March 11, 1999
To:Corporate Services Committee
From:Commissioner of Corporate Services
Subject:Cellular Telephone Service
Purpose:
This report is submitted for information to the Corporate Services Committee on the status of the cellular telephone R.F.P.
evaluation.
Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:
All funding for the acquisition and ongoing rental of equipment is billed directly to the client department acquiring and
using such services.
Impact Statement: Departments changing from one carrier to another would have to change their cellular number. The
majority of cellular telephone technology used in the City is analog. Converting to digital service would result in a capital
cost to acquire new digital cellular telephones.
Recommendation:
N/A
Council Reference/Background/History:
The former cities acquire cellular air time and pagers from all of the four air time suppliers and from multiple pager
companies. The cellular service carriers provide most favoured customer status discounts to the city of Toronto.
At this time, cellular services are not centralized. As a result, an exact inventory of cellular service is not available. The
Purchasing and Materials Management Division issued Request for Proposal No. 2104-98-01212 to the four (4) companies
known to offer these services and this R.F.P. was also posted on the City of Toronto internet website.
The R.F.P. closed on November 25, 1998. Responses were received from the following companies:
|
Analog Service |
Digital Service |
| Bell Mobility |
X |
X |
| Cantel AT&T |
X |
X |
| Clearnet |
|
X |
| Microcell |
|
X |
The pricing model was based on the billings from August, 1998, for 640 cellular telephones. The majority being analog
technology.
All four (4) companies submitted prices for digital technology. Only two (2), Bell Mobility and Cantel AT & T provided
quotations for analog service.
Cellular companies offer analog or digital cellular service. Cellular telephones can be analog only, digital only, or dual
mode (digital roaming to analog). Bell Mobility and Cantel AT&T provided quotes on both analog and digital services.
Clearnet and Microcell do not offer analog service and quoted only on digital service. Analog only cellular telephones will
not work on the digital network.
Although digital cellular service offers enhanced features and capabilities, a major conversion to this technology, at this
time, is not recommended because of the high capital costs of equipment and as the technology standards continue to
evolve.
As part of the R.F.P., cellular carriers were asked to quote costs based on a one month bill (August 1998) drawn from the
known detailed inventory of 640 phones associated with the former Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto. The quoted
costs were used for evaluation purposes. Based on an evaluation of the quotes provided, the difference was less than $2,000
annually between the two analog carriers, Bell Mobility and Cantel AT&T.
Comments and/or Discussion and/or Justification:
The administrative costs to convert to one prime carrier would negate any savings achieved.
Conclusions:
The result of the R.F.P. proposals, by staff of the Corporate Services and Finance Departments, determined, at this point in
time, no significant savings can be realized with a selection of a single cellular provider.
Contact Name:
Jim Andrew
Executive Director of Information and Technology
392-8421
Commissioner of Corporate Services
/le
