CONCORD, MA (April 13, 2004) - Gantry Group recently concluded an ROI research study of the top U.S. wireless carriers to assess the growing role of in-building solutions and their value delivery to carriers' sales, RF engineering and networking organizations. In particular, Gantry Group quantified the differentiated value of new adaptive repeaters, such as SpotCell™ from Spotwave Wireless, Inc., of Ottawa, Canada. Study results are published in a Gantry Group ROI white paper titled "Value Driver Profile Report: SpotCell In-Building Solutions for Wireless Carriers", available for download at www.gantrygroup.com/publications/white_papers.htm.

Gantry Group interviewed seven top U.S. wireless carriers' sales executives, RF engineers, network performance engineers and project management staff. The study was designed to probe the following issues for carriers:

• The strategic importance of in-building service offerings
• Defensive and proactive programs launched to leverage their in-building capabilities
• The impact of enterprises' wireless data demand on in-building level of service
• The critical success factors for an in-building solution

"The study revealed that a wireless carrier's most important market differentiator today is quality of service coverage. While selling level-of-service contracts is the critical tactic for carriers to overcome high customer churn rate and increase customer loyalty, it also represents a sizable revenue opportunity for add-on services," said Dale Troppito, author of the report and managing partner for The Gantry Group. "Carriers are now moving away from the business mindset of 'selling minutes', transitioning to the realm of 'selling level-of-service' (Service Level Agreements or SLAs)."

In addition, carriers are preparing for the burgeoning enterprise wireless data revolution, where every worker becomes a mobile worker. The ability to overcome enterprise in-building "hot spots" quickly, effectively and at a low price point is a critical success component in the wireless data race against Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity Transmission), which delivers high-speed Internet access at a lower cost than cellular.

While wireless carriers have been deploying wireless and servicing repeaters for the past five years to boost in-building service for their enterprise customers, interviews with carriers produced a remarkably consistent list of shortcomings with these devices. These included high equipment cost ($40,000 - $50,000 per unit), difficult procurement, required set-up, difficult installation, high instance of tuning throughout the lifecycle and high Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

Viewing in-building service as a financial opportunity and a possible revenue stream are relatively new concepts for wireless carriers. New in-building adaptive repeater technology makes in-building programs economically feasible to pursue. Such products completely change the rules for carrier investment and ROI analysis because of their extremely low TCO and life-cycle costs.

In the case of the SpotCell solution, carriers' reported the average annual TCO to be $1,500 per unit annually, amortized over a 3-year period of field deployment. Formerly, carriers could only make an ROI justification for an in-building repeater investment for enterprises with 100-110 lines. Today, adaptive repeaters can achieve ROI justification for accounts with 10 or less lines. "Adaptive repeaters introduce enormous benefits in the implementation of in-building coverage solutions", said Shane Young, president and CEO of Spotwave Wireless, Inc. "SpotCell's patent-pending technology seamlessly adjusts to the continually changing environment to provide guaranteed stability of in-building wireless coverage. This adaptive approach is critical to the product's rapid installation, and it eliminates the need for ongoing monitoring and reconfiguration."

The study participants consistently reported that each sales region, on average, is faced with at least 3-5 in-building service improvement requests from enterprise customers and prospects weekly, representing 156-260 requests annually. This customer request rate is expected to substantially increase as the demand for wireless enterprise data grows.

The wireless carriers interviewed in this study reported discrete areas of value delivery resulting from their in-building solution deployments using adaptive repeater technology:

• Improved retail point-of-sale experience for walk-in prospects
• Retention of existing customers challenged by in-building service quality
• Higher contract renewal rates for enterprise customers who have expressed that in-building quality is critical or have an urgent need for mobile data access
• Attracting new customers with an enhanced service offering that ensures reliable in-building service

About Gantry Group
The Gantry Group is the only management consulting firm specializing in technology ROI. The Gantry Group's ROI impact analyses are validated by primary market research to ensure accurate capture of the real value drivers and costs. With over 200 technology clients, 3,000 business process interviewers and profiles in their knowledge base, and more than 1,000 ROI business processes and value drivers modeled, Gantry offers its clients the greatest depth and breadth of ROI experience and invaluable objectivity. Since 1997 Gantry Group has provided ROI Calculators, Benchmark Studies, White Papers, Case Studies and ROI Sales Training Materials for hundreds of technology companies in healthcare, financial services, mobile/wireless and business process optimization. Gantry Group's client list of technology vendors includes leading IT vendors such as PeopleSoft, McKesson Health Solutions, Thomson Media, palmOne, Xerox, Politzer & Haney, and Best Software. For more information on The Gantry Group and the services they provide visit www.gantrygroup.com

Spotwave ® is a registered trademark of Spotwave Wireless Inc.
SpotCell™ is a trademark of Spotwave Wireless Inc.

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