Contents:

1
Contents 1. US PCS Update 2. US Cellular
Update 3. Survey 4. Country Development 5.
Standard Development 6. Other Development
Wireless Industry Newsletter March 2000
2
1. US PCS Update 1.1 Triton PCS Inc.Launched
service in 12 additional markets in the
Southeast, raising the total markets with
commercial service to 37 serving 13 million
POPS. 1.2 AirGate PCSLaunched its first
service in the metropolitan markets of
Greenville-Spartanburg and Anderson S.C. Adding
Asheville and Hickory, N.C. in January 2000. 1.3
Leap Wireless1.3.1 NashvilleLaunched
Cricket wireless service in Nashville 1.3.2
Chattanooga Cricket updateIn its first 10
months of operation, Cricket achieved a 7 market
share, gaining 22,000 subscribers who average
1,000 minutes of use per month 1.3.3 Cricket
UpdateExpected to launch services in 25 cities
covering 7 million people by YE2000. Cricket has
licensees for 25 U.S. market s, covering about 19
million people. 1.3.4 Zuma PCS L.L.C.Leap
wireless acquiring PCS operating licenses in
Macon, Columbus and Albany from Zuma PCS covering
1.3 million POPS. The latest acquisition will be
used by its domestic subsidiary Cricket
Communications who now hold or have rights to
licensees for about 30 million potential
customers. 1.4 VoiceStream and OmnipointFCC
approves the merger between VoiceStream and
Omnipoint. FCC gives the two companies 90 days
after the deal closes to divest wireless phone
licenses in 18 markets that both companies served
before the merger
New service launch from Triton PCS
First service launch by AirGate PCS
Leap Wireless update including Cricket expansion
FCC approve VoiceStream and Omnipoint merger
3
2. US Cellular Update 2.1 ATT 2.1.1
Financial DataFinancial data for 850 MHz and
1900 MHz markets, for the Nine months ended
September 30, 1999. 850 MHz 1900 MHz Revenues-
Services 4,077M 781M- Equipment 448M
104M Total Revenues 4,525M 885M EBITDA
1,074M ( 121M) Capital Expenditures 803M
523M Subscribers 7.9M 1.2M ARPU 61.80
93.80 Licensed POPs 75.3M 103.4M Source
ATT 2.1.2 Wireless One Network L.P.ATT will
buy the assets of Wireless One Network L.P. , a
move which will help fill in a gap in its
wireless network in Florida. Wireless one has
about 177,000 subscribers (YE99) and covers 1.56
million POPS. 2.2 GTE Wireless Introduced new
mobile Internet services including a new personal
web page, that offers customers the ability to
use their desktop PC to tailor the exact
information they want to see on their phone
screens. In addition, users can instruct the web
page to contact them when certain events occur,
such as a stock hitting a certain price. 2.3
Cellular One, Phoenix Has a 9.99/month plan
geared toward elementary-aged students
ATT financial data from 850MHz and 1900MHz
markets
ATT buys the assets of Wireless One Network
New Mobile Internet service from GTE
New low-end plan from Cellular One, Phoenix
4
2. US Cellular Update 2.4 BAM, GTE and Alltel
swap markets The three operators exchanged
wireless interest in 13 states to eliminate the
overlapping cellular properties from the BAM, GTE
and VodafoneAirTouch merger. BAM and GTE will
transfer wireless interest in 27 markets,
involving 14 million POPS and more than 1.5
million customers, in Alabama, Arizona, Florida,
Ohio, New Mexico, South Carolina and Texas Alltel
will transfer interests in 42 markets, involving
about 8.9 million POPS (6.3 million POPS and more
than 700,000 customers along with 2.6 million
POPS and about 300,000 customers from minority
interests), in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Nevada,
New York and Pennsylvania. Alltel will pay about
600 million in compensation. The three companies
have also signed a national roaming agreement
that will allow their customers to roam on each
others networks at reduced call rates. After the
swap, BAM, GTE and VodafonAirTouch will cover
more than 265 million POPS, compared to Sprint
PCS 130 million and ATT 170 million. About 700
BAM and 1,000 GTE employees will join Alltel, and
about 900 Alltel employees will join the new
BAM/GTE/VodafoneAirTouch venture. 2.5 Bell
