CWTA hopes to expand ranks & mandate with new Wireless Internet Council

The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) has unveiled its newest plan to expand the lobby group’s membership and influence across a variety of communications sectors. Following the lead of its counterpart in the United States, the CWTA has opened its membership to mobile data companies, and established a Wireless Internet Council. Airborne Entertainment CEO Garner Bornstein was elected chair of the Wireless Internet Council at its inaugural meeting in late May. Bornstein, whose company markets wireless games, says the wireless telecom landscape is changing, and so must the CWTA. By broadening its membership and mandate to include mobile data, he says the wireless association can expand beyond pure-play telecom companies and seek out businesses that rely on wireless networks to deliver their services. "We’re not just establishing a communication network now, we’re now becoming enablers of a whole variety of content, services and transactions," Bornstein told Report on Wireless. As a first priority, the council needs to bolster its ranks with companies that specialize in creating content. "That’s my main goal over the next few weeks, to bring five or six young, dynamic members who can really bring a perspective of ‘hey we’ve got much more we can do here than just enable people to talk to each other’," explains Bornstein. Three-pronged strategy Helping the wireless data industry grow is the ultimate mandate of the council. It plans to accomplish this through a three-pronged strategy that focuses on awareness, enablement and "revving up" the industry. Bornstein says they want to put out the word that what’s taking hold in Europe and Japan – such as using the cell phone to buy pop from a vending machine or banking from a wireless device – can and will happen here. Offering such services on a mass consumer basis, however, necessitates that the carriers work together to ensure that wireless data services are not hindered by competing standards on the various networks. In addition to interoperability, the other major challenge facing the industry is developing a sustainable billing and collection system. "Billing is going to be a huge issue in terms of trying to find a way to allow people to plug in, because until companies can provide services (for which the fee) flows through onto the carrier’s bill in a fairly simply way, it’s going to be tough to rev up the industry," he says. Bornstein says the limited size of the Canadian wireless market gives companies here an advantage over foreign competitors. Having only four national carriers makes reaching a consensus on issues like interoperability and billing more possible. "We have an opportunity to leapfrog other parts of the world because it would be very difficult to achieve what we’re trying to achieve in the United States where they have 50 or 60 carriers," he says. Once all the "hard" pieces of the puzzle are in place, revving up the industry will be the next challenge. That will involve getting enough content players making their services or products available over wireless networks. To do that, wireless companies will need to develop a structure that makes it easy for all content companies to plug into, regardless of their product or service. While Bornstein admits there are still challenges left to overcome, movement in support of a uniform approach is mounting. "The challenges in wireless are there, but there’s a lot of momentum and interest by everyone concerned to come together and enable this industry," he says. "It’s a big jig saw puzzle and the pieces all exist," he adds, "and now it’s a question of putting them together and doing it in such a way that you don’t have a hodge podge of technologies."

CWTA hopes to expand ranks & mandate with new Wireless Internet Council

News | 06/11/2001 4:00 am EDT

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