Wireless phone use expanding in Hawai'i

By John Duchemin
Advertiser Staff Writer

Wireless phone providers reported significant growth in the Hawai'i market for 2002 and say businesses and consumers are showing strong demand for the latest products.

Verizon Wireless, the Islands' No. 1 provider of wireless phone service, said its network use rose 40 percent on the year as it expanded, introduced new high-bandwidth products, and cut prices amid intense competition.

Verizon officials wouldn't provide total numbers of wireless users or other data that would help gauge the size of the wireless-using population here. They also wouldn't say whether higher use meant higher profits, or whether lower prices were cutting into revenues.

Nor would other providers in the highly competitive sector divulge such data. But officials at several companies reported across-the-board growth in use of their wireless products, despite overall economic uncertainty.

"What we can say is that 2002 far exceeded goals and expectations for the Hawai'i market," said Les Young, Hawai'i sales manager for Sprint PCS, the state's No. 3 wireless provider, in terms of customer base, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Wireless.

"Hawai'i has always been a leader in wireless usage, and that continues to be the case on all fronts. Customers seem to want to get the newest and hottest technologies that are out there," Young said.

For Hawai'i, 2002 brought deployments of high-speed wireless networks by several companies and rollouts of new services. Verizon says it spent $15 million building out its Hawai'i network — a number similar to its 2001 investment, said Mark Yamauchi, director of Hawai'i sales for Verizon Hawai'i.

Travelers with cell phones are also increasingly using the Hawai'i networks, Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Georgia Taylor said.