AT&T Wireless adds area local phone service

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Jun 7, 2001 by Ray Carter The Journal Record

The market for local phone service in Oklahoma City got a little more competitive on Wednesday when AT&T Wireless jumped into the fray.

"We are offering an alternative to your local, home phone service," said Ben Kahrnoff, southwest region president of AT&T Wireless. "That's the bottom line of what we're doing."

The new service allows customers to choose AT&T Digital Broadband as their local service provider, delivering high-speed Internet access service and offering competitive long-distance rates -- all in one package and on a single bill.

Kahrnoff said AT&T's service will allow multiple users in a home to access the phone and Internet service simultaneously.

"If you loaded everything up into a home, you could have up to four phone lines, five computers, all talking online at the same time without a disruption of speed," Kahrnoff said.

AT&T Digital Broadband, which uses AT&T patented fixed wireless technology, "cuts the cord" between the traditional central office or switching center and a consumer's home by eliminating the copper wire connection necessary for land-line communications.

"The primary difference that you're looking at is that we're doing it via a bay station or a cell tower that is stationary and it basically services a geographic area that's about a mile-and-a-half to two miles," Kahrnoff said.

A small outdoor antenna installed on the house and aimed at the nearest bay station, plus some basic cabling, is all that's needed to begin service.

A wire connection is made from the antenna to a digital control unit in the home. The control unit is then connected to an existing inside phone wiring jack and an AC power supply outlet.

Similar to cell phone technology, line-of-sight between a base station and customer's home is not required.

Over 90 bay stations will be installed in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa areas by the completion of the AT&T's product launch. Fifteen stations have already been installed in the Oklahoma City area.

In comparison, 125 bay stations were installed in the Dallas area when the product was rolled out in that market 15 months ago.

AT&T plans to invest $450 million in its local phone service product launch nationally, with Oklahoma representing roughly 25 percent of that total, Kahrnoff said. As part of that process, AT&T Wireless will double its employee base in Oklahoma this year, topping out with 60 to 80 employees.

"It's a major investment on the part of AT&T," Kahrnoff said.

Kahrnoff believes that investment will give the company greater control of its destiny.

"We're using our own facilities -- we've talked about that `last mile' -- we control that ourselves, so we really are controlling the costs of this thing," he said.

The company hopes to have 100,000 subscribers nationally by the end of the year. While officials stressed that the service would greatly benefit self-employed individuals working from their home, the company will target the entire residential market.

"We really believe it's a good alternative for anybody who has a need to talk on the telephone and especially has the need for some high-speed data," Kahrnoff said. "It's not something that's (just) for the `big and fancy.'"

As the company rolls out its service offering, AT&T Wireless has "supersized" calling areas in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa markets to include the entire state of Oklahoma. When customers sign up for AT&T Digital Broadband voice service, they can receive a primary local home line, unlimited in-state calling across the entire state of Oklahoma and three calling features (caller ID, call waiting and three-way calling) for $25 per month.

Customers who sign up for the service by December 31, 2001, will be able to make unlimited in-state calls for $25 per month until June 30, 2002, when the promotion ends. Customers can also add up to three more phone lines, including the same three calling features, at a cost of $10 each per month. Other calling plans are available.

A monthly line charge of $4.35 for the first line of service and $5 for each additional line will be tacked on to each package offering.

AT&T Wireless will provide Internet service for another $35 per month. A package providing two service lines, voice and Internet service will cost $70 per month.

Residents can verify whether or not they are inside the current coverage footprint by logging onto the AT&T Digital Broadband Web site at www.iatt.com or calling 1-877-ATT-DGTL.

AT&T Wireless has more than 17 million subscribers in North America, including partnerships and affiliates, and generates revenue exceeding $10 billion.