New opportunities amid old debates: Wireless '98 leaders battle landline, wrestle with data

Wireless as a landline alternative, data services' third generation technologies and, of course, the standards war led the focus of Wireless '98 opening sessions. While some of these topics are old hat when will the endless data discussion bear fruit? others indicate significant changes in direction, namely the replacement of landline with wireless.

During the show's opening session, researcher Peter Hart said that 43% of those surveyed in his annual study would prefer to get basic telephony services via wireless.

But the most telling indication of the changing role of wireless was the panel the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association assembled, which consisted almost entirely of wireline representatives. Top executives from AT&T, GTE and BellSouth all of which have large wireless subsidiaries joined just one PCS representative to agree that wireless is taking a more supplementary role in everyday communications.

Lowell McAdam, president and CEO of PrimeCo Personal Communications, was confident that wireless service PCS in particular would wrangle usage away from wireline competitors, partly because of falling prices. In 1996, before PCS was introduced, wireless held a 13-to-1 premium over wireline, but by the end of 1997, that premium had fallen to 4.8, McAdam said. "In Europe, we saw a huge uptake when [the premium] hit 4," he said.

During day two's opening session, leading carriers discussed plans for data services.

Andrew Sukawaty, CEO of Sprint Spectrum, and Dan Hesse, president and CEO of AT&T Wireless Services, both believe that e-mail will drive the push toward data usage. "E-mail is the data killer app that will get us there," Sukawaty said. End users ultimately must define applications, he said, but they can do so only after development of a uniform standard, higher data rates and open interfaces.

Manufacturer comfort level in data market potential also will be key, Sukawaty said.

Don Warkentin, president and CEO of Aerial Communications, said application developers must have authoring tools, and Web content must be reconfigured for delivery to wireless devices.

ON-LINE Par for the course As expected, the CDMA and TDMA camps line up behind potential 3G standards that protect carriers' network investments and spectrum holdings

Power to the people U S West lets customers meet their own needs by giving subscribers the ability to change and order services by themselves.

OFF-LINE Tough decisions The big question mark in the 3G debate could end up being GSM. With possible migration options forming on both sides, which way will GSM operators be lured?

Return to sender TCI chooses @Home as its e-mail provider for the first generation of Web surfing coach potatoes. The decision leaves Microsoft as only the platform provider.