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!
Apps that work on multiple networks? A novel idea!
DALLAS-“It’s an exciting time in the industry. It’s a time of growth and rebirth.” So said Konstantin Zsigo, president of Zsigo Wireless Data Inc., at the opening session of Wireless Developer ’98, formerly known as CelluComm Expo, last week in Dallas. This evangelism is nothing new for the wireless data industry, members of which have long held that, someday, the industry will take off. However, due to slow ly evolving technology, fierce competition and lack of understanding about its potential, wireless data has been slow to catch on. Zsigo’s goal is to strengthen what he believes is the most vulnerable aspect of the struggling wireless data industry: lack of marketable applications. Zsigo said he only knows of some 300 developers who have written applications for wireless data, only about 120 of which are still around today. By way of comparison, he said there are 14,000 developers writing Java applications. As such, Zsigo wants to attract more application developers to the field, hence the show’s new name and focus. To do this, the industry must first aggressively advertise the potential of its networks, said Zsigo, and make it easier for developers to write software for them. Zsigo Wireless hopes to be an organization that can do both. … Show sponsors Aeris MicroBurst, AT&T Wireless Services Inc., BellSouth Cellemetry Data Service, Nextel Communications Inc., Nokia Mobile Phones, Orbcomm L.P. and BellSouth Wireless Data formed an advisory council with Zsigo Wireless to educate potential developers about existing market opportunities and highlight the development of certain wireless data applications expected to broaden the marketplace. Each company hosted a developer program to show how it uses different types of wireless data applications successfully. … This effort also points to the stated industry goal of reducing cut-throat competition and moving more toward convergence. By focusing on common business goals and applications, the industry can grow the space for all, Zsigo said. This idea is called internetworking, working to create hybrid network applications for multiple data networks. … Read more
DoD advocates for priority access for public safety on commercial cellular networks
WASHINGTON-A three-star army general is trying to urge the Federal Communications Commission to allow emergency personnel using commercial wireless equipment to have priority access to the commercial network when they are engaged in first-response activities. FCC Chairman William Kennard and Commissioner Michael Powell (Defense commissioner), recently met with Lt. Gen. David Kelley-director of the Defense Information Systems Agency and manager of the National Communications System-as part of a proposal submitted by DOD in 1995. The DOD proposal would give emergency personnel a clear channel when their public-safety channels are congested. There is a perceived demand for some sort of relief for emergency personnel trying to access the wireless network. The perception stems from horror stories of emergency personnel not being able to get onto the wireless network during a crisis. The network congestion can be caused by wireless customers calling 911 to report the incident or, in the case of rush-hour automobile accidents, wireless users calling to say they are stuck in traffic. DOD originally submitted a petition that represented a consensus document with the wireless industry for a program to be known as Cellular Priority Access. The proposal has since been expanded to include all CMRS. The Wireless Priority Access petition later was combined with the docket determining public-safety wireless needs, known as the Public Safety Wireless Access Committee docket. The Priority Access program would be administered by NCS. Personnel with “first-response” duties could use the wireless network when public-safety frequencies were tied up. These personnel would be given a special code on their wireless telephone. NCS would administer the system to verify the personnel who received the special codes were personnel with first-response duties. When the emergency personnel used the phone during a rescue situation, they would be placed in a queue to get the next available channel. No one would be kicked off a telephone call, a DOD official said. … Read more
Putting emergency alerts to the test
BOULDER, Colo.-If Boulder, Colo., had experienced flooding last week, SCC Communications Corp. and U S West Communications Inc. might have been able to help the city notify residents that they needed to evacuate. But the city had sunny skies last Wednesday when it held its annual Early Warning Evacuation service flood preparedness test. Along with the typical outdoor sirens and emergency broadcast warnings, SCC and U S West demonstrated a new system that can notify residents by phone of impending weather danger. The system, which is not yet commercially available, is capable of dialing as many as 1,200 phone numbers per minute and playing a recorded message warning citizens of impending danger and providing instructions. During last week’s demonstration, SCC said its system attempted to call about 860 residents. John Sims, chief operating officer of SCC, said initial results of the test indicated about 80 percent of the calls either were completed to a person or an answering machine. The remaining 20 percent were not answered, reached a busy signal or were partially delivered. The company said it believes penetration rates would be even higher at night. Sims said the system is capable of redialing numbers that initially are not answered or are busy. With GIS mapping capability, the system also could call residents in the most imminent danger first in the cases of weather or other dangerous situations that are moving over a geographic area, said Sims. While the initial testing was focused on landline phones, the company said the service easily could be applied to wireless devices. Boulder is especially concerned about flood danger after another Colorado city, Fort Collins, last year experienced severe flooding that killed five people. … Read more
Should signal strength determine how wireless 911 calls are directed?
