NEW ORLEANS -- The theme of the keynote speeches at the CTIA Wireless
2000 show here Monday was "The Global Perspective," which could be loosely
translated as "When it comes to wireless technology, the rest of the world
is kicking the United States in the pants."
Today's session, which also featured Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill
Gates officially launching MSN Mobile 2.0, was kicked off by William
Kennard, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
Kennard issued a warning that demand for spectrum in the United States
is outstripping supply, and the industry can't afford to be shortsighted
about that.
"Spectrum scarcity is the ultimate spectrum cap," he told a packed
auditorium. "Spectrum management has got to be at the top of your public
policy agendas."
To that end, Kennard said the FCC is convening a forum on the issue of
spectrum availability. His hope is to build a Web site of companies that
are selling spectrum and companies looking to buy it. Kennard said that
anyone whose business includes wireless access should pay attention to
upcoming FCC auctions, such as one this spring at which cable channels 60
to 69 will be auctioned off. There may also be private auctions
paralleling those of the FCC, he said.
Kennard added that spectrum sharing is going to be more of a problem as
everyone in the computer industry attempts to go wireless.
"We're seeing a disturbing amount of interference," he said, adding
that the FCC is telling the government to take heed and provide funding to
deal with potential network problems.
"Wireless must no longer be defined by its relationship to the wireline
network," he said.
The view from NTT
Kennard was followed by Keiji Tachikawa, president of NTT Mobile
Communications Network Inc., who took the stage to discuss the Tokyo
company's recent success in the wireless data business.
NTT DoCoMo has 28 million voice subscribers, and in just the past year
4.5 million of them have purchased wireless data service on the company's
iMode packet network, which sits on top of a circuit-switched network. The
network runs at about 9.6 baud currently.
Loosely translating yen to dollars, customers pay about $3 per month
for base service and then pay on a per-packet basis for data and another
fee on top of that for increased voice usage. (The majority of customers
also pay an additional $1 a month to have a new cartoon character appear
on their phone screens every day). The average monthly total fee is about
$25, which is lower than many flat-rate plans out there. The company goes
against the grain a bit by depending on a network that doesn't even
pretend to be a standard and by selling service by the packet.
Do customers even understand that concept?
"I suppose they don't understand, but they understand it's cheap,"
Tachikawa shrugged.
The iMode service plans to adopt the pending 3G wireless network
standard next year, he said. With potential speeds of up to 384KB per
second, such offerings as video services on cell phones are more than
likely, he said.
Sharp words from Vodafone chief
Next up was Chris Gent, CEO of Britain's red-hot Vodafone Airtouch,
which, with several major alliances in the past few months, including its
acquisition of Mannesmann, is arguably the largest wireless network
service provider in the world. While Tachikawa concentrated on his own
company's success, Gent talked more about U.S. shortcomings.
Aside from there being too many competing networks in the States,
compared with the pervasive GSM standard in Europe, Gent said the U.S.
doesn't offer enough in the way of cell phone services where only the
calling party pays. Right now, most cell phone customers pay for incoming
calls, so they tend to leave their phones off a lot.
"When people leave their phones on all the time, because they don't
have to pay for incoming calls, it becomes an integral part of their
lives," Gent said. "That hasn't happened in America."
In terms of standards, he said, the U.S. may be in trouble there even
after everyone begins to adopt 3G. (3G is supposed to be a combination of
several network standards.) While that should make things more uniform in
the U.S., it may not make things globally uniform because "even now, we're
looking at a 3G U.S. and a 3G rest of the world," Gent said.
Vodafone, for its part, intends to adopt a WAP (Wireless Access
Protocol) platform in July, with plans to move up to GPRS later this year
and, eventually, 3G next year.
Gent was followed by AT&T President John Zeglis. The company's
wireless unit, of which Zeglis is chairman and CEO, is about to have its
IPO and is therefore in a "quiet period," but Zeglis made a point of
saying, "Well, we'll show him" in Gent's direction.
A CTIA official asked Zeglis about AT&T's "Project Angel," which
has to do with fixed wireless access. Zeglis couldn't say anything
specific except that AT&T definitely is looking at fixed wireless
services and services that would combine GPS and the Internet "for people
who don't know where they are but have to know if it's going to rain right
over their heads, wherever they are, and how they're going to get wherever
they're going."
Gates ushers in MSN Mobile 2.0
After a short break, Bill Gates took the stage and promptly shifted
"The Global Perspective" over to "The Microsoft Perspective." (In Gates'
defense, it could be argued that he considers them interchangeable.)
Gates said that new features in MSN Mobile 2.0, which will be available
in April, include e-mail notifications and two-way service. He also
showcased a compact flash card that runs on Bluetooth and will enable
users to transfer data from one device to another, as well as the
new corporate wireless access service from Wireless Knowledge, the
joint venture between Microsoft and Qualcomm Inc.
In addition, Gates announced an agreement with Nextel Communications
Inc. and AirTouch Cellular to offer MSN Mobile 2.0, as well as agreements
with WebLink Wireless Inc. and Totally Free Paging Inc. to offer an
enhanced one-way version of MSN Mobile notifications.
Turning to the new Windows 2000 operating system, Gates showed how
various features -- such as one that enables users to organize their
e-mail according to priority -- will be useful to wireless users who are
pressed for time when dialing into their corporate data.
"The basic idea of the user in control is super-important," he said.
Screen readability is also going to be critical, said Gates, who tossed
out a prediction that should send chills up the spines of book lovers
everywhere.
"E-books will be like e-music," he said. "People will wonder why they
were ever in any other form."
As has become custom, Gates showed a video that spoofed various TV
genres, redoing them Microsoft-style. These included Judge Judy presiding
over a lawsuit between Gates and Warren Buffett; Gates as Austin Powers
("I put the sin in syntax, baby"); Charlton Heston talking about the
perils of "HD -- hard drive dysfunction"; and a takeoff of MTV's "The Real
World" in which Tom Brokaw, Diane Sawyer, Michael Dell and Jeff Bezos
share a house in Sun Valley.
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