The following is a 10/30/96 Inter@ctive Week article located at zdnet.com on Sprint PCS and the possibility of its offering data transmission at ISDN speeds for the local loop:
Sprint PCS Indicates Future Direction
By Paula Bernier
1:30 PM EDT
In formally launching the Sprint PCS network operations control center last week, a key executive at the company provided new insights into future services.
The company, which holds 33 personal communications services, or PCS, licenses, plans to launch the next generation of wireless service known as PCS in 15 markets by year's end and in all 33 markets by spring 1997. The initial offering will include voice services, probably with some enhanced services built-in and short messaging.
After Sprint PCS rolls out its digital voice services, it will look to offer fixed local loop services, said Al Kurtze, chief executive offer of the company, which is a joint venture of Sprint Communications Co., Comcast Corp., Cox Communications Inc. and Tele-Communications Inc.
"Next year technology will make fixed local loop attractive," he said.
But Kurtze said because the basic voice local loop need is pretty well-fulfilled, the company is interested in offering local loop services with additional features and capabilities, such as
high-speed data connections similar to Integrated Services Digital Networks. ISDN supports data rates of up to 128 kilobits per second in each direction.
Although wireless networks are commonly considered low bandwidth, compared to wireline -- cellular networks today generally support data transmissions of 19.2 Kbps max -- Kurtze said Sprint PCS could combine wireless channels to provide more bandwidth.
"We will only be using one-third of our spectrum for a long time, so we could support it," he said.
Sprint PCS is using a new digital technology called Code Division Multiple Access, or CDMA, in all its markets. CDMA offers network capacity today of up 10 times that of analog wireless networks. |
