AT&T Wireless To Pull Plug On CDPD Network Service

Even though the network service will not cease until June 2004, solution providers said the move is freezing the IT spending plans of some public safety agencies.

Brian Solomon, vice president of CDCE, a Yorba Linda, Calif., solution provider that services the public safety vertical, said he has already lost multiple orders.

"AT&T's own direct-sales reps have gone into customers and have told them the CDPD network is going down and they should not purchase the products," he said. "We've had orders that have been stopped after the budget was already set and purchase order signed."

Solution providers said AT&T Wireless recently sent a letter to customers warning that AT&T will stop taking new activations on the network starting at the end of next March. Law enforcement agencies,the most active users of CDPD's network, are already lobbying the carrier to reconsider, according to industry sources.

A letter from Don Boerema, senior vice president of mobile multimedia services at AT&T Wireless, Redmond, Wash., announced the company's plans while promoting the new General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) 2.5G network as an alternate. "We encourage you to begin making the transition now, so that you can start taking advantage of the benefits provided by GPRS as soon as they are available to you," he said in the letter, which was viewed by CRN.

An AT&T Wireless spokesman said the company is being as up-front as possible with customers about the change and vows to work with law enforcement to help ensure a smooth transition to GPRS.

But solution providers say GPRS currently isn't sufficient for the needs of the public safety vertical.

Price is a big issue. While CDPD is available at a flat fee per month, GPRS is charged by the amount of Kbits used.

"The problem is the price is substantially higher since there is no unlimited plan," said Jeff Rubenstein, president and CEO of Hollywood, Fla.-based solution provider Advanced Public Safety and reserve officer for the Delray Beach Police Department.

Security is also a concern. GPRS does not provide the security needed for sensitive law enforcement data, according to solution providers.

For example, the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System cannot currently be accessed over the GPRS network, said CDCE's Solomon. The state of California requires more stringent security be in place, he said.

Rahul Harkawat, executive vice president of marketing and alliances at Infokall, a Santa Ana, Calif., solution provider, added that CDPD has really been a semi-private network since it's rarely used by consumers. "GPRS is wide open," he said.

Analysts said AT&T's push toward GPRS is obviously financially motivated.

"They just spent billions of dollars buying spectrum and probably [up to $100 million developing operational systems to support 2.5G and 3G services," said Bob Rosenberg, an analyst at Insight Research. "It's not likely you will continue to see support for a very low bit-rate service like CDPD."

Rubenstein said AT&T Wireless ultimately will be hurt as much as its customers. "They are going to lose customers because of this," he said.

The AT&T move is causing some to scope out private wireless network equipment from Motorola, solution providers said.