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Technology Stocks : The New Qualcomm - a S&P500 company -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bananawind who wrote (2104)	10/7/1999 2:26:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13582

Good Call, Steven! <gg> eom.

To: bananawind who wrote (2104)	10/7/1999 2:30:00 PM
From: Scott Zion	Respond to of 13582

SSB comments on the WCOM/Sprint merger..from Mazman on the BWA thread. Message 11472588 SPRINT PCS MOST LEVERAGEABLE FOR DATA - WHICH IS WHY WCOM WANTS IT We believe the differentiation of large wireless networks will grow as we evolve towards 2.5 G (2G refers to digital voice networks) leading to the provisioning of high speed packet data services in addition to voice services. We are still in the earliest stages of mobile data services but the benefits of mobile/wireless based services are clear -- the ability to provide real time (more relevant) and geographic context to any internet-based/information service, ranging from stock trading, mobile advertising (beaming ads to our handset as we pass in front of a GAP store), commerce (being in a Barnes and Noble and getting a simultaneous wireless price quote from Amazon) or even email and chat (buddy lists on handsets). In our view, the best positioned (and successful) carriers are those who have adopted a digital technology that will easily evolve towards high-speed data and 3G (CDMA and GSM are the best positioned), own licenses with substantial bandwidth (spectrum remains a scarce asset) and are not saddled with legacy subscribers (think analog). Sprint PCS is well positioned to provision higher-speed packet-based data services given the company's use of highly efficient CDMA digital technology, substantial network capacity as well as nationwide scale. Within 18 months, Sprint PCS will offer its customers 1.5 Mbps data access on its wireless network, easily surpassing speeds achieved by iDEN, TDMA and even GSM's GRPS and EDGE technologies. From a capacity standpoint, Sprint PCS has only used about 5 MHz of its 25-30 MHz nationwide (in other words, only 20% of its bandwidth) to service its 4mm customers and therefore has substantial capacity (80% left) to accommodate the expected ramp in mobile data traffic. It is also increasingly clear that internet content, applications, commerce and information providers are focusing their efforts on scale operators such as Sprint PCS with the Yahoo! alliance being the most recent example. As for other carriers, we believe AT&T will need to sacrifice voice capacity to provision higher speed packet data services (which is problematic given AT&T's current capacity problems in major markets). AT&T plans to roll-out 115 Kbps GPRS (GSM packet radio services) on its TDMA network in the next 12-24 months to provide higher-speed packet data services. As GRPS will not mix voice and data traffic over the core TDMA backbone, AT&T will reserve specific spectrum for GPRS. Given frequency reuse patterns, this translates into only 5.5 MHz of dedicated bandwidth per market solely for data services-- or about 20% of its existing voice capacity. As for Nextel, we believe the company will struggle to evolve towards higher data speeds on its iDEN network. The key issue remains the lack of a clear upgrade path towards 2.5G and 3G services given iDEN current closed architecture as well as more limited spectrum bandwidth. Currently, Nextel's packet data network achieves a maximum speed of 16 Kbps, and with bandwidth lashing (combining channels) can reach 64 Kbps. While the company remains confident regarding its current voice capacity, the expected explosion of packet data services could strain the company's current capacity. The bottom line on wireless is that WCOM's view of owning a wireless asset was to enhance its already data/IP-centric approach to telecom. WCOM views wireless data as a way to solidify more revenue per customer, especially in customer accounts where WCOM's data, IP, and On-Net services are being sold. Sprint PCS provides WCOM with the most robust wireless footprint for data with the greatest degree of interoperability. This dovetails perfectly with WCOM's fiber networks and UUNET IP backbone to offer customers end-to-end, on-net data and IP solutions--wired or wireless.