
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 13, 1991                   TAG: 9104130039
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

PHONE REVOLUTION HERALDED IN CT-2

Portable telephoning at lower cost and without the bother of lugging a unit the size of a laptop computer will move a step closer if a technology called CT-2 reaches the consumer.

CT stands for cordless telephone. About 35 companies are working on CT-2. You carry a handset in your pocket and whip it out to dial from the sidewalk or hallway, billing calls to your home or office number. The Federal Communications Commission is encouraging experiments with this and other "personal communications services."

Phone industry experts expect the FCC to decide this year if and when to allocate airwave rights. Licensing and construction of "telepoints," or CT-2 transmitting boxes, will then begin.

CT-2's disadvantage is that you can dial out but you can't receive calls. Kenneth Reid, associate editor of Communications Daily, says this makes CT-2 "sort of like a portable pay phone system" that needs a supplementary pager.

Cost will make or break CT-2. Matt Edwards, who operates an experimental CT-2 network in Monticello, N.Y., and has just started another in New York City's South Street Seaport area, says he can charge 80 percent less than cellular for local calls during business hours.

But other phone experts say the difference might not be so dramatic once cellular systems go all-digital and increase their capacity.

by CNB