Sprint PCS service is available in six cities, and just two days remain for Sprint Spectrum L.P. to meet its goal of launching 1900 MHz personal comm-unications services in two more of its 29 A- and B-block markets.
Sprint’s Code Division Multiple Access service is up in Fresno and San Diego, Calif., Spokane, Wash., Portland, Ore., Albany, N.Y., and Milwaukee. Branded Sprint PCS, the service has been promoted as “the replacement for cellular.”
The San Diego license was awarded to Cox Communications Inc. as a pioneer’s preference, but will be branded Sprint PCS and connect with Sprint Spectrum’s other markets nationwide. The Irvine, Calif., cable company is a 15 percent partner in Sprint Spectrum.
Lucent Technologies Inc. supplied the infrastructure equipment. Handsets were provided by Qualcomm Personal Electronics. The phones are co-branded Sony and Sprint and sell for about $200 in retail stores and through direct sales channels.
Service was kicked off in San Diego and Albany last Friday. The other four markets announced start of service before Christmas. These markets were part of the first launch by Sprint Spectrum since it won 29 PCS licenses in March 1995, except for the November 1995 launch by American Personal Communications Inc. in Washington, D.C. APC is owned in part by Sprint and uses the Sprint PCS name.
Sprint’s PCS competitor in Fresno, part of the San Francisco major trading area, and San Diego is Pacific Bell Mobile Services. In Spokane, GTE Mobilnet Inc. is Sprint’s PCS competitor. Western Wireless Corp. has already launched a PCS system in Portland, and PrimeCo Personal Communications L.P. has a CDMA system operating in Milwaukee. In Albany, Sprint is competing with Omnipoint Corp.
Sprint Spectrum said it expects to complete Phase I of its launch schedule by mid-1997. Phase I involves 65 markets where Sprint holds licenses and where service will be launched on a market-by-market basis when the network meets performance standards.
“We applaud Sprint for ensuring that the network performs well and that coverage is comprehensive where service is being offered, rather than launching prematurely,” said the Yankee Group of Boston.
Aside from call quality, Sprint said the criteria driving launch decisions includes site availability, interconnectivity agreements with the local phone operator and microwave relocation.
Short message service is not included in the initial launch and will be announced during the first half of next year. Data service is a lower priority than voice for Sprint, which said that the industry is working on CDMA data solutions, but it doesn’t see a strong need for data in the near future. “CDMA is very fit for data communications and we don’t see a problem dropping it in,” Sprint said.
Phase II will involve filling in service holes, such as rural areas, and buildout of systems in areas for which Sprint expects to win D- and E-block licenses. Sprint intends to charge rates based on peak and off-peak hours and does not see the need to have one national pricing plan.
Sprint said a CDMA overlay has been engineered for APC, but conversion of APC’s Global System for Mobile communications network won’t start until the end of 1997, if then. And the GSM network won’t be shut off if there are customers on it, Sprint said.
