ubject:
Frost & Sullivan: Paging Equipment and Services, Will Motorola Be Able to
Withstand the Competition?
Date:
Mon, 11 Aug 1997 05:18:08 -0700 (PDT)
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News Alert from PR Newswire via Quote.com
Topic: Motorola Inc
Quote.com News Item #3680270
Headline: Frost & Sullivan: Paging Equipment and Services, Will Motorola Be Able
to Withstand the Competition?
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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Aug. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Has Motorola (NYSE:MOT)
lost it's edge? Approximately 15 million people are spending half their work
hours on the road, and are dependent on their pagers to keep them connected
with the world around them. As a result the paging market is booming, making
room for smaller firms to get a piece of the action.
According to new strategic research from Frost & Sullivan, U.S. Paging
Equipment and Service Markets, the United States is the second largest pager
market in the world, with a total subscription base of 39.0 million users.
Only China's paging subscription base is larger, surpassing that of the United
States in the first quarter of 1996.
The total United States revenues for the pager and paging services market
was $4.32 billion in 1996, representing a 14.9 percent growth rate over
1995 revenues. By 2003, revenues are expected to grow to $6.91 billion with a
compound annual growth rate of seven percent over the forecast period.
"The paging industry has consistently out-performed market estimates for
subscriber growth. It is expected that this market will continue to grow
through the end of the forecast period due to the increasing mobility of the
population in the United States," says Frost & Sullivan's telecommunications
analyst Brian Neill. "At the same time, the cost of paging services and pages
has continued to drop. Pricing strategies continue to be very competitive,
and are attracting subscribers who use pagers strictly for personal reasons
rather than business. Pagers have also become more attractive, allowing
consumers to choose a pager which expresses their personal style."
Dominated by Motorola, the paging market is rapidly changing as a greater
number of small firms enter the market with appealing and sophisticated paging
devices. The pager giant hasn't lost its edge as of yet, but it has lost a
considerable amount of market share over the last few years and it is expected
that the firm will continue to lose market share, opening the door for smaller
competitors to establish themselves.
The most competitive players in the paging service markets are those firms
that have nationwide networks. These firms tend to dominate the paging
industry by allowing regional paging service providers to resell nationwide
services.
"The market is highly fragmented, as it was in the 1980s and early 1990s.
However, there was a great deal of consolidation in 1995 and 1996. The
majority of this consolidation was the result of merger and acquisition
activity," says Neill. "This externally-oriented growth allowed companies to
quickly expand infrastructure and subscriber bases. In some cases, companies
which had not participated in the bandwidth auctions for narrowband PCS were
able to acquire an interest in narrowband service by merging with a firm that
had won bandwidth."
Over the forecast period, it is expected that fewer companies will enter
the paging service market. However, firms are projected to enter the market
by offering value-added or specialized reselling services.
"An example of this would be a firm which adds a service that pages
medical patients with a reminder that it is time to take their medication and
the dosage," says Neill. The company will be reselling the service of another
paging service provider and adding something to the resold service. Several
companies are expected to resell and add services, yet very few are expected
to go to the expense of adding new infrastructure.
The technologies reviewed include paging protocols, one-way paging
protocols (Motorola's FLEX for efficient one-way paging), two-way paging
protocols (Motorola's reFLEX for two-way text messages pACT protocol for
two-way text messaging developed in consortium led by AT&T Wireless and
includes NEC, Ericsson, and Pacific Communication Sciences Inc. [PCSI],
Motorola's InFLEXion for two-way voice messages, and later to be expected to
be used for two-way data transfers.) and Wide-area FM paging (uses subcarrier
frequencies on FM radio stations).
Market participants include: American Paging, Inc., Ameritech Cellular &
Paging Services, Arch Communications. Group, Inc., AT&T Wireless, Global
Communications Corp., Bell Atlantic Paging, Central Paging Services, CUE
Paging Corporation, Metrocall, Inc., MobileMedia Communications Inc., Mobile
Telecommunication Technologies Corp. (Mtel), Nationwide Paging, Inc.,
NEWSPAGER COMNET, Inc., PageAmerica Group, Inc., PageMart, Inc., PagePrompt
USA, Paging Dimensions, Inc.(P.D.I.), Paging Network Inc. (PageNet), Paging
Partners Corporation, Preferred Networks Inc., Priority Communications Inc.,
ProNet Inc., Seiko Communications Systems, Inc., SkyTel, Source One Wireless,
Inc., Teletouch Communications, Inc., TSR Paging, Inc., Commonwealth
Communications Industries, Ltd., Ericsson Radio Systems, Glenayre
Technologies, Inc., Motorola Reach Electronics Inc., Zetron, Inc., A+ Network,
Inc., AG Group Inc., America Online, AMNEX, Inc., Apple Computer Inc., AT&T
Corporation, BellSouth Corporation, Data Critical Corporation, DTS Wireless,
Electronic Countermeasures Inc., EPS Wireless Inc., Ericsson GE Mobile
Communications, Inc., GTE Corporation, International Crystal Manufacturing
Company/ICD, MCI Communications Corporation, Nexus Telecommunications Systems
Limited, NYNEX Corporation, Panasonic Communications & Systems Division, RAM
Mobile Data, Seiko Communications Systems, Inc., Shinwa Communications of
America, Sprint Corporation, and US WEST, Inc.
Frost & Sullivan is an international marketing consulting company that
monitors the telecommunications industry for market trends, market
measurements, and strategies. This ongoing research is utilized to update a
series of research publications such as #5421-65 U.S. Broadband PCS Equipment
and Service Markets and to support industry participants with customized
consulting needs.
Visit Frost & Sullivan's web site: frost.com
Report: 5419-65 Publication Date: July 1997 Price: $2750
SOURCE Frost & Sullivan
-0- 08/11/97
/NOTE TO EDITORS: Free executive summaries of all Frost & Sullivan
reports are available to the press./
/CONTACT: Kimberly Barney of Frost & Sullivan, 415-237-4383, or fax,
415-903-0915, or kbarney@frost.com/ |
