terryjohnson16
10-11-2007, 08:28 AM
T-Mobile bets it can grab share of ET market : Business : Knoxville News Sentinel (http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/oct/11/t-mobile-bets-it-can-grab-share-of-et-market/)
By Andrew Eder (Contact)
Thursday, October 11, 2007
T-Mobile USA is building out a cellular network and preparing to launch retail service in East Tennessee, adding another competitor to the local cell-phone market.
The carrier already operates several wireless Internet “hotspots” in the area, and it offers roaming service on AT&T Mobility’s network, which uses the same wireless standard as T-Mobile.
But in the past nine months, T-Mobile has been building out its own network of cell sites — the installations of antennas and communications equipment that provide service to a particular area — and developing plans to open retail locations in the area, company officials said.
T-Mobile hopes the University of Tennessee will be a source of subscribers as it attempts to carve out a share of the area’s heavily penetrated cell-phone market.
“A lot of our customers are what we refer to as the young and the social,” said T-Mobile spokeswoman Ann Brooks.
Brooks said T-Mobile, an American subsidiary of German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom AG, also distinguishes itself from other carriers through its customer service. She pointed to a recent survey from J.D. Power and Associates that ranked T-Mobile No. 1 in customer service among the five largest U.S. wireless service providers.
Brooks did not have specific information on the scope of T-Mobile’s planned wireless coverage in the area but said that technicians are installing infrastructure in Knox and each of the eight surrounding counties. She also said the company plans to open retail stores in the area but had no details on a timetable.
T-Mobile, the fourth-largest cell-phone carrier in the U.S., will look to capture subscribers from the five active carriers in the Knoxville area: AT&T, Cricket Wireless, Sprint Nextel, Verizon Wireless and U.S. Cellular. One local competitor said it would be a challenge for T-Mobile to make a dent in the local market.
“Coming into the market this late will probably have less effect than more effect,” said Tom Catani, a Knoxville-based U.S. Cellular regional vice president. “It will give consumers another choice, and it will require everyone to give the best possible service.”
U.S. Cellular has been in the Knoxville market for 21 years, and Catani said building out a wireless network is a difficult undertaking.
“It’s not a task for the faint of heart,” Catani said.
In September, the Metropolitan Planning Commission approved T-Mobile’s request to build a 185-foot tower on Rising Road, near Rutledge Pike in Northeast Knox County. Brooks said the company also applied Monday to build a tower along Hayeswood Lane, south of Interstate 40 near the Strawberry Plains Pike exit.
Brooks would not say how many cell sites T-Mobile is planning to install or what the company’s investment would be, but she did say the carrier has “a better than 95 percent co-location rate,” meaning T-Mobile will install most of its cell sites on existing towers or buildings.
Last month, T-Mobile announced plans to buy SunCom Wireless Holdings Inc., a regional wireless carrier with subscribers mainly in the Southeast, for $2.4 billion in cash and assumed debt.
SunCom has more than 1 million subscribers, including some in the Tri-Cities area. T-Mobile said in a press release that it was “committed to providing SunCom customers with a smooth transition” to T-Mobile’s service following the closing of the sale, which is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.
By Andrew Eder (Contact)
Thursday, October 11, 2007
T-Mobile USA is building out a cellular network and preparing to launch retail service in East Tennessee, adding another competitor to the local cell-phone market.
The carrier already operates several wireless Internet “hotspots” in the area, and it offers roaming service on AT&T Mobility’s network, which uses the same wireless standard as T-Mobile.
But in the past nine months, T-Mobile has been building out its own network of cell sites — the installations of antennas and communications equipment that provide service to a particular area — and developing plans to open retail locations in the area, company officials said.
T-Mobile hopes the University of Tennessee will be a source of subscribers as it attempts to carve out a share of the area’s heavily penetrated cell-phone market.
“A lot of our customers are what we refer to as the young and the social,” said T-Mobile spokeswoman Ann Brooks.
Brooks said T-Mobile, an American subsidiary of German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom AG, also distinguishes itself from other carriers through its customer service. She pointed to a recent survey from J.D. Power and Associates that ranked T-Mobile No. 1 in customer service among the five largest U.S. wireless service providers.
Brooks did not have specific information on the scope of T-Mobile’s planned wireless coverage in the area but said that technicians are installing infrastructure in Knox and each of the eight surrounding counties. She also said the company plans to open retail stores in the area but had no details on a timetable.
T-Mobile, the fourth-largest cell-phone carrier in the U.S., will look to capture subscribers from the five active carriers in the Knoxville area: AT&T, Cricket Wireless, Sprint Nextel, Verizon Wireless and U.S. Cellular. One local competitor said it would be a challenge for T-Mobile to make a dent in the local market.
“Coming into the market this late will probably have less effect than more effect,” said Tom Catani, a Knoxville-based U.S. Cellular regional vice president. “It will give consumers another choice, and it will require everyone to give the best possible service.”
U.S. Cellular has been in the Knoxville market for 21 years, and Catani said building out a wireless network is a difficult undertaking.
“It’s not a task for the faint of heart,” Catani said.
In September, the Metropolitan Planning Commission approved T-Mobile’s request to build a 185-foot tower on Rising Road, near Rutledge Pike in Northeast Knox County. Brooks said the company also applied Monday to build a tower along Hayeswood Lane, south of Interstate 40 near the Strawberry Plains Pike exit.
Brooks would not say how many cell sites T-Mobile is planning to install or what the company’s investment would be, but she did say the carrier has “a better than 95 percent co-location rate,” meaning T-Mobile will install most of its cell sites on existing towers or buildings.
Last month, T-Mobile announced plans to buy SunCom Wireless Holdings Inc., a regional wireless carrier with subscribers mainly in the Southeast, for $2.4 billion in cash and assumed debt.
SunCom has more than 1 million subscribers, including some in the Tri-Cities area. T-Mobile said in a press release that it was “committed to providing SunCom customers with a smooth transition” to T-Mobile’s service following the closing of the sale, which is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.