Nextel Communications Inc. continues to try to move analog customers onto its new digital network, now with the lure of no roaming fees while traveling on the Nextel system.
Nextel’s analog customers are unable to roam at all, the company said. So customers switching to digital service will gain two things: the ability to roam, and at no cost.
About three-quarters of Nextel’s 1 million specialized mobile radio subscribers are analog customers. Nextel is not shy about saying it wants to aggressively grow its digital business.
Nextel has launched two levels of digital service in the United States, all of it based on Motorola Inc.’s integrated Dispatch Enhanced Network.
Nextel’s new marketing plan will allow customers who have signed up for digital service to roam free on what the company is now calling the “Nextel National Network,” which includes any of the 50 major metropolitan areas in 26 states and the District of Columbia.
Nextel said it has tied all of its iDEN switches together using the Signalling System 7 wired network. Therefore, Nextel customers won’t need to dial codes when outside their home service area, and long-distance fees are charged at a single flat rate.
“Customers using the Nextel National Network will never see that dreaded roaming light come on,” said Tom Kelly, Nextel’s vice president of marketing.
