AT&T Wireless To Cut CDPD Network Cord

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

Brian Solomon, vice president of CDCE, a Yorba Linda, Calif.-based solution provider that services the public safety vertical, said he has already lost multiple orders. "AT&T's own direct-sales reps have gone to customers and 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 the purchase order signed."

CDPD VERTICAL APPLICATIONS:

>> Public safety
>> Field service automation
>> Transportation
>> Point-of-sale
>> Telemetry

Solution providers said AT&T Wireless recently sent a letter to customers warning that it will stop taking new activations on the network starting at the end of March. Law enforcement agencies,the most active users of the CDPD network,are already lobbying the carrier to reconsider, industry sources said.

A letter from Don Boerema, senior vice president of mobile multimedia services at AT&T Wireless, unveiled the Redmond, Wash.-based company's plans and promoted the new General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) 2.5G network as an alternative. "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 wrote.

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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 agencies to help ensure a smooth transition to GPRS. The spokesman denied solution provider reports that the company was interested in taking the GPRS transition business direct.

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 kilobits used. "The problem is the price is substantially higher since there is no unlimited plan," said Jeff Rubenstein, president and CEO of Advanced Public Safety, a solution provider in Hollywood, Fla.

Security is also a concern. GPRS does not provide adequate security for transmitting sensitive law enforcement data, solution providers said.

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

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

Insight Research analyst Bob Rosenberg said AT&T Wireless ultimately will be hurt as much as its customers. "[The company is going to lose customers because of this."