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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: slacker711 who wrote (43312)	10/4/1999 10:43:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

10/04/99 - ****Wireless Internet Keeps Cellular Hot - Analysts 10/01/99 SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1999 OCT 1 (Newsbytes) -- By Steven Bonisteel, Newsbytes. Reports from a pair of communications-industry analysts paint rosy pictures for companies in the digital cellular phone business and the people who invest in them. Mark McKechnie, who monitors wireless equipment companies for Banc of America Securities, says cellular phone sales (analog and digital) should exceed $240 million in 1999, a 50 percent increase over 1998 results. And he added that the demand for wireless Internet access, through digital technologies such as personal communications services (PCS), will help the industry maintain its explosive growth. Meanwhile, San Ramon-based Telecompetition Inc., predicted that PCS market will end 1999 with 23 percent of America"s 96 million wireless subscribers. In its "US Metro Wireless Forecast," Telecompetition says that, mid-way through this year, service providers were signing up more customers for PCS than for traditional cellular offerings. "These are impressive gains for PCS service providers," the report says, "especially considering that more than 60 percent of the 487 FCC-licensed Basic Trading Areas still do not have any operational PCS system." By 2003, Telecompetition says, the transformation of cellular services to a mass market and demand for mobile Internet access will put wireless technologies into the hands of 156 million subscribers -- more than half of the U.S. population. Of those subscribers, the company predicts, 65 million will use PCS, generating revenue of more than $40 billion. Banc of America"s McKechnie, speaking at an investment conference in San Francisco, said the Internet is "underutilized" because of its lack of portability. He said wireless Internet is still in its infancy but would "take off in earnest" in 2000, buoyed by wireless applications protocol (WAP) for digital services. McKechnie said he expects WAP to do for wireless Internet access what Netscape"s graphical browser did for personal computers and the Net in the early "90s. He said other factors working to increase subscribers for all wireless services include the lower fees brought on by competition and deregulation in the industry. Telecompetition said the leading U.S. markets for wireless services are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. This year, total wireless subscribers will total 21 million in those cities, with PCS taking a 26-percent market share, the company said. McKechnie said that, while demand for wireless technology would lead to continued component shortages through early 2000, the fundamentals of the industry are strong. For investors, he recommended such major wireless players as Qualcomm [NASDAQ:QCOM], Motorola [NYSE:MOT] and Nokia [NYSE:NOK] and component manufacturers RF Micro Devices [NASDAQ:RFMD] and Sawtek [NASDAQ:SAWS]. Telecompetition is on the Web at: telecompetition.com Banc of America Securities is at: bofasecurities.com Reported by Newsbytes.com, newsbytes.com 16:31 CST (19991001/Press contact:Jennifer A. Smith of Banc of America Securities, 415-913-5968; Telecompetition, Terry Young, 925-543-5724/WIRES ONLINE, TELECOM, BUSINESS/WIRELESS/PHOTO)