mation can be passed and the handsets are more attractive to the customer. However a big problem with PCN is that it is very costly to construct a network. Despite the cost, PCN has taken off well, particularly in the USA. In 1993 the US government set aside a proportion of the airwaves for PCN. It defined 992 regions, within which it hoped companies would want to operate. The federal government then sold licenses to PCN operators, which were by no means cheap. The government made a lot of money from these sales. In 1995 companies paid the federal government 18 billion dollars for these licenses. It was then that it would take the same amount of money again to construct the network. However, this in no way put off the companies involved. The worlds mobile telephone networks are continuing to enjoy spectacular growth, even in relatively mature markets, annual growth greater than 60% is quite common. The high growth rates in mobile telephony are almost universal, with no sign of a 'saturation point' being reached. The Nordic countries, (Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark), have consistently led the world in mobile phone penetration. In fact, by mid 1996, more than 25% of all Swedes had a mobile phone. Meanwhile, new mobile networks are being opened all the time, both in the most developed countries and in the developing world. In the most developed markets, new operators are competing aggressively to capture the consumer market for mobile telephones, positioning the mobile telephone as a genuine, and much more convenient alternative to owning a normal wired telephone. ProductThe dramatic growth of mobile telephony has demonstrated how important convenience and freedom are to users. The Internet, with its ease of use and universal availability, offers the potential for equally dramatic growth in mobile data. Business professionals today need to have the power and information of the Internet at their fingertips at all times. This necessi...
