NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Cingular Wireless is on track in integrating its network with the AT&T Wireless network, according to its operating chief.
The integration plans should lower the turnover rate, stabilize the average revenue per user and improve margins, Chief Operating Officer Ralph de la Vega said during the Lehman Brothers Worldwide Wireless and Wireline Conference. The event, held in New York, was broadcast over the Internet.
The executive reaffirmed Cingular's target of exceeding industry-leading metrics by 2007.
The divestitures from the merger were completed ahead of schedule, and the complete conversion into the new system will occur in the second half of 2006, he said.
The integrations relate to the elimination of redundant networks. De la Vega said in some markets, there are five to six different networks, running on different wireless standards.
The wireless service provider hopes to stabilize its revenue through the growth in its data revenue business, he said.
Cingular also restructured its pricing plan this month, reducing the number of plans and simplifying them. De la Vega said the changes also make the higher end plans more competitively priced.
The company also is looking into mobile virtual network operators, or companies that resell wireless service. MVNOs are useful in targeting a particular market that the wireless provider doesn't currently target, but de la Vega said he is confident Cingular will be able to target markets that other wireless companies haven't been that successful in. For example, he believes Cingular will be able to compete strongly in the Hispanic market.
"We're doing things a little different," he said.
Cingular is a joint venture between San Antonio-based SBC Communications Inc. (SBC) and Atlanta-based BellSouth Corp. (BLS).
-By Roger Cheng, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2020; roger.cheng@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires"
Posted to the site on 2nd June 2005
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/13036.php