Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Wireless firms in hiring mode Verizon, Cingular add 450 jobs as portability regulation takes effect

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 07 Nov 2003 08:28:38 -0500

Wireless firms in hiring mode Verizon, Cingular add 450 jobs as
portability regulation takes effect
By Jennifer Dawson
Houston Business Journal
Nov. 3 — Two wireless phone companies plan to
hire more than 450 permanent workers in the
Houston area by New Year's Day in a move that
counters employment trends in the
telecommunications sector.

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Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless are adding jobs to handle an
increase in customer activity connected to local number portability, a
new regulation mandated by the Federal Communications Commission that
goes into effect Nov. 24. Number portability allows customers to keep
their existing wireless phone number, even if they switch carriers.
Some industry observers believe a lot of customers will use number
portability as an excuse to check out competitors of their wireless
carriers. Others disagree.

"I don't think it will be a panic move by a lot of people," says Ken
Dulaney, vice president of mobile computing for Gartner Inc. "If
transitions occur, they will occur over time." Verizon and Cingular also
say they need more staff to handle a spike in sales expected to
accompany the upcoming holiday season.  Strength in the local wireless
market and growth at the companies themselves are also factors in the
employment increases, which have been occurring throughout 2003. Year to
date, Cingular has hired 300 new Houston area employees and Verizon has
hired 242 new people.

Houston's appetite for voice and data services was reinforced in a
recent study by New York-based Scarborough Research. The report shows
that 70 percent of local households own cell phones, which is above the
national average of 66 percent.  Verizon, the nation's largest wireless
provider, proved the company is capitalizing on that demand when
earnings were released this week. Verizon reported that 1.4 million net
new customers were added in the third quarter, bringing the company's
national customer base to 36 million.

"They have the biggest wireless footprint," Dulaney says. "The big get
bigger."
Turning up the volume
Verizon, which currently employs more than 1,750 people in the Houston
area, plans to hire 256 new employees locally before the end of the
year.

The wireless data support division, Verizon's national call center for
data services located in Houston, will gain 124 employees. Close to 45
employees will be hired to do sales. And almost 90 people will be added
to Verizon's call center that primarily handles customer service for
Texas and the Gulf Coast region.  Brian Stacy of Verizon Wireless says
the additional customer service employees will help handle the influx of
calls about number portability. Verizon expects customers will want to
know how long the new process takes, what is involved and their status
when switching carriers.
"We anticipate our (call) volume to start increasing this month, and to
steadily increase throughout the first quarter," Stacy says. "We expect
to gain a lot of sales out of it."

The customer service call center currently employs 800, who typically
receive five to six weeks of training. All existing call center
representatives have completed another 10 to 12 hours of training over
the last few months in preparation for number portability, Stacy says.

In another response to the expected increase in demand, Verizon has
opened three new retail stores in the Houston area this year and plans
to open six more by next April.

Cingular does not release numbers on local employees, but says the
company has 5,000 workers in Texas. The carrier plans to hire an
additional 200 permanent employees in the Houston market before 2004.
"In preparation for the holiday season and wireless local number
portability, Cingular hopes to add 200 sales representatives," says
Kristie Cohen, a Cingular representative.

AT&T Wireless executives don't release staffing information, but
acknowledge they are hiring temporary employees in Houston for the
holiday season to accommodate an expected increase in sales.  AT&T
Wireless recently opened its 27th retail store in the Houston area, and
plans to add roughly two more in 2004.  Sprint PCS has approximately 670
employees in the Houston area, including about 75 employees in the
Kingwood area where Sprint also offers local phone service. Sprint PCS
has no immediate plans to increase the local work force, nor add to the
company's 20 retail outlets.
Genevieve Billy, a Sprint representative, says that while the company is
not adding employees, it has spent 250,000 hours in employee training to
prepare for number portability.  Nextel has been working on number
portability for several years, so the employees who are needed are
already in place, says John Duty, a company representative. Nextel has
no plans to add any new employees in the Houston area, nor expand beyond
its 18 local retail stores.
Information on the sixth national wireless carrier, T-Mobile, was not
available.

Mixed numbers

Verizon and Cingular may be in the market for new employees, but their
hiring experiences do not ring true with others in the
telecommunications industry.

According to the Greater Houston Partnership, 17,500 local people were
employed in the telecommunications sector in September 2002. That number
dropped to 15,300 employees in September 2003, a decrease of 12.6
percent.

"Overall, year over year, that sector is down," says Pamela Lovett,
president of the partnership's economic development division.  At a time
when headlines have focused more on local layoffs, the addition of 456
new jobs to the Houston-area economy is promising.  Lovett says hiring
at the cell phone companies during 2003 is indicative of the local
business climate.
"The economy is improving," Lovett says. "I hope they're a leading
indicator of a prosperous 2004."
http://famulus.msnbc.com/famuluscom/bizjournal11-01-010308.asp?bizj=HOU

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