New Product Idea/Business Plan Essays - Mobile Telecommunications

New Product Idea/Business Plan Executive Summary Since the first cellular mobile telephone networks opened for business in the early 1980's, growth in numbers of subscribers has consistently exceeded even the most optimistic forecasts. Even in the most advanced markets, this growth shows little sign of slowing, and meanwhile, new markets are accelerating rapidly. Cellular telephony was developed by AT&T (American Telephone and Telegraph), in it's Bell laboratories. It operates by allocating a spectrum of radio channel frequencies to telecommunications systems. The radio channel frequencies are subdivided and assigned to a network of radio base stations each responsible for the coverage of a particular geographical area known as a cell, hence the name cellular telephony. Our product will take all the benefits of modern pc and cellular technology and will make it even more portable than existing cell phones. We will enable the consumer to have an even smaller, more efficient communication device that will help them make their lives easier and communication more pleasurable. The price will not be low, but will be affordable when compared with the benefits. This product will be a hot item for individuals from all walks of life. Business people will love it, parents will storm the stores for it, and college students will be begging their parents for one for Christmas or graduation. The features provided by the product will far outweigh the high end cost. With teenagers having cell phones and an interest in the Internet and e-mail, it is expected that we may introduce more fashionable and slightly less expensive model for them as well. They have a high disposable income, and are a very lucrative target market. Selling of this product will take place through cellular phone providers. As the product requires PCS service, it will need a provider. Their stores make the most sense in which to market the product as the consumer is there to purchase service, and will obviously need the equipment to use the service. Pricing of the product should be steady, with moderate increases and decreases as the selling seasons permit. Initial price reduction promotions will be warranted as is the case with most new products. After there is a product recognition and appreciation in the market prices can be returned to normal, and perhaps even increased slightly when we supply additional technology and/or features. Background The first mobile cellular network operators began using analogue technology for their first networks because it was the only available and prevailing technology of that time. Analog technology is based upon the transmission of sound by way of radio waves through an Analog Mobile Phone System (AMPS). Unfortunately, the analog networks are limited, in that they suffer from severe capacity limitations. There are reception and interference problems, they are also less secure to prying ears and most importantly from a user point of view, coverage is restricted. Along with the expansion of customers there was also a concern about the availability of bandwidth as the radio frequency became overcrowded. Such problems obviously led to the demand for a new and improved alternative, so along came digital technology (Encarta 1996). The new digital networks use their allotted radio frequency's more efficiently than analogue and sound is transmitted by computer code rather than by waves. This enables the network to carry a higher capacity of calls of a higher reception quality and enables the user access to a wider number of advanced features, such as Personal Digital Assistants, (PDA's), mobile faxing and wireless e-mail. The second alternative to cellular is PCS or PCN. This stands for Personal Communication Service/Network. It is not too different from digital cellular, except it uses many more transceivers and base stations (five times as many). An advantage of PCN is that the bandwidth is slightly larger, so more information can be passed and the handsets are more attractive to the customer. However a big problem with PCN is that it is very costly to construct a network. Despite the cost, PCN has taken off well, particularly in the USA. In 1993 the US government set aside a proportion of the airwaves for PCN. It defined 992 regions, within which it hoped companies would want to operate. The federal government then sold licenses to PCN