Dear Editor:
We are greatly disappointed in RCR’s Oct. 11 article, “AT&T Explores 1XRTT Technology,” by Lynnette Luna. There is no truth to the suggestion that AT&T may utilize cdma2000/1XRTT technology. Ms. Luna’s sources are unofficial and wrong.
As we stated on-the-record in the article, AT&T is committed to TDMA and EDGE technology. The convergence of TDMA and GSM into a single EDGE standard provides us with enormous and powerful economic scale and coverage advantages. This commitment was reaffirmed at the Telecom ’99 show in Geneva where the big story was the convergence of the TDMA and GSM standards into one common EDGE/UMTS architecture for third generation. It is clear to us that cdma2000 is not on the main track toward 3G. Contrary to what the article incorrectly implies, AT&T stands firm with AT&T Wireless in supporting TDMA/EDGE as the superior technology evolution path.
The article also attempts to connect network capacity issues with TDMA/EDGE technology. Had the reporter asked us about this, we would have explained the two are unrelated. AT&T Wireless uses TDMA technology in all of its markets. We believe its performance is supported by the fact that J.D. Power & Associates recently named AT&T Wireless the leader of customer satisfaction in nine out of 13 markets included in its study.
The article does a great disservice to RCR by erroneously misleading readers and by causing unwarranted confusion within the wireless industry.
John D. Zeglis
President, AT&T Corp.
Editor’s Note: RCR did not say AT&T was planning to utilize CDMA technology, only that the company was exploring the technology.
