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Wednesday, April 15, 1998
THE STATE / TECHNOLOGY
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 ethesda, Md.-based Omnipoint Corp. said it plans to change the
mathematical formulas used in its wireless phone service after two UC
Berkeley researchers discovered a way to break the code that protects it.
Omnipoint Executive Vice President George Schmitt said he's going to
personalize Omnipoint's formula for identifying phones rather than use
the general formulas of the global system for mobile communications, or
GSM, digital wireless standard. Tim Ayers, a spokesman for the Cellular
Telephone Industry Assn., said he expects most GSM operators to follow
Omnipoint's lead. Digital phone services, for which GSM is the world's
most popular standard, give users clearer sound, longer battery life and
greater security. That security lies in the long, encrypted digital codes
through which the signal is transferred. Bethesda, Md.-based Omnipoint
shares fell 75 cents to close at $25.75 on Nasdaq.
Copyright Los Angeles Times
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