EarthVision Newsletter Archive Sent: Sunday, August 15, 1999 Subject: EarthVision Cellular Consumer News ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ EarthVision Cellullar Newsletter Content ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Current events at EarthVision Cellular PrimeCo is being divided up Indian Reservations going wireless More towers on federal lands Mega Cellular Carriers - Who is buying who? AT&T doesn't handle their customer service/billing calls Motorola signs deal with China ______________________________________________ CURRENT EVENTS AT EARTHVISION CELLULAR Please excuse the delay in getting up the specials page. We had some technical difficulties that we were not aware of at the time. It is now fixed and the specials are listed on our website. We have listed the Jump N Start product on special. This product is normally sold at $50 by other retailers of whom actually carry it. Our special price is about 70% off retail price. These make excellent gifts for christmas time! We are growing fairly fast. This past week, we found that we are now pushing 200 hits per week and growing. We are still waiting to be listed on most of the search engines. Not bad for only being online for a month now. We are adding affiliates each week as well. At some point, depending on the success of our website, we may even entertain the thought of going public. Should that happen, we will inform our subscribers directly via this newsletter about our intentions. That will allow you to take advantage of stock purchases right off the bat. We mentioned a possiblitiy of adding a message board. Well, we have something better. Recently, we were contacted by an internet company that is in the process of setting up for business on the internet. They are looking to provide the services of various experts to visitors of the site. They have asked us to join them as a "selected" expert on cellular phone products. Meaning that they contacted us after careful consideration and we did not even know they existed. In an effort to provide you with more services, we will continue to work on strategic partnerships and alliances with other companies on the internet. Our goal is to provide you with the best customer service we can offer. The partnerships and alliances will have no direct financial effect on EarthVision Cellular. They are there simply for your own use without obligation. A question popped up last week. Asking us if we supply to retail outlets. The answer is yes, our products are offered to retail units and other commercial establishments. However, we cannot supply names for business reasons. Our products are carried under a generic packaging that does not identify us as the supplier either. You may already be using the products that we supply without being aware of it. And if you are, then at least you know that you have top quality products. Now we move on to the other articles listed in the table of contents. Enjoy! ************************************************************* PRIMECO IS BEING DIVIDED UP ************************************************************* Without out the rolling drums, Vodafone Airtouch and Bell Atlantic announced last week that they would be dividing up PrimeCo Personal Communications. The division for each carrier is as follows: Bell Atlantic gets Richmond, VA., New Orleans, and all of Florida. While Vodafone Airtouch gets Chicago, Milwaukee, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. This gives each carrier an additional 1.2 million subscribers each. How many jobs may be cut or if the PrimeCo name will still exist is yet to be determined. ************************************************************************ INDIAN RESERVATIONS GOING WIRELESS ************************************************************************ As we all know, native american groups were pratically herded onto reservations in the 19th century. And the american technology advancements basically stopped at the borders of these reservations. Although america is the envy of many a nation in our cellular phone coverage, the indian reservations have less than half penetration for wireless use. As they are located in remote and rural areas, the cost of infrastructure & they type of reservation land is a substantial obstacle. However, the FCC has been reviewing various options on giving incentives to carriers for building infrastructure in these rural areas. These areas are almost like the outback of american technology. That could very well lead to further development in non reservation rural areas as well. ************************************************************************ MORE TOWERS ON FEDERAL LAND ************************************************************************ A congressional committee working on the appropriations bill in Washington, D.C. added a provision directing the National Park Service to approve the Bell Atlantic siting permit for Rock Creek Park. The legislation would also give federal agencies no more than 120 days to act on applications for tower sitings on federal lands. This would be good news for campers and hikers going out into the parks for the weekend and needing cellular phone coverage for emergencie purposes. However, we have no idea right now just how much coverage the carriers are looking to provide in national park areas. *********************************************************************** MEGA CELLULAR CARRIERS WHO IS BUYING WHO? ************************************************************************ Here is the latest on that note. AT&T and Vodafone airtouch have a stake in Cellular One of San Franscisco. The Cellular One name is about to be history. Cellular One in Kansas City went to Vodafone Airtouch and Cellular One in Dallas went to AT&T. AT&T also acquired Hawaii Cellular from Bellsouth as well as Los Angeles Cellular Telephone co. Bellsouth took control of two companies, one in Galveston and another in Houston. Once Bell Atlantic and GTE merge, Vodafone Airtouch is on the sidelines attempting to negotiate a partnership with Bell Atlantic after the meger. More splits are on the way too. The carrier you have today, may not be the carrier you have tomorrow! It appears as if AT&T, Vodafone Airtouch, and Bell Atlantic are coming out in the lead to provide coverage to america. ************************************************************************************** AT&T DOESN'T HANDLE THEIR BILLING/CUSTOMER SERVICE CALLS ************************************************************************************** Surprised? Shouldn't be. AT&T often outsources many of their call center functions to other companies. The company they have used is called Convergys based out of Ohio. AT&T has been using this company for the last 16 years to do the billing & customer service calls. It appears as if Ameritech will be jumping on the wagon and asking for the same services from this company. AT&T renewed a contract with this company for a whopping 1 billion dollars for another 5 years. They will send out nearly 1 million bills a day for AT&T alone. Hard to believe that cellular phone service has only been around for 16 years now. And most of the consumers began building up fast in the early 90's timeframe. ************************************************************************************ MOTOROLA SIGNS DEAL WITH CHINA ************************************************************************************ A little known item is that Motorola actually has a strong interest in China. Especially since they provide a majority of the labor used to create parts and assembe Motorola phones & accessories. At least that was the word we got from one of our international associates based in Aisa. Our confidence level in this information is very high ranging in the 90% area. In addition, Motorola signed a 370 million dollar contract with China Eastern Communications Co. to supply mobile communications infrastructure. Once deployed the towerr equipment will be managed and maintained by China Telecom. ************************************************************************************ SUMMARY NOTE ************************************************************************************ Be prepared for mergers & alliances to take place all over the country. Your cellular service should not be affected since you are using the same network although your billing and customer service will probably change. Coverage should improve over time as these mergers and alliances take place. However, we are moving towards a few mega carriers rather than the multiple carriers that you once had to choice of selecting. Next time someone tells you that you should buy a OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturered) product. Remember that most cellular phone products are now being manufacturered in Aisa due to the labor resources regardless of the comany name or brand. We wouldn't recommend buying from an unknown source though only because the quality of the product may be diminished if the pricing has been compromised. The lower the cost of the product, the cheaper it is in being manufactured. Corners can be cut and quality control may not be as good due to the price controls. If you are offered less than a 1 year warranty. Well, you decide on if it is what you really want. Until next time drive safe, talk a lot, and have some fun! Let us know what you think of our newsletter. We are always looking for ways to make improvements. If you find it boring, tell us how we can spice it up. Any comments you offer will be published in our following newsletters for others to review. Speak up now or forever hold your peace. (At least until you have something you want to add.) If you want to be deleted into the cyber abyss, simply respond with a negative response. We reserve the right to make faces at you for leaving our esteemed group of educated consumers. 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