AT&T Wireless Advances IS-136 TDMA in U.S. with New Partnerships and Technology; Announcements Made At CTIA Wireless '98 Show.ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 24, 1998--AT&T Wireless Services today announced an operating agreement An operating agreement is an agreement among limited liability company ("LLC") members governing the LLC's business, and Member's financial and management rights and duties. No state requires an LLC to have an Operating agreement. with Comcast Cellular to expand digital IS-136 TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) A satellite and cellular phone technology that interleaves multiple digital signals onto a single high-speed channel. For cellular, TDMA triples the capacity of the original analog method (FDMA). (Time Division Multiple Access) coverage across Comcast's mid-Atlantic service areas. The company also made the following announcements at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association See TIA. (body, standard) Telecommunications Industry Association - (TIA) An association that sets standards for communications cabling. Cables that TIA set standards for include: EIA/TIA-568A and EIA/TIA-568B category three, four and five cable. Wireless '98 show in Atlanta: -- Tentative operating agreements reached with Cellular One of Southwest Florida Southwest Florida is a region of Florida located along its gulf coast, south of the Tampa Bay area, west of Lake Okeechobee and mostly north of the Everglades. It consists of five coastal counties from Manatee County south to Collier County, although it sometimes is considered to and Triton Cellular in Malvern, Pennsylvania. -- A comprehensive new agreement with Panasonic to bring new advanced IS-136 digital phone technology to AT&T Wireless customers. -- The introduction of a new advanced digital phone under development by both AT&T and Nokia. -- Next generation technology for AT&T's successful Wireless Office Service product. IS-136 TDMA is the wireless digital standard that serves as the foundation of AT&T's nationwide Digital PCS (1) (Personal Communications Services) Refers to wireless services that emerged after the U.S. government auctioned commercial licenses in 1994 and 1995. This radio spectrum in the 1. service and is a platform for advanced wireless services Advanced Wireless Services, also known as AWS-1, is a wireless telecommunications technology, used for mobile data services, video, and messaging. AWS-1 is used in the United States and replaces the spectrum formerly allocated to Multipoint Multichannel Distribution Service, . "The importance of these announcements," according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Dan Hesse, president and chief executive officer of AT&T Wireless, "is that through these operating agreements we continue to broaden digital coverage to more people across the nation. AT&T's goal is to have the largest digital coverage area combined with the most advanced wireless features to serve the needs of our valued customers. These partnerships bring us closer to that goal." Comcast Cellular Under the operating agreement, Comcast Cellular will make IS-136 digital service available to 8.5 million people in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. IS-136 TDMA technology provides consumers with advanced network features such as Caller ID A telephone company service that sends the caller's telephone number between the first and second ring of the call. If the calling number is not blocked, the calling number is displayed on the handset or base station of the called party. , Internet E-Mail capabilities, Message Waiting Indicator Message Waiting Indicator (MWI) in telephony, is a Bellcore term for an FSK-based telephone calling feature that illuminates an LED on select telephones to notify a telephone user of waiting voicemail messages on most North American public telephone networks and PBXs. for Voicemail, short messaging See SMS. , paging, and advanced fraud protection features. The agreement allows for joint roaming between Comcast and AT&T Wireless customers. "By connecting our network with AT&T Wireless's IS-136 TDMA network, we can now provide our customers full-featured Digital PCS service in hundreds of markets throughout North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. ," said David N. Watson, president of Comcast Cellular Communications Inc. "Just as we offer our customers the widest local digital coverage, we now offer them the largest digital network in North America, assuring them of digital service virtually anywhere they roam." Comcast Cellular is the nation's fourth largest non-wireline carrier, and the first in the country to achieve a complete conversion of its network to provide both border-to-border digital and analog service. Tentative Pacts With Cellular One of Southwest Florida and Triton AT&T Wireless has also reached agreements in principle to enter into operating contracts with Cellular One of Southwest Florida and Triton Cellular to expand digital coverage in select areas. The proposed deal with Cellular One covers Ft. Myers and Southwest Florida. The agreement with Triton covers areas in northeast Washington state and central Oregon Central Oregon is a geographical region lying near the center of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is commonly considered to include Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook counties. Primary cities in Central Oregon are La Pine, Sunriver, Bend, Redmond, Madras, and Prineville. . This is the second pact AT&T has struck with Triton. On