A PREVIEW OF CTIA WIRELESS 2003

The past year was both tumultuous and stable for the wireless industry. At times it appeared everything was changing, and at others the industry seemed locked in a holding pattern. Between the good (the explosive growth of Wi-Fi; the popularity of mobile data) and the bad (the telecom industry's ongoing economic malaise), it often seemed that every forward step was countered by another step backwards. That alone makes 2003 critical: Something simply has to give.

To that end, the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association's upcoming Wireless 2003 event will afford the wireless sector a glimpse of its future, spotlighting the new companies, products and innovations poised to make the biggest waves in the months and years to come. But the convention also will serve as an opportunity to take stock of the present and consider the changes and evolutions that dominated the previous year.

And that makes the Wireless 2003 convention — held March 17-19 in New Orleans — especially noteworthy. Last year's event was a kind of debutante ball for Wi-Fi technology. This time around, Wi-Fi looks to play an even more dominant role as wireless carriers figure out how to embrace it, secure it and make money from it. It's just one of the topics that will loom large over the show.

Over the following pages, the Telephony staff investigates the critical issues that will shape the Wireless 2003 convention — and the wireless industry overall — in the year ahead, from flatlining capital expenditures to the hot-button issue of network security. Not all the news is good, but there is some cause for optimism. Wireless may stumble, but it will move forward. And for an industry that is all about motion, that's the most important thing.

(Stories appear individually under the "CTIA Preview" section of the Feb. 10, 2003, issue.)