Atlantic GM vehiclesGSM is in talks with BAM
to put cellular phones in million of new cars and
trucks, part of the automakers strategy to link
drivers to the Internet and generate revenue
after a sale. GM expect to put 1 million phones
in vehicles in 2000. If GM can generate a
subscription fee per car, just imagine the
revenue it will generate per year. Today OnStar
with 100,000 installations, could generate
40/month per vehicle. The installation of
phones, allowing for handsfree conversation is
going to be a requirement in the future (my
observation) and will help GM accomplished their
goal of over 9 million phones in vehicles each
year. AOL agreed to provide content
BAM, GTE and Alltel swap markets
Mobility in GM cars
5
2. US Cellular Update 2.6 AirTouch
Cellular Announced new nationwide digital
calling plan that eliminates roaming and long
distance throughout the United States. The new
plan include 30 with 100 min included
50 with 250 min included 70 with 400 min
included The plan require one-year contract and
subscription to AirTouch One Bill Long Distance
service. Voice mail with paging or Voice mail
with text messaging can be added at no
charge. 2.8 BellSouth Common voice
boxReleased its new Wireline-Wireless mailbox,
enabling customers to have one integrated voice
mailbox for their home and cellular phone. When a
person calls a customers home phone and reaches
their wireline-wireless mailbox, the caller is
given the option of pressing 0 to be
transferred to the customers cell phone. If
there is no answer on the cell phone, the caller
can leave a message in the customers
mailbox. The customer can record separate
greetings for their wireless and wireline phones
and still retrieve messages from the single
mailbox Later this year, BellSouth plans to offer
the ability to send faxes to the mailbox and then
instruct the system to send the message to the
nearest fax machine 2.9 US West Bundles
wireless, Internet and local service in a Total
Package with one monthly bill at a discounted
price. The package will include for 79.95 per
month- Home telephone service with voice
messaging, caller-ID, 3-way calling, last-call
return and call waiting- Wireless service,
including 300 weekday minutes, 1,000 weekend
minutes and free long distance- US West
Internet access with unlimited usageIf the
customer dont have a PC, the above price will be
reduced by 10
New nationwide calling plan from AirTouch Cellular
New Wireline-Wireless mailbox
Total communication package from US West
6

• 3. Survey
• 3.1 Mobile Commerce (m-commerce) - U.S.
• Transition of wireless phone to wireless
  wallet - Will be a bumpy one - Require WAP/Web
  enabled phones - Small size of phone screen
  prevents catalog shopping or Web surfing -
  Need to find a way to bill for m-commerce
  services
• Phone Spam? - will customers be barraged with
  pesky messages about sales deals ? - will the
  customer be annoyed ? - what happen if the
  customer ends up paying for receiving unsolicited
  messages ?
• Will operators act as the billing party for
  transactions and purchases made on a wireless
  device ?
• Will the operators get a commission for
  transactions (I-mode) ?
• Do m-commerce require a bank-card chip embedded
  in the phone ? - Smart card technology hasnt
  caught on among Americans
• Will GPS services be the killer application for
  m-commerce ? - In U.S. mobile emergency 911 is
  mandated by the government

Mobile Commerce
7
4. Worldwide Country Developments 4.1
Europe 4.1.1 UK 4.1.1.1 4Q99 Subscriber
Growth 4Q99Operator Net Add YE99 1999
AddVodafone AirTouch 1,075,000 7,940,000 BT
Cellnet 1,000,000 6,950,000 Orange 1,410,000
4,900,000 2,730,000- December
856,000 One2One 901,000 4,160,000 Total 4,3
86,000 23,950,000 4.1.1.2 OrangeVodafone
AirTouch must sell off Orange to avoid dominating
the UK market following its takeover of
Mannesmann. Several companies from NTT DoCoMo,
France Telecom, KPN have shown interest in
Orange. 4.1.1.3 Halifax Plc.The largest
mortgage company in U.K. plans to enable
customers to bank via computers and mobile phone.
