AT&T Wireless Services Inc. only now is receiving the dual-band handsets necessary to make its vision of a Digital PCS nationwide network a reality.
“Things will start happening pretty quickly,” said AT&T Wireless spokesman Ken Woo. AT&T has not launched any of its 1900 MHz properties, but plans to have two to four markets up by the end of the second quarter.
The operator intends to tie together its cellular and personal communications services networks using dual-band handsets based on Time Division Multiple Access technology. The handsets-which operate at 800 MHz and 1.9 GHz-are critical to AT&T’s promotion strategy, which implies to customers that it has a single, nationwide network.
Ericsson Inc. was supposed to deliver the handsets in January, according to a $300 million supply contract. But the manufacturer felt the product needed a few more adjustments. “We learned our lesson four years ago with D-AMPS,” said Michael Parker, vice president of marketing for Ericsson Inc. “Then, everybody launched too soon, but we were out front.”
Digital Advanced Mobile Phone Service is a form of TDMA technology that was deployed in some U.S. cellular networks in the early 1990s, particularly those of AT&T.
The Ericsson phones are co-branded AT&T and Ericsson. Features of the phones vary; in particular, one has a flip mouthpiece, one does not. “The phone is designed for 1900 MHz systems. But if a customer is roaming where there is no 1900, the phone looks for an 800 MHz D-AMPS signal and, not finding that, looks for AMPS,” Parker said. The terminal is also called a triple mode phone.
For a company that often makes announcements with tremendous pomp, AT&T’s rollout schedule for its PCS properties seems almost quiet-two to four markets in the second quarter; four to six markets during the third quarter; four to six launches during the fourth quarter.
However, AT&T holds some pretty hefty major trading areas, of which the launch of even one would provide publicity mileage: Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Atlanta and Cincinnati. In some of those markets, a 1900 MHz competitor already has launched a system.
“We won’t launch until we are 100 percent sure,” Woo said of network and handset compatibility.
AT&T operates cellular systems in New York City, Las Vegas, St. Louis and Philadelphia; it has cellular clusters along the West Coast, throughout Utah and Colorado, and along the Florida peninsula. It has a fat Southwestern cluster including Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana.
Ericsson also is supplying AT&T with dual-mode D-AMPS/AMPS phones. And since some AT&T cellular markets still use only AMPS, Ericsson is providing AT&T with single-mode AMPS phones as well. The terminals are built in Ericsson’s Lynchburg, Va., factory.
