Cingular to walk the talk

The Dallas Morning News reports Cingular is expected "to announce the availability of push-to-talk (PTT) phones" that will allow it to compete with Sprint Nextel.

Telecom analyst Jeff Kagan said, "Some customers love the PTT feature, but most don't know about it yet because they haven't used it." he added the walkie-talkie function "uses the network to carry your voice so you can talk with people anywhere, even around the country. Most people use it to quickly talk to family or friends or people at work they regularly talk with throughout the day."

PTT has been a key differentiator for Nextel in the past and the article notes in Q2, "Sprint, Nextel averaged $68 per user, compared with Cingular's $50.43."

Cingular will offer two new handsets with the PTT capability, "the Samsung d357 and the LG F7200." Providing Cingular with the networking technology is Kodiak Networks.

Ken Hyers at ABI Research said, "Kodiak's PTT solution gives Cingular an answer to Sprint Nextel's push-to-talk offering. They now have a product that enterprise and business customers will find useful."