Editor’s Note: RCR Wireless News goes all in for “Throwback Thursdays,” tapping into our archives to resuscitate the top headlines from the past. Fire up the time machine, put on the sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories!
You get a pager, and you get a pager — everybody gets a pager!
Power Page L.L.C., an emerging paging carrier and reseller in Los Angeles, is not only giving away free pagers to acquire new customers, but is soliciting the help of all other Americans to do so too.
In a half-hour informercial aired in 27 markets across the country the weekend of June 21 and 22, the company’s marketing arm, Wireless Marketing, pitched what essentially amounted to a help-wanted ad. The company is recruiting people to distribute display articles containing coupons that can be redeemed for a free Motorola Inc. pager after paying for the first and last month of airtime and a $25 activation fee. For $59, plus shipping and handling, those interested will receive the displays, information about the service and 1,000 coupons to place at movie theaters, restaurants and other high-traffic retailers”. Whenever someone redeems the coupon for the free pager and signs on for service, the person who distributed the coupon is compensated by receiving 10 percent of the activation fee and monthly airtime fees that the user pays while subscribing to the service. According to Power Page President and Chief Executive Officer Rod Kahn, who also is president and CEO of Wireless Marketing and South Bay Wireless, the idea is to offer everyday people the chance to profit from the paging “boom.” … Read more
Paging carrier, reseller relationships sour
Once the industry’s dynamic duo of distribution, the relationship between paging carriers and paging resellers is no longer the love fest it once was. In paging’s early days, resellers were the cheapest and most effective way to cultivate the market. Once the market grew to its potential, however, resellers began asking for lower rates from carriers so they could sell services at lower prices to customers, carriers contend. One carrier likened the relationship between carriers and resellers as the “tail wagging the dog.” Having seen their revenues plummet and investors balk, paging carriers these days are focusing their efforts more on increasing profits with greater revenue per unit, as opposed to furthering market growth through units in service. They are finding that other methods of distribution are more profitable than reselling and, quite frankly, they don’t need resellers any more, at least not at the same level as in the past. Industry analysts IDC/Link Resources of Austin, Texas, last year predicted that reseller channels will decrease during the next five years. … Read more
Power players of 1997
NEW YORK-AT&T Corp. still topped the revenue and net income charts among the major carriers in 1996 even though it has spun off two divisions into stand-alone companies, including Lucent Technologies Inc. British Telecom again placed second in both categories. AT&T’s revenues dropped year-to-year to $52.18 billion, down from $78.59 billion in 1995, but its net income soared to $5.61 billion from $4.15 billion. British Telecom’s revenues rose to $22.1 billion from $21.2 billion, while its net income increased to just more than $3 billion from $2.8 billion the prior year. While AT&T and BT held steady in terms of these key rankings, those major players listed just below the top twosome in revenues and net income showed a marked shift in some cases. BellSouth Corp. dropped a notch to third place in the revenues status among carriers, but moved up dramatically to a third place spot in net income last year. GTE Corp. and Ameritech Corp. also increased their status significantly in terms of both benchmarks. … Read more
Laying the groundwork for WAP
Espoo, FINLAND-Nokia Corp., L.M. Ericsson, Motorola Inc. and Unwired Planet Inc. will work together to define a common protocol for wireless data technologies. The initial proposal to consolidate the technologies was presented at the Mobile Data Initiative earlier this year in Munich. The purpose of the Wireless Application Protocol is to expand the use of wireless data by providing a de facto platform for developing new value-added services. Applications will include management of personal telephone profiles, handling of voice, fax and e-mail; information services such as taxi, restaurants, hotels, stock trading, banking and directory services; Internet services and improved interface to existing services and the addition of more advanced telephony related services. The final goal is to produce a refined, license-free protocol that is independent of the underlying airlink standard, said Ericsson. … Read more
Consumers are a must-win for PCS
NEWTON, Mass.-Personal communications services providers must prevail in the consumer market in order to be successful, said a report issued by Business Research Group. PCS providers focused initially on the business market in an effort to recoup investments on licenses because business users spend on average $140 per month for wireless service, said the firm. However, in order to survive, PCS providers will need to penetrate the consumer market by selling services in the retail environment and by making equipment and service costs affordable, said BRG. The report also predicted people will be quicker to adopt PCS services than the cellular industry experienced in its first five years operating, pointing to Sprint Spectrum L.P.’s gain of at least 100,000 customers in just more than one year of operation. … Read more
Six million CDMA chips in the wild
SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. said it has shipped more than 6 million Mobile Station Modem chips to Code Division Multiple Access handset manufacturers worldwide. Qualcomm’s ASCI Business Unit is producing approximately 1 million chipsets each month. The chips being shipped are Qualcomm’s third-generation design, which will be followed by deliveries of its fourth-generation design late this summer, said the company. … Read more
Sprint launches in the Twin Cities, Buffalo N.Y.
MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL, Minn.-Sprint Spectrum L.P. launched its personal communications services network branded Sprint PCS in the Twin Cities area. Minneapolis and St. Paul mark the company’s 47th and 48th Code Division Multiple Access PCS networks to launch. … Read more
BUFFALO-Sprint Spectrum L.P. officially launched its personal communications services network in western New York. The service in Buffalo completes the initial phase of construction of Sprint PCS’ network in major New York cities, the company said. Buffalo Mayor Anthony Masiello placed an inaugural call to New York Governor George Pataki as part of the launch. … Read more
Check out the RCR Wireless News Archives for more stories from the past.
