Wireless landline ... WHAT?!

Several weeks ago I saw someone at a mall using what seemed to me to be a landline phone unit, while riding the escalator. I subsequently found out that such a sight was due to Bayantel’s Wireless Landline telephone service. Bayantel, a telecom company owned by the Lopezes through Benpres Holdings, has embarked on this program in order to reinvigorate its landline subscription base. In fact, Bayantel projects that it will have a 30% increase in its landline subscription base by the end of 2007.
This company development is an exception to the current trend in the fixed residential line market, which is projected to dwindle rapidly in the next couple of years, as more and more people opt for mobile phones/cellphones as their primary mode of communication.
This may seem as a positive development for the telecom industry, but I see it as a step back. Why?
Let us take a look at the basic features of Bayantel’s wireless landline telephone service:
1. Unlimited calls to any Bayan wireless landline or Bayan phone nationwide.
2. Unlimited calls to any landline within the same area code.
3. Unlimited texting for Bayan wireless landline to Bayan wireless landlines nationwide.
You get these after buying the wireless landline phone for around Php 2,000 and subscribing to the service for about Php 699 a month. At first glance it seems like a good deal but it really isn’t.
First of all, the unlimited call and text features of this service are already provided by other telecom companies such as Sun Cellular.
Secondly, the Bayantel’s service has accessibility issues as some users of Smart and Globe cellphones, which are the leading mobile phone service providers in the country, find it difficult, if not impossible to call a Bayantel wireless landline. And that is a major problem, as most mobile phone users are Smart or Globe subscribers.
Thirdly, its unlimited call and text features are limited to Bayantel’s own network or to a certain locality only. This means that one cannot use the Bayan wireless landline outside of certain areas in Metro Manila, Bicol and a few localities in Visayas and Mindanao.
And last but not least, the phone units are bulky compared to cellphones which provide more features aside from being more fashionable. The wireless landline cannot take pictures or play MP3s? It does not have a built in calendar, calculator, and the list goes on.
In terms of providing for a truly mobile multimedia telecommunication experience, the wireless landline unit cannot even be compared to the cellphone. It is simply a glorified cordless phone. It is redundant as it provides services that other telecom companies already provide and it seems to make use of a technology that is less efficient in providing the said services.
In promoting the use of ICT in the country, it has been suggested that the government should take a technology neutral stance. But shouldn’t the government also help regulate the use and promotion of redundant and less efficient technology, as this wireless landline service seems to be?

SOURCES: http://www.bayan.com.ph/bwl/features.html