Competition among wireless carriers has driven down per-minute use charges by 6 percent on average, with some carriers slashing prices by more than a third, according to a new study by Paul Kagan Associates Inc., Carmel, Calif. A closer look at the most competitive markets for the first nine months of the year shows some wireless carriers launching aggressive first strikes in potential price wars. In Milwaukee, BellSouth Cellular Corp., doing business as Cellular One, chopped per-minute charges by 43 percent for very-high-use customers, said Richelle Elberg, a Kagan Associates analyst. Omnipoint Communications Services Inc. effectively cut its rate for customers in the New York metropolitan area by 33 percent when it raised to 30 from five the number of `free’ minutes included in its monthly plan, she said.
