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The Wireless Industry - 
   An Overview of the Cellular Phone Service in America

The world, as we now know it, is changing at a terrific rate due to technology advances. 1984 was a major milestone for the telecom industry in the 20th Century. Not only because the AT&T monopoly had been broken up (although it was important), but because that was the year we were first introduced to wireless service. We can all thank William McGraw for mobile communications. His dream and persistence to make it a reality has made our lives that much easier, or difficult depending on your perspective.

What started out as a novelty to those who could afford the service, has now became the property of the masses, a multi-billion dollar industry that created well known brands such as Motorola, a pioneer in the cellular phone manufacturing industry, followed by Nokia and others.

Many of us will remember that the first cellular phones in use were fairly large and heavy to carry around, now known as the "brick" phone, with the first cellular phone being offered in 1984 by Motorola, the DynaTac 8000X with a price tag of $3,995 and weighing 2 pounds. And in 1991, the Motorola MicroTac Lite was considered the lightest phone yet and retailed at $1,000. As a credit to technology, we now carry cellular phones small enough to carry in our pockets and they cost a lot less. Look at the Star Tac or Nokia 252 phone in comparison. Not a bad run for a relatively new industry and service. The future will hold more in store for us than we may think. Some very interesting gadgets are already in testing by the manufacturers.

We can now go into rural areas, dial on our phone and not have to worry about a call being dropped with the number of towers being put up for the cellular phone user and to maintain the traffic of the ever increasing call volume. However, rural areas offer the least amount of traffic and are less cost effective to most companies, with a lack of towers available to pick up and route a cellular call being the biggest problem.

Traffic in the metro areas has grown to such an extent that towers are now being placed on buildings to accommodate the growth. Keep in mind that to put up one tower costs a whopping $150K on average. You can imagine the amount of capital laid out in the structure alone to provide cellular service.

Progression of the technology in cellular service is moving at stellar speed. Every year we find ourselves faced with the dilemma of more choices. You must choose the type of phone you want, the calling plan that works for you, and the type of network service. Not to mention the various accessories now available for cellular phones.

To some users, the cellular phone is no longer a luxury but a necessity. We use them for emergency roadside assistance, citizen patrols, faxing, business, and personal use in general. Infiltration of the cellular phone into every day life is becoming more apparent.

This in turn has created booming telecom advancements. 1987 was noted for having 1 million subscribers in America for cellular service. Five years later in 1992, there were 11 million subscribers to cellular phone service. Currently there are about 400 million cellular phone users worldwide. Out of that, the US has nearly one-quarter of the world subscriber base for cellular phones. It is projected that in 2003 there will be over 1 billion cellular phone users worldwide.

With the FCC focus on the RBOC and Cable companies seeking to enter the long distance market, and mega mergers, the wireless industry is a low priority. Deregulation of the cellular phone service will be a while in coming. The most current aspect of the wireless industry being monitored by the FCC is the auction on bandwidth used for cellular phone service. It appears as if it will be some time for this shadow to be brought into the light.

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