AT&T to offer new nationwide cut-rate wireless service

Article Abstract:

AT&T introduced a 24-hour wireless telephone service that allows around 97% of all US callers to phone anywhere domestically for for as low as 11 cents a minute. An unprecedented feature consists of dropping special roaming charges for AT&T phone use on other networks. AT&T, the largest US wireless service provider, apparently is responding to new competition that followed the FCC's new wireless spectrum auctions in the mid-1990s. Sprint PCS and Nextel Communications grew by 227,000 and 371,000 users respectively in the 1st qtr 1998, while AT&T added only 195,000 users. The three AT&T monthly service versions span 600 minutes of air time for $89.99 per month, or 15 cents a minute, to 1,400 minutes of air time for $149.99, or 15 cents a minute. By comparison, Sprint charges about $110, or 11 cents a minute, for 1,000 minutes of air time and no additional long-distance charges. AT&T also unveiled a 90-day window to distribute a new Nokia wireless telephone that can be left on for more than a week at a time.

Cellular and Other Wireless Telecommunications, Mobile Radio Services, Services, Prices and rates, Wireless communications services, Company service introduction, Service introduction

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AT&T unit is said to be up for sale: paging division price could be $450 million

Article Abstract:

AT&T has decided to put its paging subsidiary up for sale, according to executives close to the telecommunications company. No buyer has purchased the unit, which the executives value at approximately $450 million. AT&T's paging service ranks ninth in the US with 1.2 million customers, but the recent rise in wireless telephones has weakened the industry's prospects. AT&T operates a collection of regional paging systems, rather than a national network that is critical to industry survival. The move reflects AT&T's recent strategy of shedding marginal business subsidiaries. The company received preliminary private bids for its credit card unit, Universal Card Services, which analysts say could fetch up to $4 billion. Analysts also say AT&T could draw as much as $1 billion from the sale of AT&T Solutions Customer Care, its operator of telephone customer service and employee help-desk operations for corporate clients.

Management, Planning, Radio pagers, Company business planning

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Paging allies focus strategy on the Internet; plan is to build niche as cell phone auxiliary

Article Abstract:

To increase market share and profits, paging companies are allying to develop a wireless 2-way communications device that will provide text services, such as Web, email, and calendaring. Powered by Motorola technology, it would use either Microsoft's Windows CE or 3Com's Palm Computing interface. The paging services reason that a person talking on a cell phone won't be able to look at a screen on the same phone; they'll need a second device. At the network level, to support these devices, these business are upgrading their capacity and coverage. Presently, 56 million US consumers carry pagers; about 73 million consumers have wireless phones.

United States, Marketing procedures, Forecasts and trends, Marketing, Market trend/market analysis, Radio paging

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