Cingular Renews Mobitex Commitment
BY SUE MAREK
FEBRUARY 12, 2003
NEWS@2 DIRECT
Forget GPRS and EDGE: Cingular Wireless is preaching the benefits of its 10-year-old Mobitex data network.
That's not to say the carrier isn't interested in attracting data customers to its higher bandwidth GPRS network. But at the Cingular WAVE 2003 developer conference being held here this week, Cingular chief operating officer Mark Feidler is saying the company's Mobitex network has some advantages that GPRS doesn't have, at least not yet. Feidler says Mobitex is a 'very reliable, known network.' Alluding to higher bandwidth networks such as GPRS, Feidler says: 'Just because a network is up, that doesn't mean you've worked out the interconnect issues or roaming issues.'
Feidler's pro-Mobitex message was echoed by Cingular chief technology officer Bill Clift, who says the carrier will increase Mobitex's coverage. 'We will continue to expand and enhance coverage,' Clift said.
Alluding to AT&T Wireless, which last year announced that it would migrate all its CDPD customers to GPRS and would stop supporting the CDPD network by 2004, Clift says, 'Devices and applications will drive customers to GPRS and EDGE, we won't.' Of course, Clift admits that unlike CDPD, Mobitex doesn't reside on spectrum that is needed by the carrier for other services.
Though the Mobitex network is mature, it is attracting new subscribers. According to Clift, Mobitex has about 820,000 subscribers and experiences an 11.5 percent annual increase in subscribers. To help grow that subscriber base, the company debuted a new Mobitex device: Good Technology's G100, a compact wireless handheld that uses standards-based technologies such as XML and HTTP.
While Cingular executives emphasized their commitment to Mobitex, the company did take some steps to promote its GPRS network, which currently covers more than 50 percent of the company's potential subscriber base. In conjunction with Research In Motion, Cingular announced that as of Feb. 17 it would make its Xpress Mail service available via BlackBerry devices over the GSM/GPRS network. RIM also says it plans to offer 850 MHz/1900 MHz dual-band BlackBerry devices that will support Cingular's GSM/GPRS service throughout its entire network.
To make GPRS even more appealing to enterprises, Cingular reduced its prices, making Xpress Mail via BlackBerry available for $19.99 per month for 3 Mb of data and $39.99 per month for unlimited usage. Both are data add-on plans that can be bundled with Cingular's standard GSM rate plans.
And for potential customers hesitant to invest in Mobitex devices and applications for fear they will become outdated once GPRS or EDGE coverage is complete, the company has instituted a full protection lease program that allows business customers to migrate their Mobitex services and applications to GPRS/EDGE-based products during the term of the lease. The leases start at 24 months and include the option to migrate to next-generation devices after 12 or more months.
wirelessweek.com
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LOL!
What GSMGPRSEDGEEGPRS monsters are hiding under Cingular's bed? |
