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A key component of Alaska's network upgrades is the federally mandated deadline of May 24, which requires wireless phone providers begin offering portability of customer cellular phone numbers.
That means that Alaska's cellular phone providers must allow customers to switch carriers, while retaining the same cellular phone number, an option that became available in late November 2003 in large markets in the Lower 48.
ACS Wireless has spent more than $35 million to build out its network to accommodate new cellular phone technology that is currently available, according to Mary Ann Pease, vice president.
Cellular One in Alaska, offered by Oklahoma-based Dobson Cellular Systems, will be spending $24 million to upgrade its network in Alaska, said company spokesman Craig Davis. That work is planned for completion later this summer, late July to early August, he said.
Based in Anchorage, ACS Wireless has already completed the physical work and hardware additions to support the next generation of cell phone technology, which is currently available in the state's major markets, Pease said. Those include Anchorage, the Matanuska-Susitna area, Kenai, Soldotna, Homer, Juneau, Fairbanks, Delta Junction and Fox.
"The capabilities are well beyond what the traditional cell phone can do," she said.
ACS chose to install new cellular technology called CDMA, short for code diversion multiple access. The old technology, TDMA, stands for time diversion multiple access.
With more than 150 million CDMA subscribers worldwide, the new technology allows carriers to handle more calls at one time, reduce the amount of dropped calls and improves clarity of voice calls, Pease said. Camera phones will also be offered.
The new technology will also support data transmission, either using the cellular phone as a modem or pairing it with a PCMCI computer card, also called a DO card. The 1x data connection speed supported by CDMA is faster than a traditional dial-up phone line, Pease said.
Using the new CDMA phone as a modem, transmission speeds can "burst" up to 144 kilobytes per second. Using the PCMCI or DO card computer connection, transmission speeds can "burst" up to 2 megabytes per second, Pease said.
"Businesses are the real beneficiary of the data capability," Pease said. "Employees away from the work place can remain productive and improve the service provided to customers."
ACS will begin marketing its new service later in May, offering several new cell phones and a variety of packages for service. Options included are unlimited data transmission, roaming in the Lower 48 and long distance packages. ACS has partnered with Sprint for its Outside cellular phone carrier, Pease said.
The company's coverage in Alaska will also expand throughout the summer, as ACS will continue to add service areas. Coverage has already increased in the greater Anchorage area, the Mat-Su area and the Hillside area, Pease said. In the Interior, North Pole, Fox and Chatanika will receive increased coverage, she said.
"Those pockets of bad reception that you experience, because of the clarity of calls, reception will be much better than it is today," Pease said.
Other targets for future increased service include Southeast Alaska and the drive-through, highway areas along the Parks and the Richardson highways, she said.
Seventy percent of Alaska's population lives within the CDMA coverage area that ACS is "lighting up," Pease said. "It's an alternative to laying copper in the ground. You just can't do that in all areas. Through the increase in capabilities in our wireless network, it's good news to rural parts of the state."
Dobson's Cellular One has chosen a different new technology to add to its network in Alaska, Davis said. It's called GSM, which stands for global system for mobile communications.
The technology uses different transmitters mounted on existing radio towers, allowing for additional voice and data cellular service, Davis said. "This is cutting edge technology. Alaska is not waiting to get this technology."
Dobson chose GSM technology because it is used in 70 percent of the world, it supports the wave of new cell phone services available, and new developments in the industry are geared toward GSM technology, Davis said.
"It's the breeding ground for all the new innovations in cell phones," he said.
Dobson's other cellular phone networks have added GSM, beginning last fall in upper New York State, Davis said.
The GSM technology uses a Sims card, similar to satellite phones, for its connectivity. That card can be pulled out of the cell phone and placed in a second GSM-supported phone to make calls which will bill back to the first phone, Davis said.
Services offered when the network is completed later this summer include picture and videophones. Color screens on phones will also be available, as will downloadable games. Internet information, such as weather and stock prices, can be downloaded using the new Web browsing service, he said.
"This is only the tip of the iceberg for what these phones can do."
Data transmission, using a cable to connect the cell phone to a computer, will also be offered by Cellular One in Alaska, Davis said. Connection speeds will be similar to a 56K-modem landline connection speed.
High-speed wireless access is "one of a number of products that are under development by our engineers," he said.
Other future products include an identity phone, which is an interactive wireless accessory that changes a phone's icons, phone tones and other operation systems to a specific theme.
Cellular One's coverage area will not expand, but service within the existing area will improve, Davis said. "It will allow us to process more calls at one time," he said, although how many more calls can not be precisely determined.
Cellular One's service area covers 91 percent of Alaska's population, Davis said, and the company is the state's largest cellular provider.
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