Reality Check

This is the year that experts predict wireless data will make minutes of use (MoU) skyrocket. Gearing up for that big blast-off, some carriers have implemented assertive sales plans in hopes of repeating their phenomenal success with voice.

Debra Carroll, Bell Atlantic Mobile (BAM) vice president of marketing, said her company is aggressively seeking the data dollar and will spend more money on marketing data this year. BAM also has debuted a TV spot that focuses on its new data services.

In the commercial, a man pops a CDPD modem into a laptop and accesses the Internet, and a woman gets information from her handset using circuit-switched CDMA.

Carroll is confident that the ads will generate more interest in data. Although the ads are geared toward business accounts, plans call for a more consumer-oriented campaign in the future.

Although there's no information yet on data users' MoU, Carroll said if the past is any indication, those numbers will be up.

"Digital-voice usage is already three times analog usage," Carroll said. "With all of the great price plans that we've rolled out over the past year or so, we have seen a dramatic increase in MoU. We've enabled customers to talk more, and they are. There is no reason to believe that on top of that people wouldn't be using these Internet services as opposed to displacing voice usage."

A similar attitude is pushing data sales at AT&T Wireless. Ken Woo, AT&T Wireless director of corporate communications, said voice still is the meat and potatoes of sales, but with the launch of PocketNet, they haven't lost sight of data's potential. Like BAM, AT&T Wireless markets its data service mainly to businesses and corporations, although consumer sales are on the agenda.

To market any new product or service, many carriers use their company newsletters and Web sites. But from a marketing point of view, the best way is through 1-on-1 sales calls. Jim Robertiello, Omnipoint general manager, said although his sales team receives commissions to help boost sales, they're based on the price plan sold and not the type of service. Most carriers said sales incentives are linked to the revenue they bring the company and not the type of business they land.

Joe Patterson, Powertel director of corporate relations, said Powertel's data sales strategy includes in-house demonstrations. Voice sales typically don't use this strategy.

"Usually we would target our larger business clients for data," Patterson said. "Here the sales rep already has a relationship, and he might make a call and set up a demonstration of our data to better sell the service."

Omnipoint uses demonstrations to sell many new products, including its World Phone. Robertiello said that by coming to the customer with a new product and adding value services, such as data, there is more room for increased revenue potential. Robertiello said this "2-birds-1-stone" technique has proved helpful.

PRICE PLANS & SPEED A competitive price plan also helps sell data. Most data services today run $5 to $40 a month when added to a voice plan. But Robertiello said that will change. Once more packet networks are deployed, separate pricing plans will become the norm. Robertiello said carriers then will begin differentiating between voice and data and even break data into subcategories.

Fixed wireless-data services won't cost the same as mobile services. Of course, more use means higher fees, but customers will have the choice of packet minutes for heavy users and pay-as-you-go for occasional users.

A change in price plans means sales reps and retailers will need to help customers find the right services to meet their needs. BAM's Carroll said additional training is given every time a new service is launched. In the case of BAM's full-scale data deployment, due later this year, that training will be crucial in making data sales a success.

Carriers anticipate that data sales will increase when throughput rivals that of wireline, which offers most consumers a 28.8kb/s connection. Omnipoint and several European carriers are trialing GPRS, which is much faster than the circuit-switched data that many carriers currently offer. GPRS promises a maximum throughput of 115kb/s, while circuit-switched averages between 9.6kb/s and 14.4kb/s.

GPRS requires network upgrades, but if its trials go well, Omnipoint will gear up for commercial roll-out. Given all of the promises that 2000 finally will be the year of wireless data, that couldn't come at a better time.

"It's not until you can start hitting speeds of 56kb/s or higher that wireless data becomes reality," Robertiello said.

VOICE STILL IS THE CHOICE Even so, today's reality is that no carrier is prepared to put voice on the back burner in order to focus on data. Voice still drives the industry, and carriers' marketing strategies reflect that priority.

Take AT&T Wireless' popular Digital One Rate voice plan, which is offered to its new PocketNet subscribers. Here the emphasis is placed on both services rather than just one. Omnipoint also views data as a value-add for voice and not separate from it, and BAM, which offers CDPD and circuit-switched, has more voice users and voice ad campaigns than data. For now, voice likely will continue to command the most marketing attention.

"I think you will begin to see more data hitting the market," said Powertel's Patterson. "You will see ads and a lot of talk about it right now, but carriers will continue to be more pro-active with voice than any other service they offer."