AT&T Wireless to Launch 3G Service Next Week
Thu Jul 15, 2004 02:55 PM ET
reuters.com
CHICAGO (Reuters) - AT&T Wireless Services Inc., the third-largest U.S. mobile operator, on Thursday said it was on track to launch a high-speed Internet service for mobile phones this year, and sources close to the matter said the rollout would begin in four markets early next week.
AT&T Wireless will launch its third-generation or "3G" mobile phone service capable of transmitting e-mail, pictures, and video at a high speed in four cities -- San Francisco, Seattle, Phoenix and Detroit, the sources told Reuters.
The company will offer the data service at a fixed all-you-can-use rate of about $25 a month to consumers and $80 a month to corporate customers, one of the sources said.
"We're on track to deliver the 3G services before the end of the year," AT&T Wireless spokesman Ritch Blasi told Reuters, but he declined to address the specific timing.
Cingular Wireless has agreed to acquire AT&T Wireless for $41 billion in a deal expected to close in October, making it the biggest cell phone operator.
The network upgrade is designed to replace AT&T Wireless's older network, which was largely used for digital voice calling, and will pit the company against U.S. mobile leader Verizon Wireless.
AT&T Wireless will initially offer two phone models by Nokia and Motorola Inc., respectively, as well as a data card, one source told Reuters.
Motorola spokeswoman Monica Rohleder said she does not know the details of the rollout, but that Motorola will supply the A845 cell phone, which includes an mp3 player, an integrated digital camera and a large color screen, for the 3G network. Nokia officials declined to comment.
Mobile providers around the world have already spent billions improving their networks for access to the Internet on mobile phones at speeds similar to cable modems and DSL. Phone companies are making a high-stakes bet that the growing data business will offset the flagging traditional voice business.
While analysts estimate that only about 7 percent of people now use their phones to surf the Web, some believe that the first companies to offer higher speeds will benefit at the expense of rivals.
Verizon Wireless is leading the pack so far with plans to sell high-speed data in the top U.S. markets by the end of this year and across the entire country by the end of next year. It already sells the service in two U.S. cities.
AT&T Wireless has said that its W-CDMA tests show that the technology can support Internet data at speeds of about 200,000 bits per second to 300,000 bits per second.
That is about twice to almost three times as fast as AT&T Wireless' fastest speeds today and about four times as fast as dial-up links most people get at home today using phone lines.
Verizon Wireless says that its EV-DO network is as fast as 300,000 bits per second to 500,000 bits per second.
AT&T Wireless has to roll out high-speed, or 3G, by the end of this year to satisfy an agreement with Japan's NTT DoCoMo, which has a stake of about 16 percent in the Redmond, Washington-based company. |