Later this year, customers with WAP phones will
be able to bank via their mobile phone.
4.1.1.4 Cable WirelessBought eight (8)
business ISPs in Europe which will be added to
the three ISPs bought in 19991999- ECRC in
Germany - pi.se in Sweden - INS in
U.K.2000- Xooint in Austria- online internet
in Belgium- ISDnet in France- Unidata and
DSLogic-DSNet in Italy- Grupo Intercom in
Spain- agri.ch and Petrel Communications in
Switzerland
UK subscriber growth
Orange future
Mobile banking
CW and Internet
8
4. Worldwide Country Developments 4.1
Europe 4.1.1 UK 4.1.1.5 Vodafone
AirTouchInternet PortalAnnounced plans to
launch an Internet Portal designed for wireless
Internet and mobile data services, delivering
data, audio, graphics and video to wireless
devices. Will make the portal available top all
network operator partners, as well as license it
to carriers in other markets where
applicable. Version 1 will include- Messaging
applications (e-mail, etc.)- Information
Services (news, calendar, address book, movie
listings, etc.)- e-commerce (travel, banking,
stock trading, etc.) Version 2 (expected by
YE2000) will add- Unified messaging- Remote
handset synchronization with desktop
applications- Global Positioning System location
technology- Higher bandwidth- Instant
messaging- Voice accessExpect ARPU to increase
25 by March 31, 2004 as a result of the services
the portal will provide. Some of the key partners
are- IBM, SUN- Infospace.com, Charles Schwab,
Travelocity.com/Sabre- Palm Computing Inc.,
Nokia, Ericsson- Psion plc AOLThe Internet
joint venture of Vodafone AirTouch and French
media and telecoms firm Vivendi wants to replace
Germanys Bertelsmann as a partner in Internet
provider AOL Europe. BSkyBVodafone and BSkyB is
expected to announce an alliance to which will
enable Vodafone subscribers to receive sports
news on their mobile phone
Internet portal from Vodafone AirTouch
AOL joint venture
Sports news on mobile phones
9

• 4. Worldwide Country Developments
• 4.1 Europe
• 4.1.1 UK
• 4.1.1.6 BT CellnetStart selling new WAP based
  mobile services and will start testing GPRS with
  500 users.
• The WAP service will provided over Cellnets
  circuit switched network, and will cost 5 pence
  (8 U.Sgt cents) per minute until June 30, after
  which prices will revert to standard voice tariff
  plans.
• 4.1.2 France
• 4.1.2.1 France TelecomA Global OneAgreed to
  purchase Deutsche Telekoms and Sprint Corps
  stakes in the Global One joint venture for a
  total equity value of 3.88 billion.
• B GlobalstarAnnounced new roaming coverage for
  its Itineris GSM network via Globalstar satellite
  system. To access the service, Itineris
  subscribers sign up for either the Europe or
  World roaming options, with the European option
  available free of charge.
• Roaming calls via Globalstar can only be made
  with a dual-mode (GSM/Satellite) handset, with
  service set to be available by the end of
  February.
• C NextelItineris customers will also be able
  to roam on Nextel network in the U.S. and Latin
  America with dual-mode or dual-band handsets
• D Internet PortalJust rolled out the countrys
  first Internet Portal (like Mobilix in Denmark)
  designed for access from wireless handsets. The
  new portal builds on the Itineris services suite
  introduced in December.
