Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Nextel tests Qualcomm push-to-talk technology

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 14:22:02 -0500

Nextel tests Qualcomm push-to-talk technology
Monday March 22, 1:56 pm ET

ATLANTA, March 22 (Reuters) -- Nextel Communications Inc. (NasdaqNM:NXTL
- News) said
on Monday it was testing new phones with "walkie-talkie" type service
based on Qualcomm
Inc. (NasdaqNM:QCOM - News) technology that could connect U.S.
subscribers with foreign
cellular customers.

The move by Nextel, the fifth-largest
U.S. cellular company, comes as its
lucrative niche in so-called
"push-to-talk" services has come under
threat from larger cellular operators,
such as Verizon Communications
(NYSE:VZ - News) and Vodafone Group
Plc (London:VOD.L - News) venture
Verizon Wireless and AT&T Wireless
Services Inc. (NYSE:AWE - News).

Thanks to push-to-talk, Nextel
customers spend an average of $70 a
month, compared with the industry
average of about $50 per month.

Nextel executives at the CTIA Wireless
trade show here contend the new
services from competitors are technically inferior to Nextel's, with
unacceptable lag times
during calls. But Nextel will have to upgrade its own network technology
in the near future to
handle high-speed Internet and other data services that are expected to
grow sharply over the
next several years.

The Qualcomm system, known as QChat, uses Qualcomm's Code Division
Multiple Access
technology and network equipment that Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:LU
- News) will put on
sale later this year. CDMA is the preferred cellular standard in the
United States and Asia, and
Nextel said it would make QChat compatible with its U.S. network, which
is based on
technology from Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT - News).

Lucent executives said on Monday that Nextel has an exclusive right to
the QChat system it is
testing for an unspecified period of time. Nextel did not say when it
might introduce a phone
featuring QChat technology.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040322/telecom_nextel_1.html

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