U.S. Cellular, EVDO in 2007, Waiting for EVDO Rev A |
| Wednesday, 08 June 2005 | |
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U.S. CELLULAR: Push-to-talk service to begin; testing set for new data products Bloomberg News Published June 8, 2005 NEW YORK -- U.S. Cellular Corp. plans to start selling walkie-talkie-style mobile-phone service and is testing new data products to compete with such larger carriers as Nextel Communications Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. Chicago-based U.S. Cellular will roll out the push-to-talk service in its 25-state market in the third quarter, Chief Executive John Rooney said in New York. Nextel is the largest seller of push-to-talk services. Verizon began selling similar products this year. U.S. Cellular, which had a 4 percent decline in average monthly bills in the first quarter, has been testing products using a technology known as evolution data optimized, or EV-DO, for about a year. Rooney said he isn't convinced that deploying the current generation of EV-DO is the right strategy for U.S. Cellular. The company plans to launch service trials on EV-DO next year and likely won't deploy any products throughout its market until the next generation is available in late 2006 or early 2007, Controller Thomas Weber said. EV-DO lets users watch video and surf the Internet via wireless devices such as laptops and phones. Verizon and Sprint Corp. sell EV-DO services. "We have had a very difficult time making a business case for EV-DO," Rooney said. "Our goal is not to leap into the waters just because everyone else is going swimming." |
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Mac EVDO