• E 4Q99 Results
• YE99 Itineris GSM network 10.1 million
  subscribers (80 over YE98) - Biggest growth in
  prepaid
• Subscribers outside France 4 million (300
  growth)

WAP service from BT Cellnet
Global One
Globalstar on Itineris GSM network
Nextel roaming
New Internet portal
France Telecom 4Q99 results
10
4. Worldwide Country Developments 4.1
Europe 4.1.3 Sweden 4.1.3.1
ComviqImplemented as a first in Scandinavian, a
prepaid bonus plan build on the concept from TIM
in Italy. Comviq prepaid customers receive 0.25
Kr in bonus for each domestic incoming minute for
calls more than 5 seconds. 4.1.4
Spain 4.1.4.1 TelefonicaA New
BusinessesAnnounced two new global businesses,
Telefonica Moviles and Telefonica
DataCorp. Telefonica Moviles will group all of
Telefonicas mobile communications businesses to
create the sixth-largest mobile group worldwide
with close to 14 million subscribers. Luis Martin
de Bustamante, will become executive
chairman. Telefonica DataCorp will group all data
communications and integrated business solutions
for major corporate customers in Spain, Latin
America and Latin America, becoming the second
largest Data/IP company by revenue in the world.
Antonio Viana-Baptista will become chairman. B
Tender for all shares in Brazil, Argentina and
PeruIn hopes of accelerating the development
and globalization of the two new businesses,
Telefonica board of directors approved an
all-stock public tender for all of the shares
of- Telesp Fixed line phone company (Owns 25.4
today) - TeleSudeste Celular in Brazil (owns
17.6 today) - Telefonica de Argentina (owns 51
today)- Telefonica del Peru. (owns 36.4 today)
Prepaid bonus plan
New organization
Tender for all shares in mobile operations in
Brazil, Argentina and Peru
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4. Worldwide Country Developments 4.1
Europe 4.1.5 Italy 4.1.5.1 OmnitelA YE99
Subscriber numbers - 1999 Increase 4.22
million (68 increase over 1998)- YE 99 10.40
million B LycosSigned a deal with Internet
search engine Lycos to develop services for its
web portal and for new WAP appliances. Lycoss
search engine will be available on Omnitel 2000
portal from March 2000 C 3G LicensesThe
government plans to allocate in 2Q2000 five 3G
mobile phone licenses that operates on
UMTS 4.1.6 Ireland 4.1.6.1 Esat TelecomBT
acquiring Esat Telecom, Irelands second largest
telco and shareholder in Esat Digifone (BT will
hold a 50.5 stake with Telenor of Norway holding
49.5), Irelands second mobile operator) for
2.5 billion 4.1.6.2 Esat DigifoneLaunched a
mobile WAP online shopping service (m-commerce)
using Irish company Network365 WAP Commerce
Server. . Digifone users will be able to buy
flowers, chocolates and wine for delivery
anywhere in Ireland using WAP-enabled
phones. 4.1.7 Austria Connect AustriaOrange
gives up its 17.45 stake in Connect Austria,
part of the conditions for the takeover of Orange
by Mannesmann AG. 4.1.8 Czech Republic Cesky
MobilTIW raises its stake in Cesky Mobil to
88.5 the rest hold by Czech bank IPB.
Omnitel 4Q99 results
Omnitel deal with Lycos
Five 3G UMTS licenses
BT acquire Esat Telecom
WAP service from Esat Digifone
Orange give up stake in Connect Austria
TIW raise stake in Cesky Mobil
12
4. Worldwide Country Developments 4.1
Europe 4.1.9 Germany 4.1.9.1 Deutsche
TelekomA New Holding CompanyWill group its
mobile phone operations in a new holding company
T-Mobile International AG, that will have 15
million subscribers. The holding company will
comprise- One2One, UK - Max.Mobil, Austria-
T-Mobil, Germany- Joint ventures in Poland,
Russia and Czech republic Kai-Uwe Ricke
(38-years-old), managing director T-Mobil will
head the holding company and Rene Obermann will
succeed Ricke at T-Mobil. B U.S.
acquisitionsThe company stated its in talks
with U.S. takeover targets. 4.1.9.2 UMTSThe
UMTS license auction set for July 2000. 4.1.9.3
SMS usage (Transmitted SMS messages) Dec.
