Orlando, Fla.—AT&T Wireless at the CTIA Wireless 2002 trade show here Monday announced plans for new compression software that could double the number of voice calls that is currently handled by existing spectrum.
The company later this year will begin selling handsets that support the Adaptive Multirate Vocorder (AMR) technology, which will run on the companys Global System for Mobility (GSM) network, officials said.
“All the top-tier vendors are working on AMR handsets,” said Rod Nelson, chief technology officer at AT&T Wireless.
AT&T Wireless officials also announced new international roaming agreements and said that next month the company will start selling a phone that supports the GSM/GPRS (900/1900MHz) and TDMA (850/1900MHz) networks. The phone, manufactured by Siemens Information and Communication Mobile Group, will cost $199.99.
In addition, the company announced a deal with FedEx Corp. As part of a five-year agreement, FedEx will be using the AT&T Wireless network to roll out data services to its employees on a customized handheld device called the FedEx PowerPad.
AT&T Wireless also said that the company this year will be rolling out services that are based on NTT DoCoMos iMode technology, which runs the most popular wireless services in Japan. The service will not, however, be called “iMode,” Nelson said.
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