GSM Closes In On 2
Million Mark In North
America
May 08, 1998: 2:56 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A. (NB) -- By Bill
Pietrucha, Newsbytes. Personal Communication
Service (PCS) operators using the Global
System for Mobile (GSM) communications
standard are continuing to hold their own against
the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
standard, racking up almost 1.8 million
customers across North America, GSM
Alliance Chairman Don Warkentin said.
"We will soon top two million customers in
the US and Canada," Warkentin said. "This
achievement reflects both GSM operators'
innovative pricing options, which the technology
provides carriers, as well as the popularity of
GSM's advanced wireless voice, short
messaging and data services."
According to Warkentin, some 15 North
American PCS operators using GSM now serve
nearly 1.8 million customers in 1,430 cities in 40
states, the District of Columbia and four
Canadian provinces. The total number of GSM
customers worldwide stands at 82 million, he
said.
By comparison, the CDMA standard,
developed by Qualcomm Inc. as a competitor to
GSM, currently has about 420,000 US
subscribers.
Warkentin, who also is president and CEO
of Aerial Communications, said that in the first
quarter of 1998 the GSM service providers
added 300,000 new customers and more than
500 new cities. In May 1997, there were
400,000 GSM customers and 323 cities that
had commercial service.
Last November, GSM broke through the
one million customer threshold, growing five-fold
less than a year after posting its 200,000th
subscriber, he said.
And last August, seven of the largest PCS
carriers formed the GSM Alliance to press for
greater use of GSM technology, the largest
North American PCS provider. Members of the
GSM Alliance include: Aerial Communications,
Inc., BellSouth Mobility DCS, Microcell
Telecommunications Inc., Omnipoint
Communications, Inc., Pacific Bell Mobile
Services, Inc., Powertel, Inc., and Western
Wireless, Corp. The Alliance also works in
cooperation with North American GSM
equipment manufacturers, he said, including
Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, Nortel and
Siemens.
Warkentin said that Intel also endorsed the
GSM Alliance and GSM technology as part of
its worldwide Mobile Data Initiative to provide
wireless connectivity to mobile PCs.
"What the GSM companies have done in
such established wireless markets as the US and
Canada is simply incredible," GSM
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
Association Chairman Adriana Nugter, and
managing director of European public policy
with AirTouch International, said. "I think it
speaks volumes about how consumers recognize
the value that such a proven, feature-rich, digital
service offers in meeting 'anytime, anywhere'
personal communications needs."
Warkentin said that at the 39th GSM
Plenary in Warsaw, Poland, last week, three US
companies, Cook Inlet Western Wireless,
Wireless Telephone Co., and Personal
Communications Network joined the GSM
MoU Association, raising the total to 23 of
North American PCS carriers using or planning
to use GSM. Cook Inlet Western Wireless also
joined the GSM Alliance last week.
This brings the total global membership to
a 293 GSM networks operators, administrators,
regulatory bodies and satellite operators from
120 countries and areas of the world, Warkentin
said.
"With more than 70 international roaming
agreements signed already by the Alliance,
Mobile Satellite Service and new World Smart
phones will give GSM customers the ability to
use their service in places, no other wireless
company can," said Warkentin. "At home, we
see satellites providing Alliance members with
instant national coverage."
Warkentin said the Alliance is especially
interested in Celsat, one of the US companies
seeking spectrum from the FCC, because their
patented technology is particularly compatible
with GSM. The Alliance filed comments in
support of Celsat yesterday with the FCC, he
said.
GSM architecture supports full-featured,
seamless roaming between GSM systems in
North America, Warkentin said, allowing
operators to easily exchange common services,
billing records and location information.
Warkentin added that GSM carriers in
North America have built nearly 8,000 cell sites
in two years and have created nearly 8,000 new
jobs.
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