CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-A recent survey of senior executives in the wireless communications industry suggests great uncertainty surrounds the personal communications service marketplace.
The study, conducted by the international consulting firm Arthur D. Little and WirelessNOW, an on-line service for wireless industry professionals, revealed a wide range of opinions on how PCS providers should approach their market strategy.
The survey asked respondents to select the business strategy they felt PCS providers would most likely pursue and to rank the features PCS providers could offer. Half of the respondents said they believed PCS providers will market their services to attract a mass market, which is a segment that is low priority for cellular operators, according to Arthur D. Little. The remaining respondents were divided between cellular-like offerings and some form of fixed residential wireless.
While PCS will enable a wide variety of new applications including two-way paging and messaging, voice paging, wireless e-mail and digital cellular systems, respondents clearly indicated a short list of important features they believed PCS providers must offer.
“According to our survey results, PCS providers should offer a minimal feature set including roaming support, extensive indoor coverage, high-speed handoff, low priced handsets and extended battery life,” noted Stu Lipoff, Arthur D. Little’s director of communications and information technology practice.
