Despite a rash of operational difficulties during the past several years that led to its eventual sale to rival Cingular Wireless L.L.C., Forrester Research Inc. found that AT&T Wireless Services Inc. was the leading wireless provider of next-generation business services, according to a survey conducted by the research firm.
“The overall front-runner across the three categories of current offering, strategy and market presence is, ironically, the provider that has experienced the greatest difficulties in the past two years: AT&T Wireless,” noted Lisa Pierce, author of the report, “Tech Choices: U.S. 2.5 and 3G Business Services.”
The report, which included surveys sent out during the third quarter of last year, found that AWS had excellent business customer-care and support strategies, singling out the carrier’s use of third-party relationships. Forrester also found that AWS offered extensive international roaming capabilities, provided support for a range of devices targeting mobile business professionals and sold the most Research In Motion Ltd. BlackBerry devices in the United States.
While AWS was cited as the leading wireless provider for business customers, Forrester also noted that “strategic blunders,” issues surrounding the implementation of wireless local number portability and a lack of sufficient spectrum in key markets like New York City, resulted in higher churn for the carrier. Prior to its acquisition by Cingular late last year, AWS’ churn results were running more than 1 percentage point above the industry average.
Forrester added that many of those issues have bled over to Cingular’s integration of AWS, including Cingular’s inability to capitalize on its one-time near monopoly of the BlackBerry market to gain a wireless data advantage and Cingular’s “historic concentration of coverage to the territories of its parents-BellSouth [Corp.] and SBC Communications [Inc.]”
Bright spots for Cingular are its plans to leave AWS’ business customer organization largely intact and its recently announced plans to aggressively roll out more advanced data services, Forrester said.
“Thus the nation’s largest mobile provider’s future success clearly hinges on its ability to not repeat past mistakes,” Pierce noted in the report, adding that while it was too early to draw any conclusion regarding Cingular’s integration plans, the report was a good starting point to check up on Cingular’s progress in the future.
Cingular, which declined to participate in the survey citing its acquisition of AWS, used the report’s results to hype its own business strategy and recently created Business Markets Group.
“Forrester’s ranking of Cingular as the front-runner in the wireless B2B space is wonderful news, and we are committed to maintaining that status over the long haul,” said Kent Mathy, president of Cingular’s BMG.
In addition to falling behind Cingular as the nation’s largest wireless operator, Verizon Wireless also posted a second-place finish in the report, though Forrester noted that the carrier has the “greatest chance to move up to the overall leader’s position,” but could be held back by other organizational priorities this year.
Forrester cited Verizon Wireless’ financial stability, network coverage, data performance, service level agreements and pricing options as positives for business customers. Forrester also applauded Verizon Wireless for its business customer care and increasing support for the BlackBerry device.
But all was not roses for the nation’s No. 2 carrier as Forrester found fault with Verizon Wireless’ high pricing plans, lack of support for Wi-Fi services, no specific landline-mobile connectivity features despite parent company Verizon Communications Inc.’s 60-percent stake, and its sole reliance on Vodafone Group plc-which controls the other 40 percent-for its international roaming capabilities. Pierce also noted that Verizon Wireless’ lack of domestic data roaming agreements limits the advantages of its high-speed network.
“This could be a major concern for customers selecting providers, as [Verizon Wireless’] footprint is smaller than that of the combined Cingular Wireless-AT&T Wireless footprint or Sprint’s population coverage with its affiliates,” the Forrester report said.
Sprint PCS rounded out the report’s rankings despite what Forrester described as a robust consumer and business customer base of data users. Sprint PCS also garnered praise for its aggressive pricing and strategic partnerships, as well as its network coverage bolstered by its affiliates.
Sprint PCS also is expected to gain additional business cache through its pending merger with Nextel Communications Inc., which has a substantial portfolio of vertical applications, relationships and business expertise.
Forrester reported that Sprint PCS lags behind some of its competitors in support for third-party partners, not offering a higher-speed data network and lack of pricing innovation in key areas, such as megabyte pooling and aggregated prices.
“Outside a few key product development initiatives, Sprint does not have a strong track record of honing its focus on the support requirements of mobile professionals, although a recent announcement that outlines its managed services capabilities in mobile service procurement, device administration and security management was encouraging,” Pierce wrote.
Nextel, T-Mobile USA Inc. and Alltel Corp. all declined to participate in the report.
