Seven companies licensed to develop Personal Communications Services networks in the US have banded together to advance the Groupe Speciale Mobile digital communications technology in North America. The seven are American Personal Communications Inc; American Portable Telecom Inc; Bell South Personal Communications Inc; Intercel Inc; Omnipoint Corp; Pacific Bell Mobile Services; and Western Wireless Co. The group, which says it holds combined licences covering over 125m of the US population, including 12 of the top 25 cities, will form the North American Interest Group of the international Groupe Speciale Mobile Memorandum of Understanding – the global association of wireless communications providers using European standard digital cellular systems. The North American Interest Group will manage Groupe Speciale Mobile technology standards throughout North America, deal with interoperability issues, and co-ordinate efforts with the international community. This is an important step in establishing a structure to support North America’s participation in the worldwide GSM community. It will provide a good forum for new GSM operators to quickly acquire knowledge about GSM technology advantages and participate in its future development, declared Lyndon Daniels, president of Pacific Bell Mobile Services and newly elected chairman of the Interest Group. The seven companies also agreed to work closely together in developing common business offerings in order to take full advantage of the exploding market for wireless communications services in the US. Joint activities relating to volume hand-set purchases, marketing research, product development, business systems development and other activities will be evaluated to assess their potential for common effort.
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