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To: Art Bechhoefer who wrote (674)	8/8/1999 8:53:00 PM
From: Eric L	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13582

Art, << if AT&T had chosen to delay its foray into digital, the impact on its subscribers would have been minor >> Time to market for digital systems was perceived to be darned important in early 1995 for the cellular carriers with the PCS-1900 auctions about to commence. Below is an announcement from my archives about my neighbor up the street (Comcast) who contracted to be an early adopter of CDMA. >> WAYNE, Pa., March 15, 1995 /PRNewswire/ -- Comcast Cellular Communications, Inc., the leading cellular provider in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, has entered into a letter of intent with AT&T Network Systems to negotiate a system purchase agreement for an enhanced cellular system in a deal valued at approximately $200 million. According to Donald A. Harris, president of Comcast Cellular, the move was designed to position the company to take advantage of advanced technologies like CDMA (code division multiple access) that will broaden the range of services which can be offered by Comcast in the future. According to Harris, AT&T's 5ESS(R)-2000 DCS state-of-the-art switching platform along with its Autoplex(R) Series II Digital Cell Sites will provide superior reliability and improved efficiency as well as usher in a host of advanced network features. << If memory serves me, schedules slipped, they switched technology choice, and they built out TDMA. Perhaps I'm wrong. Maybe Tom would know. As a final piece of nostalgia for this lazy weekend here is the official announcement of AT&T McCaw Cellular's digital technology choice made just 4 years ago this coming Tuesday. >> NEW YORK (Reuter 08-10-95) AT&T McCaw Cellular unit said Wednesday it placed a $450 million order for wireless communications equipment with its parent AT&T and Sweden's LM Ericsson telecom group, giving the two an early jump on rival telephone equipment makers. In its size, the McCaw order was the most significant deal to date to provide equipment for the next generation of wireless communications, known as personal communications services. While not unexpected by industry analysts, McCaw's decision to stick with wireless equipment using a technology called TDMA, or Time Division Multiple Acccess, gives TDMA an early lead over rival CDMA, or Code Division Multiple Access, technology. The rival technologies are used to design both the telephone handsets and the switching equipment to be used as the backbone in nationwide personal communications services. Personal communications services will provide cellular users not only voice, but also data and messaging services. Yet to be placed are big orders for PCS phone equipment from Sprint Corp. and its cable television allies, and PCS PrimeCo, which is made up of AirTouch Communications Inc. and regional Bells NYNEX Corp., Bell Atlantic Corp. and U.S. West Inc. <snip> The McCaw digital network is expected to cover areas that contain more than 80 percent of the U.S. population. Reut06:27 08-10-95 << AT&T launched TDMA digital service 4 months later (December 9, 1995). The world certainly would have been different if McCaw had chosen CDMA but remember, back then in August 95, nobody new for sure that CDMA would work so well, so quickly. - Eric -