THE WIRELESS LIFE

The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association's Wireless 2003 show commences this week in New Orleans. In spite of the somber state the world is in right now, there will no doubt be a party atmosphere in a city just getting over its Mardi Gras hangover as it starts tying one on for St. Patrick's Day. Whether the wireless throngs will join in the revelry, however, is far less certain.

The wireless sector is suffering from the same overall economic malaise dragging down the rest of the industry — reduced capital spending by the wireless carriers begets struggling network hardware and software developers begets drought in technology innovation begets fewer service options, and a whole industry — and, in fact, a whole customer community — struggles and waits. But while the wireline side can point to the quagmire of regulation and litigation as the cause of at least some of its woes, wireless is the closest thing this industry has to a competitive ideal.

The leadership of the CTIA will no doubt point to regulatory issues like wireless number portability as evidence that the government is trying to mess up a good thing by meddling in the wireless sector, forcing carriers to spend millions of dollars that otherwise would have been applied to network improvements. But that's nothing compared with the unbundled network element debate and other complex regulatory issues afflicting the wireline side.

No, the wireless business has problems that go beyond the regulatory realm, and in fact are much simpler. Wireless is indeed a very competitive sector, which means its major players are high-profile. But just what are those players communicating? From where I sit, it looks like most U.S. wireless service providers are telling the world little beyond the fact that they can provide broad coverage and crystal-clear transmission over their networks so that wireless consumers will be able to hear each other (now). With the possible exception of the somewhat confusing mLife initiative from AT&T Wireless, little is being done to communicate that wireless — now and as it continues to evolve — has the power to transform lives. (Although Sprint PCS does tell the world, entertainingly, that if you happen to run into Little Richard ranting in a bowling alley, you can take a snapshot of him with your handset and wirelessly port it to your pals.)

I'm not simply talking about ad campaigns, mind you. This issue of muddled messaging — of constantly talking about capabilities and technologies outside the context of the consumer or the larger mobile lifestyle — runs deep. It extends all the way down to the companies that make the applications, boxes and base stations that comprise wireless networks, and all the way up to the companies that depend on customers buying and using their services.

Until the wireless industry collectively addresses how to clearly communicate what wireless is capable of and what that can mean to the consumer, there will be little reason to celebrate.