AT&T Wireless Services Inc. is offering a 60 percent price reduction for its Packet Data Service, which uses Cellular Digital Packet Data technology, which is optimized for short “bursty” data transmissions.
AT&T is offering five service plans: $22 for an allowance of 200 kilobytes per month, $50 for 1,000 KBs, $85 for 2,000 KBs, $115 for 3,000 KBs and $145 for 4,000 KBs.
The per-kilobyte use rate after the allowance is exhausted ranges from 12 cents to 5 cents. There is a one-time activation fee of $45 per user, and the term of the contract is negotiable.
“With this new pricing structure, customers can select the plan that is consistent with their usage requirements, which frees them from counting kilobytes,” said Kendra VanderMeulen, vice president and general manager of the company’s Wireless Data Division. “We believe this new pricing structure delivers on all fronts.”
The AT&T pricing decision follows an announcement from Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile earlier this month that it would slash its own CDPD service pricing by 70 percent.
“This new pricing strategy, combined with the industry’s move toward seamless interoperability, allows customers to use data more often and in more places,” said Mike Franklin, director of wireless data marketing for Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile.
The new “report card” from the CDPD Forum for the first quarter of 1996 notes that AT&T and Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile together account for 35 markets with full CDPD service out of a total of 78 markets.
The report also noted that interoperability agreements were signed in the first quarter between Ameritech Cellular Services and GTE Mobilnet Inc., Ameritech and AT&T, and between GTE and Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile.
“The spread of interoperability agreements are creating new opportunities for people and companies who conduct business on a national scale,” said Dave Coverdale, managing director of the CDPD Forum.
