Privately held wireless carrier Cellular South, which controls spectrum licenses covering more than 5 million potential customers in Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, said it recorded a 23-percent improvement in customer churn during the first quarter, from 2.2 percent last year to 1.7 percent this year. The carrier attributed the improvement to an increased focus on customer retention and $50 million in network improvements last year.
The CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Revision A standard has received the approval of the Third Generation Partnership Project 2 Technical Specification Group, according to the CDMA Development group. Revision A is an enhanced version of Revision 0, which delivers up to 2.4 megabits per second data speeds and has been humming in some networks since 2002. Revision A supports peak data rates of 3.1 Mbps on the forward link and up to 1.8 Mbps on the reverse link. “The high data rates on the reverse link and low data latency will enable operators to deliver rich multimedia services, such as video telephony and will enhance user experience,” said the CDG. It also supports advanced data apps, such as MP3 transfers and video conferencing, TV broadcasts, video and audio downloads.
First Cellular of Southern Illinois said it has selected Andrew Corp.’s caller location system known as Geometrix to provide public-safety agencies with accurate information on cellular calls to 911. The system is compatible with both CDMA and GSM protocols in infrastructure and handsets.
Longtime BlackBerry supporter Cingular Wireless L.L.C. will sell the BlackBerry 6280 and BlackBerry 7280 handhelds through its more than 6,000 company-owned retail stores, a move the carrier said would help target business customers in the small and medium markets. Cingular cited research from IDC, which found 14 percent of small and medium businesses in the United States plan to purchase an advanced wireless device this year. Further, the firm found small and medium-sized businesses spend on average $286 per month on wireless services and prefer to buy their telecommunications products from retail stores.
