Orange plc, one of the United Kingdom’s two 1800 MHz personal communications providers, announced it established a roaming agreement with the Swiss Post, Telephone and Telegraph.
Concurrently, Colin Tucker, group technical and operations director, said he believes dual band phones, which operate at 900 MHz and 1800 MHz could be available next year.
The agreement with the Swiss PTT is Orange’s second for roaming. In March, the company started roaming service with E-Plus, a German personal communications network operator.
Orange expects to begin roaming service soon in France, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, said a company spokeswoman.
Despite Orange’s aggressive expansion efforts, entrenched 900 MHz operators in the United Kingdom, other European Union nations and some Eastern European countries, already offer roaming capability throughout the continent. Orange can expand roaming only as fast as PCN operators are licensed and launch in other countries.
But if dual-band handsets are around the corner, roaming coverage as a factor distinguishing cellular from PCN may fade, as users would be able to switch to a different frequency while traveling. Luca Tassan, analyst in the London office of Economic and Management Consultants International Inc., said he expects dual-band handsets by L.M. Ericsson and Nokia Mobile Phones to arrive in the marketplace in 1997.
Orange’s Tucker went as far as to forecast that mobile phones soon will offer capability at three frequencies, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 1900 MHz, the latter for personal communications services in the United States. Tucker said such advanced phones also could help open the market for global data transmission.
Tassan noted roaming is only a small part of the whole service package. Orange has executed a vigorous marketing strategy-mainly through print and television-since it launched service two years ago and offers tariffs that are generally cheaper than cellular service, he added.
Orange was first in the United Kingdom to introduce per second billing and first to bundle monthly fees and airtime fees into one charge, said the Orange spokeswoman. “Our focus is strong on customers.”
U.K. cellular competitors are Vodafone plc and Cellnet. Each has between 40 and 50 roaming agreements, commented Tassan. The United Kingdom’s other PCN operator is Mercury One 2 One, owned by Cable & Wireless plc and U S West Inc.
