Cingular Set to Launch Push-to-Talk

If you're already sick of the chirp-chirping of push-to-talk phones, you'd better get prepared to hear a lot more of it.

Cingular on Friday put to rest months of speculation that it would offer a push-to-talk feature by confirming to the Wall Street Journal plans to launch the service on Monday.

Carrier Nextel, who recently merged with Sprint, pioneered the push-to-talk phenomenon in the United States. While Nextel's version of the feature uses Motorola iDEN, Cingular will employ technology created by Kodiak Networks -- the backbone of push-to-talk networks for Orange SA and Alltel.

In order to attract customers, the carrier will target markets that competitors Nextel and Verizon have largely ignored. For example, for $19.99 USD per month, those with family plans could activate the service for up to five lines, allowing for a new method of contact between family members.

Cingular customers with individual contracts will also be able to sign up to the service for a $9.99 USD monthly charge.

The company also plans to take on the youth market, a demographic currently served by Nextel-owned Boost Mobile. The prepay push-to-talk operator saw its user base triple over the past year to 1.7 million customers at the end of the second quarter of 2005.

It is unclear whether Cingular will follow Boost in how it advertises the new service to young mobile customers. Boost has tapped rappers Ludacris, Fat Joe, and Eve in its commercials to target a younger, urban demographic.

Two phones will initially be compatible with the Cingular push-to-talk service: Samsung's D357 and another from LG Electronics, the LG F7200. No pricing was given for either phone model.