New York-based Millicom Inc is taking no chances with its international cellular telephone empire and has taken a substantial stake in Personal Communications Networks – just in case they present a serious threat to the hegemony of cellular systems. As well as an 18% holding in the Microtel PCN consortium, one of the three consortia licensed by the UK government to use the 1.7GHz to 1.8GHz frequency for radio communications, Millicom is to set up a Personal Communications Network, US style. Millicom’s US version of Personal Communications Network differs from the UK system in that there is no frequency available in the US on which to run the network – not even the very high frequencies that will be used by the UK consortia. As with Nynex Corp’s personal telephone service to be set up in Manhattan (CI No 1489), Millicom has had to use code division multiple access or spread spectrum technology. The technology shares frequency with other users over a broad range of frequencies but with lower energy content, to minimise noise and interference with other radio devices. The advantage is a handset that does not need a lot of power to transmit to the nearest base station, and which can therefore be very small the battery is the biggest part of a cellular handset. Closely watched by the UK Personal Communications Network firms, Millicom will enter the start of its testing testing phase in 1991. The results will determine whether it is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission to market the technology commercially. Spread spectrum licences have been granted for use in other fields in the US, such as data collection. However Millicom reckons that if and when the networks are set up, a staggering 40% of US households are likely to subscribe and the user profile bears no relation to age, gender, marital status, employment or residential location. UK Personal Communications Net firms are rather more realistic. Unitel reckons that around 15% of the UK population will subscribe. User profiles are similarly vague although Unitel reckons that any user of telecommunications services is a potential PCN customer. Interestingly and perhaps frighteningly for traditional cellular operators – Cellnet and Vodafone in the UK – 40% of the businesses surveyed by Millicom said that they would drop their existing cellular service when the Personal Communications Network became available, which is why Racal Telecom is planning to use its existing cellular frequencies to offer a similar service.
