The development of personal communication services under the auspices of existing network technologies

The concept of personal communication services (PCS) is only now beginning to take shape. In the past, PCS was described as services that were planned in certain frequency bands, such as in the 900 MHz narrowband licenses auctioned to the paging carriers (termed narrowband PCS) and the 1800 MHz frequencies auctioned for voice services. PCS has also been used as a synonym for certain technology standards like IS-136 TDMA, GSM (also known as DCS-1800), or IS-95 CDMA. However, the industry is now realizing that PCS is really a collection of voice and/or data services that meet the following minimum criteria: a single address or contact number to locate a user, the ability of the network to locate the recipient of the message, true universal coverage, and the independence of defined services from delivery mechanisms and technology. It can be argued that no single network or technology can address all these different attributes at an attractive price for all customers. This has caused existing service providers to invest in the internetworking of different wide area networks (WANs), establishment of standardized platforms for service creation, and development of content-aware smart applications. This article looks at several such developments in the context of the efforts underway at RAM Mobile Data USA LP to provide PCS using the Mobitex/sup R/ technology as its core. This article analyzes the Multi-Network Access Services (MNAS) which allow interconnection of several WANs, including satellite, circuit-switched cellular (CSC), public switched telephone network (PSTN), and paging networks. The approach is flexible enough to allow interconnection to additional networks that may be required in the future. This article also looks at the efforts on development of smart applications and services that are content-aware but independent of the underlying network technologies used. The proposed approach allows customers to use a single application to access similar services over multiple networks.