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To: Eric L who wrote (7917)	3/26/2000 12:24:00 PM
From: Wyätt Gwyön	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13582

I respectfully beg to differ regarding optimism for caller-pays as a panacea for relatively sluggish wireless growth in US. Where is the momentum for this in the US? US telco market unique in many respects. Flat-rate wireline is good for consumers, but RBOCs do not like it. Still, it is a Pandora's box they can never shut. Americans have grown up with flat-rate wireline; idea of paying for a local call is literally "foreign". Of course people won't call wireless numbers from flat-rate phones if they receive a talkie saying "you are going to pay for this call". Better ("better" a bit opinionated? then how 'bout "more likely and realistic") solution is to flood market with cheap minutes. Sprint now offering 2000 minutes for $75. Voicestream pricing very aggressively. Get 1000 minutes down to a $15 or $20 price point and you will have your "sea change". I don't think you can extract caller-pays as the one key issue differentiating US wireless market from those of other industrialized nations. Better to see wireless as one solution among others (wireline) available to consumers, and competing with those solutions. In the end, I believe the relatively cheap (compared to rest of world) wireline rates in US necessitate likewise cheap wireless rates.