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is evaluating a proposal that would require cellular carriers to program cell phones to send 911 calls to the A or B side system that offers the best signal. The so-called strongest signal proposal has placed the FCC in the position of deciding whether this is good for public safety. A public-interest group, the Ad Hoc Alliance for Public Access to 911, argues that it is, while the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association says it is not. Public-safety officials support the industry in opposing strongest signal because they believe it will reduce the ability and capacity of cellular 911 systems to handle a high volume of simultaneous emergency calls, reduce the area capacity by 50 percent and overload the 911 trunk capacity of one carrier while not using the other carrier’s trunks. A report filed with the FCC by the Trott Communications Group claims Trott has conducted studies that dispute these concerns. The studies “found that in most high-density areas, the signal strength of the two carriers are nearly equal. The study, which measured signal strengths in `core’ areas, showed that in such areas, the strongest signal changes back and forth from one carrier to the other … the strongest carrier is likely to change from car to car along a traffic lane,” the Trott Group’s report said. A CTIA spokesman questioned the validity of the studies. “It seems to me that if the public-safety community is against something, that should tell you something about the science,” said Jeffrey Nelson, CTIA director of communications. Public-safety officials expect to file documents with the FCC this week that will urge the FCC to reject the ad hoc alliance’s proposal. … Read more
Paging implications for the SBC/Ameritech merger
The announced merger of SBC Communications Inc. and Ameritech Corp. has raised speculation there may be another paging unit on the sale block sometime soon. SBC will be the controlling company after the merger. Given SBC’s lack of any real paging interests in the past, some have questioned the company’s intentions toward the 1.3 million paging subscribers Ameritech Cellular and Paging Services Inc. claims in several Midwestern markets. Ameritech’s paging business has been fairly successful, and the company has never expressed much interest in selling it. Its strategy has been to keep the paging unit as a branding ploy to introduce paging customers to Ameritech. The company then uses that relationship to introduce other Ameritech services to the subscriber, such as Internet, wireless voice and long distance. However, once SBC management begins calling the shots, that could change. The question remains: Will SBC want to remain a regional paging player, or will it insist on either national coverage or nothing? For most paging carriers, messaging is their only line of business. Of the larger paging players, only AT&T Wireless Services Inc., AirTouch Cellular and Paging Inc. and Ameritech own networks other than paging, and AT&T is trying to sell its paging interests. … Read more
Mass migration to digital cellular gets underway in earnest
The number of digital wireless subscribers is expected to increase rapidly this year as more cellular carriers begin to push digital service aggressively. While many cellular carriers last year offered digital service as a way to offer products similar to what their personal communications services competitors were pushing, many did not make their digital offers appealing to wider segments of customers. Now, economies of scale on the digital side are falling, and more PCS carriers threaten to significantly erode cellular operators’ existing customer base. Recent statistics from Strategy Analytics indicate some 12 percent, or 7 million, of the total wireless users in the United States were digital users in 1997. David Kerr, director of wireless programs with Strategy Analytics, predicts a rapid acceleration of digital users this year with 25 percent, or 16 million, of the entire wireless installed base using digital service. Several cellular operators have indicated their intentions to migrate analog minutes of use to their digital networks aggressively this year. Time Division Multiple Access operator SBC Communications Inc. said its goal is to migrate 30 percent of its high-volume customer minutes to its digital network. BellSouth Mobility aims to have 40 percent to 45 percent of its total traffic comprised of TDMA users by the end of the year. Digital traffic has increased on BellSouth’s network about 5 percent each month, expected to reach about 20 percent this month, said BellSouth spokesman Jeff Battcher. AT&T Wireless Services Inc. has been aggressively migrating analog customers to digital service since 1997 and is no longer actively selling analog service. About 2.6 million of its 8.37 million customers were digital customers at the end of the first quarter. AT&T Wireless does not distinguish its 1900 MHz subscribers from its 850 MHz subscribers. … Read more
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