Sprint PCS announced it will stop operating its Global System for Mobile communications network in Washington, D.C., by the end of the year, ending months of speculation and denials from the nationwide Code Division Multiple Access operator.
Sprint PCS, which once held a 58.5-percent interest in the Sprint Spectrum network, purchased the remaining shares of its partnership with pioneer’s preference winner American Personal Communications in January to make the GSM venture wholly owned by Sprint PCS. APC was the first personal communications services operator to launch service in the United States.
Last March, Sprint PCS launched CDMA service alongside the GSM network. Since then, industry insiders have speculated the company would phase out the GSM system since it didn’t fit in with the company’s nationwide strategy. Sprint PCS consistently said it was dedicated to the GSM system. The carrier stopped selling GSM service about one month ago.
Sprint PCS’s plans to shut down the network, slated for December, leaves another hole in the GSM footprint carriers have desperately been trying to fill. Omnipoint Communications Inc. owns a 10-megahertz license in Washington, but hasn’t announced any plans to launch that market. Analysts are doubtful the company has any immediate plans to launch there in light of Omnipoint’s struggles to obtain financing. The carrier is searching for a strategic partner that will give it enough money to continue operating past this year.
Other 10-megahertz licensees in Washington include NextWave Communications Inc., which plans to use CDMA-based technology,
Sprint PCS also has settled a class-action lawsuit that was looming against the company filed on behalf of its own GSM customers. The customers, who received letters from Sprint PCS urging them to switch to the company’s CDMA network, claim the carrier misrepresented that GSM coverage would continue, and the operator should give them free CDMA handsets rather than the handset discounts Sprint PCS was offering. Sprint PCS said its move to end GSM service is not related to the lawsuit.
“We are settling the lawsuit, and the conditions of this current upgrade are included in that settlement,” said Tom Murphy, director of media relations with Sprint PCS. “We deny any wrongdoing in the litigation.”
Sprint PCS in July will begin notifying customers of the changes. Customers can exchange their GSM handsets and accessories at no cost for comparable CDMA phones and accessories. Sprint PCS expects to upgrade all customers by Nov. 1. The company won’t reveal how many customers are using the GSM service, though the network’s subscriber count in 1996 was more than 100,000.