1999 Jan. 2000T-Mobil 300 million 80
million Mannesmann 350 million E-Plus 132
million
New holding company for its mobile phone
operations
UMTS auction set for July 2000
SMS usage in Germany
13
4. Worldwide Country Developments 4.1
Europe 4.1.9 Germany 4.1.9.4
MannesmannMerger with Vodafone
AirTouchMannesmann will merge with Vodafone
AirTouch merger valued at 181.4 billion euro
(182 billion). The Mannesmann shareholders will
get 49.5 of the combined company with
VodafoneAirTouch receiving 51.1. Vodafone
AirTouch CEO Chris Gent will be the CEO of the
combined company and after the spin-off Klaus
Esser (CEO Mannesmann) will become a non
executive deputy chairman of the board of
Vodafone AirTouch and step down as Mannesmann
CEO. Mannesmann will have five members on the new
19-strong Vodafone AirTouch board 0 one executive
director and four non-executive directors. The
deal will make the combined company the 4th
largest company in the world (stock market
value) Microsoft 532 billion GE 445
billion Cisco System 403 billion Vodafone 365
billion NTT DoCoMo 336 billion Intel 334
billion The new company will have some 42 million
customers On Feb. 7 Vodafone AirTouch secured
60.3 of Mannesmann AG shares, gaining control of
the company six days after Mannesmann agreed to
the friendly merger.
Vodafone AirTouch merger update
14
4. Worldwide Country Developments 4.1
Europe 4.1.10 Switzerland 4.1.10.1
SwisscomA WAP ServiceWill start WAP services
February 21, 2000. The service will also be
available to customers of its rival such as DiAx
or Orange. B Roaming ServiceLaunched its
mobile roaming brokering service, set to take the
hassle out of setting up roaming agreements for
other operators. 4.1.11 Finland RadiolinjaWill
boost its WAP service with Yahoo!, who will
provide international news and finance contents
for Radiolinja WAP customers in English and
Swedish.
WAP service
Roaming brokering service
WAP service
15
4. Worldwide Country Developments 4.2 Unites
States 4.2.1 Time Warner and AOLThe two
companies will merge t create a media giant with
joint assets of 350 billion. AOL shareholders
will own 55 of the new company with Time Warner
holding 45. 4.2.2 United airlinesIntroduced
a free flight paging service that will
proactively inform customers of flight delays,
cancellations and gate information via e-mail.
Messages can be automatically sent to a
customers PC, text-enabled cellular phone or
alphanumeric pager. Travelers with Internet-ready
cellular phones and PDAs such as Palm Pilot will
be told by e-mail of scheduled changes even when
they are on the road. Individual can tailor the
service to suit their preferences by choosing
different options on the sign-up form located on
United Web site, such as whether to be alerted
when a flight is delayed more than15,30,45 or 60
minutes. Gate information can be provided within
one to four hours of the scheduled arrival or
departure time. 4.2.3 QualcommIs buying
SnapTrack for 1 billion in stock. SnapTrack
pioneered the technology known as the Wireless
Assisted Global Positioning System (GPS) that
uses satellite to pinpoint wireless devices,
including inside buildings where conventional GPS
does not operate. 4.2.4 SBCPay Phone vs
Mobile PhoneIn 4Q99 Southwestern Bell reported
a decrease of 30 million in pay phone revenue
compared with same quarter in 1998. The cost of
calls may be a factor. The price of a local pay
phone call increased in 1997 top 35 cents from 25
cents, and the price of a cellular call has been
steadily falling. Anyone can afford a cellular
phone today and you dont have to have 35 cents
on you and if you get an answering machine
someone can call you back. Pay phones also tend
to have a reputation for being vandalized or out
of order.
