November 16, 2001
Following VoiceStream's agreement to acquire bankrupt MobileStar's nationwide 802.11 based network, wireless carriers will feel the pressure to move fast in providing high speed mobile data access to their subscribers.
"It is no surprise that VoiceStream led the way in enhancing its strategy with WLAN services," said Ted Theologis, Managing Partner and Lead Analyst for the Arena Intelligence Group. "Several European carriers have aggressively moved towards adding WLAN services to their offerings and that mentality crossed over the Atlantic, naturally, through VoiceStream, which is wholly owned by Germany's Deutsche Telekom."
This acquisition gives VoiceStream a head start in the high speed mobile data market. It provides the carrier with a competitive advantage which will help attract more business customers and make up for its, not as extensive, network coverage (compared to its top competitors).
The Arena Intelligence Group expects that over the next year, more carriers will start evaluating strategic alliances and acquisitions, or even straight-out network build out, in order to satisfy the tremendous mobile high-speed data demand.
The idea of wireless voice service and high speed mobile data access provided by one carrier, and charged in a single bill, is as attractive to the customer as is being able to access the Internet and corporate data networks from thousands of locations nationwide.
With over 10 million potential users and over 15,000 WLAN hotspots in the United States by 2003, VoiceStream's move was a significant milestone in the development of this market.
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