One pioneering wireless data technologies is getting closer to its expiration date, as AT&T Wireless Services Inc.’s low-speed CDPD wireless data network is set to be shut down June 30 by new owner Cingular Wireless L.L.C.
AWS had previously said it planned to shut off its CDPD network last June, but offered a one-year reprieve due to its then-pending acquisition by Cingular. AWS also noted customer concerns regarding the ability to migrate off the network by the June 30, 2004, deadline.
Cingular said it plans to shutter its own CDPD operations by the end of the year. Verizon Wireless said it expects to turn off its nationwide CDPD network Dec. 31, but it plans to continue to support a handful of regional contracts.
Cingular spokesman Ritch Blasi said the carrier will have all of AWS’ direct CDPD subscribers migrated off the network by the end of the month, and it expects to have all customers off the network by the time it’s shut down. Blasi added that a majority of the former CDPD customers were moved to Cingular’s GPRS/EDGE network, and it has a “swat team” dedicated to proactively ensure that those customers are moved by the shutdown date.
“We have been working on the migration for the past year and are confident we have taken the necessary steps to ensure that those customers are now being served by our more robust GPRS/EDGE network,” Blasi said.
Blasi also noted that Cingular had notified all of its indirect dealers about the shutdown date, and those dealers ultimately are responsible for migrating their customers.
“While we are working with these dealers to migrate their customers to GPRS/EDGE, we have no control over customers served by these dealers and can’t be assured that they won’t be affected by the shutdown,” Blasi explained.
As part of the migration process, Cingular said it has been offering many of the customers, including public-safety groups and law-enforcement organizations, free GPRS/EDGE devices to replace their CDPD components. Analysts have half-heartedly joked that carriers would have a difficult time shutting down the spectrally inefficient CDPD networks as most of the network users carry guns, referring to the high number of law-enforcement agencies that rely on the service.
“These are customers that rely on wireless data services, and we have been very proactive in making sure that their needs are being served by our network,” Blasi said.
Other operators have announced similar upgrade offers in an attempt to attract CDPD customers affected by the planned network shutdown. Sprint Corp. launched its Sprint CDPD Replacement Program, which provides special pricing on connection cards as well as discounted rate plans.
Cingular’s move away from low-speed data services included the sale of its Mobitex-based Interactive L.P. subsidiary last year to venture-capital firm Cerberus Capital Management L.P. Cingular continues to resell Mobitex services to its business customers.
Cingular Interactive served about 735,000 customers when it was sold as well as 25 percent of all Research In Motion Ltd. Blackberry users worldwide. Cerberus continues to operate the network under the Velocity Wireless brand covering 93 percent of the U.S. business population in 492 metropolitan statistical areas.
Similar to Cingular, Verizon Wireless said it has been migrating current CDPD customers to its next-generation CDMA2000 1x and EV-DO data networks, though contracts will require it to continue to support CDPD operations in a few regions.
“We do have contracts in place that require us to maintain regional networks, and where that’s the case, we will clearly accommodate those customers that have not fully migrated to our1x or EV-DO network,” said Verizon Wireless spokesman Jeffrey Nelson.
While the CDPD technology is seen by most as well past its sell-by date, analysts noted the technology was an important trigger in the development of wireless data services that are becoming increasingly pervasive.
“Current CDPD customers will definitely be better served by the more advanced networks being offered by carriers,” noted Visant Technology telecommunications analyst Larry Swasey. “But CDPD should not be mocked or ridiculed. Instead it should be lauded for its contribution to wireless data. The launch of CDPD was a turning point in the industry and showed that wireless was not just about voice.”
The CDPD networks were installed by a number of wireless operators in the mid-’90s as a way to provide data transmission over analog networks. The technology enabled data speeds up to 19.2 kilobits per second and one of the first glimpses of wireless data services.
Next-generation networks provide substantially higher network speeds in addition to being more spectrally efficient for carriers.