Time Warner and AOL merger
United Airlines going mobile
Qualcomm buys SnapTrack
Pay phone vs Mobile Phone
16
4. Worldwide Country Developments 4.2 Unites
States 4.2.5 MobileIDMobileID is a
personalized wireless portal where the user can
set up the content they want to receive and how
they want it to look on cellular phones
supporting the WAP protocol. Each MobileID user
receives a personalized Web address
(Wap.username.mobileid.com/) where they can
access e-mail from any of their POP3 e-mail
accounts. If the user choose to set up a MobileID
address, mail they receive at that address can be
forwarded to any other mail account. They can
also give out their physical address and get
customized Web content direct to the
phone. 4.2.6 Wireless e-commerceAs e-commerce
struggles to established itself as a mainstream
offering, it faces major legal, technical and
security challenges. Privacy, taxation, fraud and
information theft are other obstacles facing
e-commerce. The latest Web hacking points to the
vulnerability of doing business on the
Internet. Many e-commerce business plans are
based on location-driven advertising, but such
advertising - without preconsent from mobile
phone subscribers - is illegal. The wireless 911
bill, signed into law last October, limits
wireless location information - absent express
prior authorization of the customer - to
emergency use. Wireless firms could get around
the restriction by seeking prior consent when
customers sign mobile phone contracts (prepaid do
not require contracts) , but doing so could
backfire by alerting prospective subscribers that
carriers need to track their whereabouts in order
to provide location-sensitive advertising to
them. (personally I believe if this is done in a
positive way and the consumer see the benefits,
they will accept and give their consent)
New portal from MobileID
Wireless e-commerce
17
4. Worldwide Country Developments 4.2 Unites
States 4.2.7 Parent vs TeenagersWhy do
teenagers have a mobile phone ? Parent-
Envision it as an expansion of their protective
eye. - Cant locate the wandering teen, just
dial.- Its for emergencies- Mostly, it should
be used for calling home- Some parents require
teenagers to pay airtime or 50, to give them a
lesson in how far money can stretch. Most
teenagers have part time jobs Teenager- The
cellular phone is a gift of freedom, - A device
that instantly connects them to their friends, to
every party and to the very latest piece of
gossip- For calling friends 24-7- My mom pays
30 for 300 minutes, its pointless to let those
go to waste- They no longer step out of their
cars when picking someone up. Why bother
ringing the doorbell when you can dial- Its a
cool thing to have- Girls are getting phones
more than boys (safety) 4.2.8 TicketMaster The
company Onlines new wireless unit will be
responsible for tailoring the companys online
ticketing services to wireless products such as
Palm Pilot or WAP/Wen enabled cellular
phones. 4.2.9 Oracle - OracleMobile.com Has
created a new company, OracleMobile.com, to
provide Internet access via wireless devices such
as cellular phones and will be headed by former
Oracle executive Denise Lahey. The services that
will be available on OracleMobile.com include
Amazon.coms Web-based retailing, eBay.inc online
auctions, and ETrade Groups online brokerage.
Oracle plans to generate revenue from
transactions made over the service, advertising
at the site, and services offered to manage
businesses wireless Web efforts., basically its
a transaction-based revenue model.
Parent vs Teenagers
Buying ticket online
New Oracle Web company
18
4. Worldwide Country Developments 4.2 Unites
States 4.2.10 GTE WirelessOffering a range of
new Wireless Internet services for its customers
through its new My GTE Wireless Web portal at
www.mygtew.com. The site allows customers to
customize the data they see on their mobile phone
screens by using the Web. Additional users can
instruct the Web page to contact them when
certain events occur, such as stock hitting a
certain price. The portal can be tied in with one
or more of three new paid-for services from GTE
Wireless Wireless InfoManager Cost 9.95/month
on top of existing planAllows users to view
general and personalized Internet information -
as well as e-mail on a WAP-enabled phone Internet
text Messaging Cost 3.95/month on top of
existing planAllows users to receive text
messages and to be alerted when certain events of
their choice occur Wireless Office Cost
4.95/month on top of existing planAllows users
to connect their laptop PC or PDA to the Internet
on a mobile basis using a simple 79 cable
4.2.11 WebPerfect Solutions Inc.Launched
mobile intranet service from any WAP, WML or
HDML-compliant devices. Users can send and
receive e-mail from any standard e-mail account,
view their calendar and update system tasks from
their phones. Mobile users can program their
phones to dial a special Web address to access
the intranet service with the push of one button.
Depending on the security requirements the mobile
user can then program the device to automatically
populate the user name or password, or
both. 4.2.12 PalmIntroduced a flat-rate
pricing plan for its wireless Palm VII handheld.
For 49.99/month, users will receive unlimited
access to the Palm.net (Mobitex) network utilized
by the device. Palm.net is available in 260 U.S.
metropolitan areas.
