Qualcomm has temporarily suspended sales of a major trailer tracking system due to concerns about the future of analog cellular networks in North America.

George Dunn, Qualcomm's Vice President and General Manager of North American Operations, said sales of Qualcomm's untethered TrailerTracs version were stopped for two reasons.
"One is that one current cellular provider in particular was unwilling to guarantee service commitment for more than a year," said Dunn.
The provider, which Dunn did not name, is part of the Aeris Microburst Network Qualcomm had used to provide communication for its untethered TrailerTracs.
The second reason, said Dunn, "was the recent comments to the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) by [cellular] carriers that demonstrated a desire for setting a sunset date on the requirement to support the [analog cellular] network."
The FCC recently asked for comments on proposals that mandatory support for the older analog network be rolled back. Cellular carrier responses indicated a desire to use analog resources to build out increasingly popular digital networks. "Frankly, they were a little bit more aggressive than we had heard in the past and indicated a higher desire on the part of the carriers to degrade the [analog] network," Dunn said.
Dunn explained that Qualcomm was considering alternate communications technologies and hoped to have one chosen in less than three months.
"We're looking at a lot of different options. We're still in that process. Right now it's three different technologies," he said.
Dunn said Qualcomm was considering dual-mode communications that can alternate between, say, satellite and cellular and dual frequency communications that operate on two distinct digital cellular frequencies.
"We're also still investigating potential satellite options. So we're in a period where we're reviewing the viability and the cost effectiveness of those networks," he said.
Dunn said the marketing suspension applied only to the untethered version of TrailerTracs.
"We have two different TrailerTracs products. First is the tethered TrailerTracs, which operates through an OmniTRACS or OmniExpress onboard unit that's in the cab of a tractor," said Dunn. "We have about 30,000 of those deployed."
The untethered version of TrailerTracs had not yet been widely deployed. Dunn said there were "very few" units in the field.
In April, Qualcomm announced major contracts to provide untethered TrailerTracs to the mega-fleets of Swift Transportation and Schneider National. Dunn said Qualcomm had talked extensively with those carriers.
"We're keeping them very much apprised of what we're doing and involved in that process," said Dunn. "In good conscience we couldn't field a unit that had the potentional in our opinion of degraded service down the line."
Dunn said the word "degradation" was important in Qualcomm's action.
"The analog system's not going to disappear in two to three years. It's just not. But our concern is more the degradation of the network and that relates specifically to coverage."