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To: JGoren who wrote (23147)	2/20/1999 5:27:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 152472

Wireless> Guest Opinion: Wireless Already An Alternative To Landline Service Abroad By Tom Bartlett Over the past couple of months, our industry has been buzzing over stories of individuals, small businesses and even whole rural U.S. towns that have gone completely wireless. Reporters, analysts and colleagues keep asking me if I think wireless will ever become a truly viable landline alternative. My answer? Just look past the U.S. borders and you'll see it's already happening. In Finland, 50 percent of all phones and more than half of all traffic is wireless. Let's just say it: Most people prefer the freedom of wireless to the bonds of landlines. Wireless adds mobility, convenience and security to our lives. As networks grow to meet demand, they offer more powerful services and increasingly competitive pricing. The U.S. market, with high landline penetration resulting from low prices, relatively high network quality and sophisticated customer care, may take several years for a "wireless-as-landline-alternative" model to fully develop. But the timeline will be far shorter in areas where landline service is less competitive and where few differences exist between the two service offerings. I see this happening today. For example, unlike the United States, Europe's calling party pays standard encourages wireless users to leave their phones on, and having a single technology standard provides simple and transparent access to service across the continent and beyond. As Finland achieved late in 1998, wireless penetration in Italy should be deeper than landline late this year with more than 30 million subscribers. Omnitel, which added more than 6 million customers in its three years of service, delivers coverage everywhere, from the Vatican steps to the Alpine peaks and offers peerless customer care levels in the European telecommunications industry. In addition, landline service quality issues, calling party pays, more favorable long-distance rates for mobile customers and aggressive lifestyle marketing helped create a large customer segment that sees their "telefonini" (or "little phone") as their primary communications tool. In Mexico, 90 percent of the population has no access, or hope of access, to a landline phone. Iusacell, the country's second largest communications company, has served more than 16,000 customers in a wireless local loop trial for more than two years, and hundreds of its wireless pay phones now dot the Mexican landscape. Iusacell's prepaid rates, market-leading customer care and new digital service already have helped drive "celludensity" beyond 2 percent, with population coverage far beyond that of landline. With several new potential competitors entering the market and calling party pays scheduled for early 1999, celludensity should surpass teledensity within 10 years. At Bell Atlantic, we are helping our investments worldwide understand and maximize the opportunity this trend will present. And while the timelines and drivers may vary by market, especially in develop- ing nations, the result will be the same: Wireless has and will become a viable landline alternative on a wide scale. Tom Bartlett is president and CEO of Bell Atlantic International Wireless.