New wireless Internet service from GTE Wireless
New mobile intranet service
Flat rate service for Palm VII
19
4. Worldwide Country Developments 4.3
Canada4.3.1 Bell Mobility4.3.1.1
Yahoo!Announced a deal with Yahoo!, to provide
users of next-generation wireless phone with
specialized Internet content. It comes a week
after Bell Mobilitys parent, BCE Inc. of
Montreal, agreed to a joint venture with Yahoo
rival Lycos Inc. of Waltham. The Yahoo deal is
expected to be similar to the one Yahoo struck
with Sprint PCS in U.S. 4.3.1.2 Travel
ServiceBell Mobility will provide travel
services using GetThere.com Internet based
business-to-business travel booking system. Bell
Mobility users can now access GetThere.com travel
services, which include flight status, schedules,
and other detailed information, using Mobile
browser phones. This follows announcement from
SAS, Northwest and United offering the same kind
of service to their customers. It is expected
that Online booking and the ability to make
changes to travel itineraries will be the next
service to happen inside six months.
Bell Mobility and Yahoo! deal
Travel service on mobile phones
20
4. Worldwide Country Developments 4.4 Latin
America4.4.1 HondurasB-band auctionBased on
data from CONATEL, the B-band auction is supposed
to take place in May 2000. The A-Band operator is
Motorola with approx. 70,000 subscribers 4.4.2
Brazil4.4.2.1 Telesp CelularPortugal Telecom
boosted its stake in Telesp Celular by 4.5 to
19 for a cost of 158.9 million. 4.4.2.2
CRTTele Centro Sul, which is part-owned by
Telecom Italia, assumes control of CRT by taking
over a 23 controlling stake in CRT after
Telefonica was forced to leave for owning control
of another phone company Telesp. Telephone
companies in Brazil cannot control more than one
fixed-line company 4.4.3 ArgentinaGTE
PCSPlans to invest 450 million in 2000 to
roll-out long distance and build out PCS
operations in Buenos Aires via GTE PCS, a
wholly-owned subsidiary of GTE. 4.4.4
EcuadorPortacelularTelmex of Mexico is in
acquisition talks with Ecuadorian cellular phone
company Portacelular, one of two cellular
providers in Ecuador.
B-band auction
Portugal Telecom increase stake
Tele Centro Sul assumes control of CRT
GTE PCS investment
Telmex moving into Ecuador
21
4. Worldwide Country Developments 4.4 Latin
America4.4.5 Mexico 4.4.5.1 Subscriber
growthAt the end of 1999, Mexicos carriers now
serve 7.6 million subscribers, more than doubling
1998s record 93 growth. With a cellular
penetration rate of below 8, theres still
plenty of room to grow. It is expected that
Mexicos cellular penetration likely will surpass
wireline penetration in 2001. Pyramid Research
expect 11 million subscribers by YE2000 and 15
million by YE2001. 4.4.5.2 TelecelMade its
prepaid cards available on every street corner, a
strategy that helped it earn another 7 market
share, even as network congestion led to
complaints that its cellular service was the
countrys worst. The poor service was related
directly to the unforeseen growth. 4.4.5.3
IusacellSeeking to expand beyond the four
regions where it offers services, Iusacell last
year began acquisition talks with Baja Celular,
Movitel, Norcel and Cedetel in the northern
Mexico and Portatel in the south. Iusacell offers
nationwide service through roaming agreements,
last year rolled out a one single rate plan.
Although Iusacell owns PCS licenses in two
northern regions of the country, it has not yet
announced any buildout plans. 4.4.5.4
PegasoNew competitor in the Mexican market,
garnered 110,000 subscribers in its first year of
business, ending the year with a launch in Mexico
City, where it sold 50,000 phones during the
first three weeks of operation. Pegaso launched
new innovations such as billing rounded to the
second and the phone in a box retailing
concept. It also is wooing Mexicos predominately
prepaid subscriber base with services like
roaming, call waiting and voice mail not offered
with competitors prepaid plans. Pegasos
exclusively digital network in Mexico, gives it
an advantage in offering such services. In
contrast, Telcel and Iusacell serve the bulk of
their subscribers on analog networks, but both
are migrating subscribers to digital
platforms 4.4.5.5 UnefonLaunched fixed-wireless
phone service in the central Mexican city of
Toluca. The phones will be stationary inside
homes and will cost 1,600 pesos (170). To use
the phones, customers will buy prepaid phone
cards costing between about 10 and 50. The
basic price for local calls per minute will be 1
peso(11 U.S. cents), but the price will go down
for large volume of minutes.
