Promises fulfilled was the message from Cingular Wireless L.L.C. as the industry’s largest operator announced the launch of its UMTS/HSDPA network-dubbed BroadbandConnect-in 16 U.S. markets. The carrier has been touting plans to launch the high-speed wireless data network in between 15 and 20 markets by the end of the year.
While the launch fulfilled the carrier’s network plans, analysts warned that Cingular still has a great deal of catching up to do to compete with the extensive high-speed wireless network coverage offered by Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp.
Cingular noted that at launch the UMTS/HSDPA network covered 35 million potential customers, with most network coverage concentrated in city centers and airport locations. Initial markets include Dallas, Houston and Austin, Texas; Baltimore; Boston; Chicago; Las Vegas; Phoenix; Portland, Ore.; Salt Lake City; San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose, Calif.; Seattle and Tacoma, Wash.; and Washington D.C. The initial markets include five of the six markets that were already UMTS-enabled by AT&T Wireless Services Inc., with Detroit expected to be upgraded early next year.
Cingular’s Chief Operating Officer Ralph de la Vega added that the carrier planned to expand network coverage rapidly throughout 2006 to most of the nation’s top 100 markets.
Verizon Wireless, which is seen by most industry observers as a leader in high-speed wireless data coverage, said its network covers more than 140 million pops, while Sprint Nextel, which launched EV-DO services earlier this year, said it expects to cover 130 million pops by early next year.
“In the long run, it won’t be the numbers of cities deployed that will make a customer decide on which of the three carriers to choose,” said Weston Henderek, senior analyst of wireless services for Current Analysis. “Rather, it will depend on their overall reputation, commitment to quality and customer service, as well as on innovative and compelling service offerings and bundles.”
Cingular’s service is only available for laptop computers using a PC Card, which at launch consists only of the Sierra Wireless Aircard 860 PC Modem, available from Cingular for $100 after a $100 rebate. Cingular noted a second card from Novatel Wireless is expected to be available soon. Cingular’s COO de la Vega also teased that the company expects to make announcements regarding other devices and services within the next few weeks.
The device issue could be an initial problem as Cingular’s EV-DO competitors offer a variety of smart phones, multiple PC cards and EV-DO capable handsets on the market already.
Cingular said the Sierra Wireless PC Card was backward compatible with the carrier’s EDGE and GPRS data networks as well as quad-band support for North American 850 MHz/1.9 GHz networks and international 900 MHz/1.8 GHz networks. A Cingular spokesman added that the carrier was looking at adding UMTS 2.1 GHz support for international roaming in future devices.
The expected support for 850 MHz UMTS/HSDPA services is seen as paramount for Cingular’s previously announced plans to expand high-speed wireless Internet services to rural areas. Several rural operators have said they were working with Cingular in pushing infrastructure providers to support UMTS/HSDPA at 850 MHz, which is the band many rural carriers use.
While Cingular initially falls short in coverage, the carrier’s claimed network speeds match those of its CDMA competitors.
Cingular touted HSDPA network speeds of between 400 to 700 kilobits per second on average, with bursts of up to 3.6 megabits per second. That puts the service on par with CDMA2000 1x EV-DO data services available from Sprint Nextel, Verizon Wireless and Alltel Corp., but with faster bursts.
Initial independent testing by RBC Capital Markets telecommunications analyst Jonathan Atkin revealed actual HSDPA speeds of between 350 and 450 kbps with network latency of around 240 milliseconds. Those speeds are comparable to Sprint Nextel’s EV-DO speeds of 400 kbps with 200 millisecond latency and Verizon Wireless’ EV-DO speeds of 400 kbps with 250-300 millisecond latency.
Cingular is also matching its competitors in service pricing with current voice customers able to add unlimited UMTS/HSDPA access for $60 per month. Cingular also offers tiered plans beginning at $20 per month for 5 megabytes of data transmission. The plans also include access to the carrier’s slower speed GPRS/EDGE network.
In addition to throwing its hat into the high-speed wireless broadband market, Cingular also provided an update on its integration of AWS, which Cingular acquired for $41 billion last fall. Cingular said it has rationalized the 47 overlapped TDMA network operations into one network, which included turning down 10,000 redundant TDMA sites. Cingular also said it has rationalized 30 of 63 redundant GSM markets, which included integrating 7,500 sites.
Despite the rationalization, de la Vega noted that blocked calls, dropped calls and voice bit errors were down between 20 and 30 percent in integrated cell clusters.
The carrier said it was testing billing integration solutions and that it expects to begin implementation early next year. In addition, Cingular said it plans to add between 4,000 to 5,000 additional cell sites by the end of 2006.
