Five US cellular operators are collaborating on giving their separate networks a unified brand image, and integrating the way some of their services are accessed (CI No 1,858). The five Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems, a subsidiary of Bell Atlantic Corp; Ameritech Mobile Communications; Nynex Mobile Communications Co, a subsidiary of Nynex Corp; GTE Mobilnet and Contel Cellular Inc, both GTE Corp units – cover an area serving 120m potential customers, and this figure will rise if other carriers join up at a later date, providing seamless service to users travelling across the US. The move puts the group in direct competition with Cellular One, the consortium of companies headed by McCaw Cellular Communications Inc, which was formulated with similar aims. The new group has signed a letter of intent setting out the basis of the agreement, and is now exploring strategies to achieve its objectives. Plans are still a bit hazy, but the likelihood is that a new body will be established, probably independent of the carriers, which will be responsible for devising a cellular brand management strategy. Whether this will take the form of a logo and brand name has yet to be decided. Service integration will include areas like fault reporting, which is commonly but not universally accessed using a 611 number, and minimum network performance standards will be set. Also, there will also be integrated advertising, promotion, billing and administrative services. The group also hopes to achieve inter-carrier technical compatibility, although there is a long way before that is achieved. One of the major problems the group will have to address is the current US confusion over digital standards. Of the five participants in the agreement, the majority are known to favour Time Division Multiple Access, although two, Nynex and Ameritech, have been flirting with the TDMA-incompatible CDMA, Code Division Multiple Access, in technology tests. Nonetheless, the companies remain upbeat about their future plans, and according to a spokesman for Nynex, the agreement won’t be limited by the technical interface. He also said that in a worst case situation, if incompatible networks were introduced, the problem would be circumvented by using handsets that defaulted to analogue operation if unable to make use of the local digital network. If successful, the new agreement may pose other problems for Cellular One. The driving force behind Cellular One, McCaw Cellular, has been having a hard time of late, and the situation has been exacerbated partly by speculation that British Telecommunications Plc wants to sell its 22% stake in the company, and also by McCaw’s fourth quarter losses of $17.6m. One of the major selling points of Cellular One has been that it was the only branded service to cross individual carriers’ boundaries, but now this advantage has been eroded, McCaw may have a tougher struggle to put the service onto the right footing. The confusion over US digital cellular standards has increased further with the news that US West NewVector has endorsed Narrowband Advanced Mobile Phone Service, NAMPS, Motorola Inc’s extension to the analogue US TDMA standard, and US West is urging the Telecommunications Industry Association to accept it as a standard. In a recent statement, president John DeFeo called it a solid, viable technology that can handle the startling growth of cellular telecommunications. DeFeo is well placed to influence any Association decision, since he is a board member of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association. This body submits standards to the Industry Association for consideration, and DeFeo has said that he will urge fellow directors to endorse the narrowband Advanced Mobile Phone Service. – Matthew Woolacott
