AT&T Mobility to sunset 18 TDMA markets this year

AT&T Mobility announced it will begin shutting down its TDMA network in 18 markets this year. The move is an attempt to get the carrier’s customers to migrate to its GSM network, a more spectrally efficient network technology.
The carrier said it plans to shut down TDMA service in markets stretching from New Mexico to Texas to Kentucky, and that all 18 markets will be off by July 15.
AT&T Mobility said it plans to shut down the remainder of its TDMA network early next year.
The carrier declined to disclose the number of subscribers who will be affected by the move, but it did say that only 1% of its calling traffic runs over its TDMA network.
AT&T Mobility said it would waive its early termination fee for TDMA customers who want to churn to another carrier, though it claims most of those customers have likely already fulfilled their contract obligations.
The network “turn down,” in AT&T Mobility’s parlance, will not affect the carrier’s analog network. Federal regulations require wireless carriers to maintain their analog networks through February 2008, but those requirements do not extend to digital TDMA networks.