Wireless Groups Agree To Standards Deal>
Wireless groups agree to standards deal
By Reuters
Special to CNET News.com
February 9, 1999, 1:20 p.m. PT
NEW ORLEANS--U.S. wireless customers will have a much easier time using their
phones outside the country next year thanks to an agreement announced by two
competing groups of service providers.
The agreement, announced at the at Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association's
annual conference in New Orleans, guarantees that phone manufacturers will begin selling
phones by the middle of next year that can work over the two most common wireless
standards used in the United States, as well as the standard used in Europe and Asia,
called the Global System for Mobile Communications, or GSM.
Until now, the industry has not come together to allow for use of such a multi-mode phone,
although phones that operate on different kinds of non-GSM standards are common. GSM
carriers have offered phones that also work on older U.S. analog networks, however.
"This is the natural progression of the market. All the major [wireless phone] handset
manufacturers are working on multi-mode phones, so it's not a big shock that they did this
[announcement], but it's a positive step to see," said Kevin Roe, a wireless
telecommunications analyst with ABN Amro.
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The agreement should also boost the fortunes of the limited number of U.S. carriers that
use GSM, including units of Omnipoint and BellSouth. The lack of phones that could
operate on GSM and the most popular U.S. digital standard has limited the companies'
service areas.
"All the GSM operators in the U.S. will benefit. They've been held back in their ability to
attract customers wanting to roam nationally," said one
industry analyst.
Only about three million U.S. wireless subscribers use GSM
phones, but more than 60 million use either the competing
U.S. digital standard known as TDMA, analog or other types
of phones. Outside of the United States, more than 130
million people use GSM phones.
Manufacturers said with the new agreement they planned to
offer triple-mode phones by next year that operate on GSM,
TDMA and U.S. analog networks.
"This is going to be the cheapest way to deliver quality
service for operators and their customers," said Bob
Stapleton, president of Western Wireless. Western is one of
a very few U.S. companies that offer both GSM and TDMA,
or Time Division Multiple Access.
Major TDMA carriers include AT&T's wireless unit.
The agreement was struck between the North American
GSM Alliance and the Universal Wireless Communications
Consortium. The groups include Sweden's Ericsson, Motorola, Finland's Nokia, and other
wireless telephone makers.
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