Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Two cell phone companies going national

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 01 Mar 2004 08:08:42 -0500

Two cell phone companies going national

By Bruce Meyerson, AP Business Writer, 2/29/2004

NEW YORK -- Say goodbye to one national cell phone company, and hello to
two more.
While the industry is hopeful that the buyout of AT&T Wireless by
Cingular Wireless will ease competition by eliminating one national
rival -- and possibly more if the merger prompts more deals -- two other
telephone companies are poised to crowd the market with their own
national wireless offerings.

Qwest Communications, the local phone company across the Rocky Mountains
and Northwest, is expanding its regional cell service on Monday with the
introduction of national coverage and calling plans.

The services will be provided over Sprint Corp.'s wireless network under
the Qwest Wireless brand, which currently has nearly 1 million
subscribers on regional calling plans.

The Qwest launch comes only days after AT&T Corp., former parent of AT&T
Wireless, asserted that it too would likely introduce a "virtual" mobile
phone service using another company's network. The service would
probably be sold under the AT&T Wireless brand, which AT&T will regain
control of after its former subsidiary is acquired by Cingular.

The moves by Qwest and AT&T offer further confirmation that the bundling
of multiple services -- telephone, Internet, wireless and video -- on a
single bill is becoming a must-have product in the telecommunications
business.

"Our focus is really on how can we offer the best telecommunications
bundle to our customers, and wireless is an important part of that
bundle," said Paul Golden, vice president of product management for
Qwest. "That's how we need to compete in the market place."

In such an environment, some strategists question whether pure cellular
businesses such as Nextel Communications and T-Mobile might be forced
into mergers or at least an alliance with a non-wireless company such as
AT&T or MCI.
For Sprint, which also serves as the behind-the-scenes carrier for a
youth-marketed cell service called Virgin Mobile, the wholesale revenue
from Qwest helps defray the hefty cost of operating a wireless network.

At the same time, it is unclear if the competition from yet another
rival might intensify the price wars that Sprint and others are hoping
might ease some with the departure of AT&T Wireless.

Fortunately for the competition, Qwest primarily views its new national
coverage as a means to retain and attract customers within its home
territory, so the company isn't planning to wage a coast-to-coast
battle.

"Our focus is in our 14-state region, focusing back on where our Qwest
customers already are, where we can market a robust bundle," said
Golden.

That focus, however, could evolve as the non-geographic nature of
voice-over-Internet phone service blurs the traditional boundaries of a
Bell company's "territory."

John Polumbo, president of AT&T Consumer, also stressed the competitive
imperative of bundling on Wednesday at a meeting with investors:
"Customers tell us that this is how we would like to have an all-in-one
relationship."

Such remarks contrast sharply with assertions by AT&T's prior management
that bundling was over-hyped, a rationale they argued in splitting up
the company into separate telephone, cellular and cable TV businesses.

Today, nearly every telephone company is looking to bundle both cell
phones and cable television with their services.
Qwest and the other three regional Bell phone companies are all adding
television to their lineup through joint ventures with satellite cable
services. Verizon Communications and BellSouth will be selling DirecTV,
while SBC Communications will be offering DISH Network, and Qwest plans
to sell both.

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2004/02/29/two_cell_phone_companies_going_national/

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