By Any Other Name, It's Still Digital Wireless

I am amazed at the continuing debate over digital standards within our industry. Ads proclaiming newer, better, cheaper, faster are becoming commonplace as new market entrants try to convince the public that 1.9GHz digital wireless is superior to 850MHz digital systems. Let's face it. The argument is baloney.

As a major carrier operating at both frequencies, AT&T can empirically state there is nothing that can be done on digital 1.9GHz that isn't already being doneon digital 850MHz. Caller ID, digital control channels and extended battery life are commonplace. There are few exceptions noted in the chart below.

The debate over digital wireless technology is no longer about technology per se -- a hard fact to grab given the amount of near-religious fervor that has accompanied the subject over the past few years. The debate really is about customers.

Today, all three digital wireless standards are operational in the United States. Now, it's simply a matter of how well they work for the wireless customer who wants value, improved battery life, voice quality, ubiquity and simplicity.

Customers do not care what frequency their calls are delivered on. They only care that their phones work and that their digital features are delivered wherever and whenever they want. With all of digital's high-tech advanced features and capabilities, the "killer app" of digital for AT&T's customers has been improved battery life.

We are getting up to 60 hours of standby battery because our digital network allows the phone and the network to agree upon a time (6.7ms/1.2-second cycle) to transfer information. Because you and I do not count in milliseconds, we do not notice. However, our batteries do.

Customers also tell us they want a simple service that works wherever they go. In fact, many of our customers tell us that even if they don't intend to do much traveling, they want to be assured their phones will work should they decide to.

Finally, our customers tell us they expect high voice quality. I'm not going to go into the advances in vocoder technology other than to say that we are experiencing unprecedented voice quality with the new enhanced ACELP vocoder. Customer feedback has been outstanding.

It's time for this debate to take on a different shape. Forget religious revivals. Remember the customer.

Some critics have argued that because of our ongoing standards "jihad," the United States will fall behind in technology development that is now being led by carriers in Europe and Asia. If we continue to fight amongst ourselves over TDMA, CDMA and GSM, I am afraid that is a prophecy that will come true.

Technology has empowered us to become more efficient. It can allow us to spend more time doing things that matter most to each of us individually. With technology we can live better, smarter and more productively. And that's what this business really should be about.