Shaye Communications Ltd yesterday pulled of a publicity stunt when it unveiled the world’s first CT2 telephone handset and base station in what is being dubbed the week of the cordless phone. As the UK awaits the Department of Trade & Industry’s decision on licensing for Telepoint services, suppliers are voicing their CT2 ambitions daily in a flurry of press activity. Shaye is the first to come up with an offering in the shape of Forum, a 5.5 by 2.3 pocketable proprietary product costing UKP150 which has been offered to all potential Telepoint licence-holders. The Winchester-based company, 25% owned by Nokia Mobira, believes that CT2 will constitute at least 10% of a future installed base of telephones and is looking for a 25% slice of a market that is forecast to reach 4m handsets. Market penetration will be harder to achieve with the proprietary product and Shaye is aiming to provide customers with a one-in-two chance of being in range within the M25 circle by installing 3,000 base stations – if it gets a licence. Forum is built to Shaye’s proprietary specification for signalling between handset and base station but will be upgraded to the Common Air Interface agreed for the UK by 1990, said Mike Pye, technical director. Future plans include a paging option to provide two-way communication, and Pye said that Shaye’s alliance with Motorola in the Telepoint licence bidding could spill into the manufacturing area where Motorola is strong in paging. But Pye confirmed that Shaye will concentrate on the CT2 voice market for the time being – in contrast to GEC Plessey Telecommunications, which is looking to cordless data transmission to bring in the biggest chunk of future CT2 revenues (CI No 1,054). Shaye claims that it already has approval from two Telepoint candidates who are jumping the gun and placing provisional orders before the outcome of the UK government decision on award of licences. Last month, Crouzet SA placed an order with Shaye for equipment for a CT2 pilot, which is scheduled to run next year, once licensing approval has been obtained.
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