IP: Forbes.com: Say What? [More Press realizing that Cellular Phones aren't going to make it]

[Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>]

>Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 08:24:57 -0800
>From: Robert J Berger <rberger@ultradevices.com>
>
>
>By making it, I mean being a major way we do activities other than 
>mediocre, but mobile voice service...
>And they may financially crash as well...
>
>"...Such problems are all too common in the cellular business. Fifteen 
>years after wireless went mainstream, dropped, blocked and staticky calls 
>remain a constant source of aggravation. The U.S. industry has spent $80 
>billion building and expanding networks since 1985?half of that in just 
>the past four years. But to legions of frustrated customers, it wasn't 
>nearly enough.
>
>...
>
>The sad truth is it could get worse. AT&T, Verizon and other carriers have 
>signed up new customers at a far faster rate than they have increased 
>network spending. The U.S. now has 100 million wireless subscribers, more 
>than triple the total in 1995?but annual network spending has barely 
>doubled. The wireless industry's network spending amounted to only $490 
>for each new subscriber last year, only half as much as in the three 
>previous years, Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association data show.
>
>Building next-generation networks could require worldwide spending of a 
>staggering $250 billion in just the next three years, says equipment maker 
>Nortel. That could include $60 billion in the U.S. alone. It is 
>questionable whether carriers, even if they were willing to spend what's 
>needed, could raise such massive sums at a time when the stock market is 
>manic-depressive and junk bonds are in disarray...."
>
>http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2001/0122/124.html
>--
>Robert J. Berger
>UltraDevices, Inc.
>257 Castro Street, Suite 223 Mt. View CA. 94041
>Email: rberger@ultradevices.com http://www.ultradevices.com
>Voice: 408-882-4755 Fax: 408-490-2868



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