YE99 subscriber numbers
Telecel Prepaid update
Iusacell expansion
Pegaso update
Unefon launched fixed-wireless service
22
4. Worldwide Country Developments 4.5
Japan 4.5.1 NTT DoCoMo.4.5.1.1 GPS Location
serviceLaunched its DokoNavi GPS based mobile
location service. Using a cellular PDC phone
linked to a PDA from Denso, called Naviewn, and
GPS technology from SnapTrack, the service can
locate users in a wide range of environments,
within 5-20 meters. 4.5.1.2 Internet RatesNTT
Corp. has announced plans to halve its Internet
access fees, from 8000 yen (73.3) to around 4000
yen (36.7) some time after May 2000. 4.5.1.3
I-mode updateBeginning this summer, all new
phones sold by NTT DoCoMo will include as a
standard function the companys mobile Internet
access (I-mode). The strategy to expands its
internet offering is also aimed at offsetting an
expected decline in revenue from voice services
The I-modes Internet capability allows DoCoMos
cell phone users to access the Web without using
a service provider, for a price of only 300 yen
(3) per month. The I-mode gets 40 million hits a
day and some 12 million e-mails are exchanged
through the service daily. The company has said
I-mode boosted the amount users spend on their
monthly bills by about 1,300 (13) yen a month in
addition to their monthly phone charges., which
have been falling as the company cuts rates to
stay competitive. Average revenue from the phone
service per user per month is expected to fall to
8,600 (86) in the year through March 2001, from
8,8600 yen the previous year. 4.5.2 Japan
Mobile phone usersAt the end of January, the
total mobile phone subscribers in Japan was
54,777,000 adding 665,000 in January. This figure
is close to the number of fixed phones estimated
at 56 million. Of the mobile phone
subscriptions- Cellular phone users increased
by 627,000 to 49,102,000. - PHS grew by 38,000
to 5,671,000 The mobile penetration rate is now
43.2 in Japan end of January 2000
GPS service from NTT DoCoMo
NTT reducing Internet rates
I-mode update
Jan. 2000 subscriber numbers
23
4. Worldwide Country Developments 4.6 Asia
Pacific Rim 4.6.1 Taiwan 4.6.1.1 Wireless
SubscribersThe number of cellular users
surpassed 10 million at the end of 1999. The
wireless penetration rate was 45.43 at the end
of 1999, higher than Singapore (44.63) and Japan
(42.98) but lower than Hong Kong
(59.43) 4.6.1.2 Internet SubscribersAs of
June 1999, Taiwan had 4.02 million Internet
users, accounting for 18.3 of the islands
population 4.6.2 China China MobileAiming to
sign up 20 million users during 2000, which would
give the company a total of 60 million users.
Also looking to increase international automatic
roaming with further 30 overseas companies in 18
countries, which would give it deals with a total
of 110 operators in 62 countries. 4.6.3 Hong
Kong CW HKT and Singapore TelecomThe two
companies are in merger talk, in a deal valued at
60 billion.
YE99 subscriber numbers
Internet subscribers
China Mobile subscriber predictions for 2000
Merger talks
24
5. Standard Developments 5.1 GSM Subscriber
numbers YE99 254 million (54 of total
worldwide cellular subscribers) 1999 growth 84
(1.6times the world average growth rate) Market
Share 66 of the worlds digital cellular
market Largest Market China with 37 million GSM
subscribers Highest GSM Finland with about 67
GSM subscribers and nearlyPenetration 70 total
penetration rate 1999 GSM 125.6 million (42
growth)phone shipment