Motorola Inc.’s Personal Communications Systems formally introduced its Teledensity product, a wireless system designed for local loop and personal communications services applications, at the recent Personal Communications Industry Association Showcase in Seattle.
Earlier in September, Motorola announced its first customer for Teledensity would be Southwestern Bell Corp., which plans a trial personal access communications system (PACS) in St. Louis using Motorola’s product. Motorola is in discussions with several other carriers, including U S West Communications, but nothing specific has been announced, according to Phil Petersen, Motorola’s manager of market research for PCS.
Motorola’s Cellular Infrastructure Group introduced a WiLL (Wireless Local Loop) product last year. But that system is based on analog Advanced Mobile Phone System technology, and Motorola has been marketing it primarily to the international market to bring phone service to rural areas.
Teledensity, although it could be used for some rural applications where houses are closer together, will be marketed primarily for urban/suburban areas as a replacement for wireline phone service.
Teledensity uses digital technology. The product likely will make its first round of trials and sales in the United States, although Motorola does intend to market it internationally as well.
“It’s probably the first time a wireless system is cost competitive with wire in an urban/suburban environment,” said Petersen, explaining the significance of this product. Until now, it has been more cost effective to use wireline phone systems rather than wireless systems in cities, he explained.
Teledensity’s target market is wireline telephone companies, local exchange competitors, “designated entity” PCS licensees and long-distance carriers.
The product would allow these companies to expand more quickly or begin local-loop operations and also offer mobility to customers through a wireless system that uses spectrum allocated for broadband PCS.
Petersen wouldn’t provide any specifics about cost comparisons with wireline, but said Motorola has been in discussions with major telephone companies-under nondisclosure agreements-concerning their cost of business and has compared those figures with the cost of using Teledensity. Those results are the basis for Motorola’s claim of cost effectiveness, he said.
One part of this competitiveness with wireline is that the “drop” to each residence is eliminated in a wireless system, Petersen said, explaining the drop is one of the most expensive parts of maintaining a wired system because that cable frequently gets dug up, cutting off phone service.
Teledensity will accommodate mobile speeds up to about 40 miles per hour, but Motorola is still studying whether people will be able to access the system traveling in a car at freeway speeds, said Petersen. The system could be linked with a cellular system for continuous coverage.
In the St. Louis trial, Southwestern Bell will focus on the system’s wireless loop application, in which access to the public-switched network is provided by a radio link to the customer’s home. But the system could migrate to mobile PCS services in the future.
The system comprises five elements:
an operations and maintenance center, which provides operational support system functions;
a radio port control unit, which provides the interface between the wireline network and the radio systems. This unit facilitates remote powering for radio ports.
a radio port, containing one or two transceivers as well as the wireline interface to the RPCU;
a wireless fixed access unit, which contains a transceiver for communicating with the radio ports and the standard connectors to conventional telephone instruments. This can be mounted inside or outside of a person’s home; and
a TeleClear handset, a compact handset with full functionality, according to Motorola.
Dianne Hammer is a freelance writer based in Denver, Colo.
