AT&T Wireless Services Inc.’s plan for a digital personal communications services nationwide network has finally kicked off.
After receiving its long-awaited shipment of dual-band, dual-mode handsets from Ericsson Inc. last month, AT&T began offering its Digital PCS service at 1900 MHz last week in Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.
The handsets allow AT&T Wireless customers to use the service in areas where AT&T Wireless’ 800 MHz digital service is available. The phones retail for around $200 and also default to the analog cellular band in markets where the company is not yet offering digital service. Ericsson was supposed to deliver the enhanced 8-kilobit vocoder handsets in January, according to a $300 million supply contract. The operator intends to tie together its cellular and PCS networks.
AT&T Wireless, the nation’s largest cellular operator, plans to aggressively market its Time Division Multiple Access service in the two cities by adopting specialized mobile radio operator Nextel Communications Inc.’s mentality, offering drastically low service plan rates and leveraging its power as a long-distance provider.
The company has expanded its home service area to include 10 Western states, which means customers won’t have to pay roaming charges when placing calls from those areas. Outside those areas, AT&T Wireless will charge the usual 60 cents per minute for roaming. Nextel charges no roaming fees in all of its markets. Code Division Multiple Access provider Sprint Spectrum L.P. launched service in Tucson late last month and charges a flat roaming rate.
Business calling plans will cost as low as $9 per month, said Ken Woo, AT&T Wireless spokesman. He said the company also will offer limited-time promotions that include giving customers 50 percent more minutes every month for life if they sign up for consumer calling plans costing $40 a month or bundling 30 minutes of long-distance service for a year.
Sprint PCS is offering a 20/20/20 plan whereby customers receive 20 minutes of airtime for $20 per month until 2000, said Bob Kelly, Sprint PCS spokesman. The company also is charging $75 per month for 1,000 minutes of airtime.
AT&T Wireless is offering options like many PCS providers that already have launched service: no annual contract, first incoming minute free, caller ID, voice mail with message indicator and text and numeric messaging.
AT&T Wireless’ coverage includes both Tucson and Phoenix and the main freeway connecting the cities. Sprint PCS will offer service in Phoenix with coverage along the interstate later this month.
AT&T said it intends to launch as many as 10 new markets by the end of the year. It holds some pretty hefty major trading areas, of which the launch of even one would provide more publicity mileage: Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Atlanta and Cincinnati. In some of those markets, a 1900 MHz competitor already has launched a system.
AT&T Wireless operates cellular systems in a number of large cities, including New York City, Las Vegas, St. Louis and Philadelphia; it has cellular clusters along the West Coast, throughout Utah and Colorado, and along the Florida peninsula. It has a fat Southwestern cluster including Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana. The company launched digital cellular service in most of its markets last October using the Digital PCS name.
Sprint PCS has 42 markets operating with recent launches in New York and Dallas.
