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`Marketing & Services
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`Falling short of replacement: Wireless carrier plans compete with landline but
`don't cut it out of the equation
`Nancy Gohring
`749 words
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`27 April 1998
`Telephony
`TPHY
`
`English
`(c) 1998 by lntertec Publishing Corporation, a PRIMEDIA Company. All rights reserved.
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`Although wireless replacement of wireline is all the buzz, few wireless carriers position their services as wireline
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`substitutes. Nonetheless, some wireless operators offer service plans with features such as wide home calling areas
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`and a high number of included minutes which could give wireline carriers a run for their money.
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`Companies such as AirTouch, Sprint PCS and Airadigm offer extended home calling regions in some markets where
`the local call rate covers an area much larger than the local landline coverage area. For example, subscribers to Sprint
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`PCS service in Texas and Oklahoma and Airadigm‘s Einstein PCS service in Wisconsin have a home calling zone the
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`size of the state. AirTouch offers digital customers in San Diego and all customers in Los Angeles a home calling
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`region of Southern Califor-nia, from San Luis Obispo to the Mexican border.
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`Surprisingly, the smallest of these companies, Airadigm, is the only one to position wide home calling zones as a
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`potential landline replacement.
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`Airadigm subscribers choose to use PCS phones instead of landline to make calls to areas outside their landline home
`area for a cheaper rate, said Jim Wurm, director of marketing and public relations for Airadigm.
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`Airadigm also offers a high-volume plan that includes 500 minutes for $50-more minutes for less money than most
`other PCS players' high-volume plans. "It‘s beyond what wireline could do for $50," Wurm said. Coupled with the
`statewide local calling area, this plan has resulted in more usage than Airadigm expected, with average minutes of use
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`reaching 300 to 400, he said.
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`Beyond residential customers, Airadigm looks to replace landline services in businesses. "Our goal is to replace
`Centrex systems," Wurm said. Airadigm has focused buildout of its macro network on in-building coverage to target
`businesses.
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`AirTouch crafted its California Connection plan, which offers the Southern California home calling area, to make
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`roaming easier rather than replace landline. " Roaming historically has been difficult and expensive," said Robert
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`Pickell, director of business development for AirTouch. Particularly in Southern California, where people are tied to
`their vehicles, roaming has been a significant issue, said Pickell. California Connection allows subscribers to avoid
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`high roaming costs.
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`Wide home calling areas are used mainly to make roaming easier, said Kent Olson, consultant at The Strategis
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`Group. The Strategis Group published a study dating back to 1993 when roaming was more difficult and more
`expensive. The study showed that 44% of subscribers were unlikely to use wireless phones outside their homes, for
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`reasons ranging from high fees to confusing plans. Today's plans were created to alleviate some of these concerns
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`and increase overall usage, Olson said.
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`Digital providers with large home calling area rates often don't position these services as competitive to wireline, said
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`David Berndt, program manager for The Yankee Group. "They're not advertising it that way, but it is a displacement,"
`Berndt said. Consumers who are "really looking at their telecommunications costs are going to pick up on that." He
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`sees carriers using these plans to compete against cellular players, who often don't have the capacity to offer high-
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`3G Exhibit 2010
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`IPR2020-01157
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`volume or wide home zone plans.
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`Operators target geographic markets for extended home regions based on several factors. In regions where one
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`carrier offers large home zones, others are sure to follow to stay competitive, Olson said. Network buildout plays a role
`in extended home zones because carriers won‘t offer it unless they have coverage to support it. Also, particular market
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`behavior determines how some rate plans are structured, as is the case with AirTouch in Southern California.
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`Sprint PCS says all its markets eventually will have large home calling areas. In fact, a company spokesman envisions
`the whole eastern seaboard as a future home zone.
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`Briefly
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`FUN WITH BILLING BellSouth Small Business Services wants to make bill paying a little easier. Customers now can
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`sign up, customers go through a bill review process on BellSouth‘s home page.
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`SEEING AND SAILING US. Navy personnel now can keep in touch in a more personal way thanks to a new video
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`e-mail device. The Navy selected Cubic VideoComm's system for its high video compression ratios and low bandwidth
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`constraints. Pricing starts at $149.
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`Document tphy000020010919du4r000bk
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