phones this month or next. Sprint is going to launch their 3G1X platform when they are good and ready. |
