The increasingly competitive push-to-talk space is expected to welcome another player as soon as next week as industry sources claim Alltel Corp. is close to launching its Touch2Talk walkie-talkie service, joining Nextel Communications Inc., Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS as carriers offering push-to-talk services. One source claimed the carrier will launch the service in select markets beginning Jan. 22.
Alltel has been quiet on its push-to-talk plans, but said last year that it expected to launch on offering sometime around the first of this year. Alltel’s Web site includes a Touch2Talk link that indicates the service is in customer trials and includes feedback options on service performance and setting up group calls.
The service is expected to launch using the Kyocera Corp. 3250 handset, which includes a color screen and dedicated push-to-talk button, and using Kodiak Networks Inc.’s RTX platform, which unlike recently launched services from CDMA carriers Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS, is circuit-switch based instead of packet-based. Kodiak, which announced this week its first carrier partner in European-based Orange, has noted the difference allows its platform to provide lower latency and in some cases better performance than Nextel Communications Inc.’s iDEN-based Direct Connect service.
Sources claim the Alltel service will include both a tiered and unlimited pricing structure beginning at $5 per month for 100 minutes between two users or 50 group minutes up to $20 per month for unlimited private use or 100 group minutes. Network coverage is expected to be similar to Alltel’s prepaid offering with nationwide availability added during the year.
