Cellular networks are planning a big increase in capacity - and you're one of the people they want to use it, says Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine. The industry's 10-year goal is a 50-50 split in usage among commercial and individual customers. It's now about 95 percent commercial.
Marketing plans include cheaper phone sets, customized billing schemes and advertising that stresses personal use: calling the police, summoning a tow truck, alerting anxious family members to traffic delays. BellSouth Mobility, operating in seven states, offers "safety and security" plans in some areas. In Chattanooga, Tenn., for example, you're billed a $15 monthly service charge and get 10 free minutes of calling time. Talk longer and it costs 65 cents per minute.Analyst Martin Hyman, of Booz, Allen & Hamilton, expects the price of phone sets to keep falling. Already, a top-line pocket model from Fujitsu can be had for as little as $900; a basic installed car phone goes for less than $400. But Hyman doubts that added usage will spur a plunge in air-time charges. The "cozy duopoly" of one Bell and one other company in each city doesn't give customers leverage for winning price breaks, he says.