Oct. 9, 1997, AT&T formed a joint venture with Triton to cover parts of the east coast. More Tri-Mode AT&T Digital PCS Phones In addition to expanded coverage, AT&T also announced it has signed a new contract with Panasonic Telecommunications Systems to develop and manufacture IS-136 tri-mode digital phones. Tri-mode phones are able to operate seamlessly at digital 850 MHz (MegaHertZ) One million cycles per second. It is used to measure the transmission speed of electronic devices, including channels, buses and the computer's internal clock. A one-megahertz clock (1 MHz) means some number of bits (16, 32, 64, etc. ., digital 1900 MHz., and default to analog 850 MHz. service absent an IS-136 signal. Panasonic is the first major Japanese company to manufacture TDMA equipment. Panasonic plans to develop, design and manufacture telephone products, software and user interface software for handsets operating on AT&T's Digital PCS network. Under a comprehensive TDMA development agreement with AT&T, Nokia announced its latest digital phone, the Nokia 6162. AT&T has been working with Nokia to develop its new tri-mode 6100 line which will be co-branded as AT&T Digital PCS/Nokia phones. New 6162 features include increased battery life, high resolution illuminated graphical display, alarm clock and calendar, 35 different ringing tones and a phone directory that stores up to 199 names and numbers. The Next Generation of Wireless Office for AT&T Wireless in 1998 AT&T also jointly announced last week, an agreement with Hughes Network Systems Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HNS), is a provider of broadband satellite network products for businesses and consumers. HNS pioneered the development of high-speed satellite Internet access services and IP-based networks with its original DirecPC service but which it now markets to provide "next generation" technology to support AT&T's successful Wireless Office Service product. Wireless Office Service provides corporate customers with a wireless phone system that replaces wireline phones in an office or campus environment. Smart antenna Smart antenna (also known as adaptive array antennas, multiple antennas and recently MIMO) refers to a system of antenna arrays with smart signal processing algorithms that are used to identify spatial signal signature such as the direction of arrival (DOA) of the signal, and use technology with Wireless Office Service allows differentiated billing. AT&T currently has more than 300 corporate customers on the Wireless Office Service, a service with virtually no churn, or customer turnover. Wireless Office Service can only be provided by TDMA carriers like AT&T because of its unique microcell capabilities. About AT&T Wireless AT&T's Digital PCS service is today available to more than 130 million people across the U.S. The Universal Wireless Communications Consortium The Universal Wireless Communications Consortium was a professional association of wireless communications companies operating in the Americas. The consortium was founded in 1996. It desolved in 2001 when its mission of promoting the TDMA protocol was deemed completed. reports there are more than 4 million IS-136 users in North America, compared to 1.5 million users reported for CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) A method for transmitting simultaneous signals over a shared portion of the spectrum. The foremost application of CDMA is the digital cellular phone technology from QUALCOMM that operates in the 800 MHz band and 1.9 GHz PCS band. and one million users reported for GSM. CDMA and GSM are two competing digital standards in North America. AT&T Wireless currently serves more than 2.2 million digital customers across the U.S. AT&T Wireless Services is a wholly-owned subsidiary of AT&T Corp. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :T). AT&T Wireless is the largest wireless carrier in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. serving more than 8.3 million subscribers. AT&T Wireless provides wireless voice, data, paging and in-flight communication services. -0-
Media Contacts:
AT&T Wireless Services Jane O'Donaghue 201/967-3568
AT&T Wireless Services Ken Woo 425/828-1349
Comcast Cellular Melissa Nichols 610/995-3755
Panasonic Connie Pohl 201/348-7941
Nokia Americas Megan Matthews 972/257-9267
Hughes Network Systems Judy Blake 301/601-4004
Other Previously Announced Partnership Agreements
Company Headquarters Date Announced
Rogers Cantel (OA) Toronto, Canada Nov. 13, 1996
30 million pops
Triton PCS (JV) Malvern, Pa. Oct. 9, 1997
11 million
pops
Dobson Oklahoma City, Okla. Dec. 10, 1997
Communications (OA)
2.3 million pops
Telecorp Inc. (JV) Arlington, Va. Jan. 26, 1998
11.3 million pops
Cincinnati Bell (JV) Cincinnati, Ohio Feb. 3, 1998
3 million pops
Company Coverage
Rogers Cantel (OA) Canada nationwide.
30 million pops
Triton PCS (JV) Virginia, North Carolina,
11 million pops South Carolina, parts of
Washington-Baltimore suburbs.
Dobson Oklahoma, Texas,
Communications (OA) California, Maryland,
2.3 million pops Pennsylvania, Arizona,
Kansas, Missouri.
Telecorp Inc. (JV) New Orleans, Houston,
11.3 million pops Louisville, St. Louis,
Little Rock, Memphis,
parts of New Hampshire
and Massachusetts.
Cincinnati Bell (JV) Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana.
3 million pops
CONTACT: AT&T Wireless Services Jane O'Donaghue, 201/967-3568 Wireless: 201/294-2404 jane.odonaghue@attws.com or Ken Woo, 425/828-1349 Wireless: 206/972-1728 kenneth.woo@attws.com |
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