Enhancement now >BY JASON MEYERS

The embattled world of wireless technology is showing promising signs of reconstruction. Having scurried for spectrum, squabbled over standards and crashed into commercial operation, all facets of the wireless sector must now prove themselves by showing and doing. That is already happening, both at the core network technology level and out on top of the network, where refinements and enhanced services roam.

Last week the IS-136 time division multiple access camp gathered in Orlando under the banner of the Universal Wireless Consortium to show off its achievements, including the ability for seamless handoff between adjacent systems provided by different infrastructure vendors. That's a milestone for a technology struggling to establish a national footprint with the support of only a few wireless carriers.

Meanwhile, code division multiple access continues its hard climb to respectability, led by PrimeCo, Sprint PCS and a host of other cellular and PCS operators. For them, trying to work out the kinks in this most inexperienced of technologies is the first order of business, followed closely by the need to customize networks and create new services that leverage CDMA's strengths.

This is also the week the GSM World Congress gathers to gauge developments and look toward future refinement. Despite the event's southern France venue, the early success in the U.S. and Canada of the technology formerly known as PCS 1900 is an important component of GSM's worldwide growth-as evidenced by creations like the enhanced full-rate vocoder, the first American offspring of the European platform.

Beyond gains in network standards, the realm of enhanced services has taken on critical importance as wireless operators move beyond basic voice and messaging applications. The offerings that result-one-number services, voice-activated dialing, wireless Internet access-make up a service suite that defines the wireless ideal. In an attempt to kick-start this sluggish enterprise, GTE Telecommunications Services and Motorola have joined to offer wholesale intelligent network services to operators on a pay-per-use basis.

These services-regardless of the technology platform on which they ride-are crucial to the survival of operators large and small, new and old. The capabilities are out there, and no competitor should even think about entering any market with a service offering that is anything less than extraordinary.