Currently, there is an explosive growth in wireless phone systems. Current cellular phone technology is analog. Cellular phones will switch to digital to achieve much greater capacity once standards are agreed upon. A new competitor to the cellular phone network is the personal communications network (PCN). This digital technology uses a much larger number of much cheaper transmitters than cellular.
Many corporations are creating worldwide wireless communications networks. For example, Motorola is in the process of setting up such a network using low-orbit satellites. In less developed countries it is much faster to set up a wireless telephone system than a modern wired system. In the US, Ardis and Ram Mobile Data are building nationwide wireless data networks. At Pitney-Bowes 3,500 repair technicians use the Ardis network to obtain repair information. Federal Express and UPS have their own networks to be able to maintain continuous monitoring of the delivery of parcels.