FierceWireless

Sprint's Hesse: Regulators will be open to more industry consolidation

Wed, 16 May 2012 12:28:09 -0400

Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) CEO Dan Hesse said he thinks regulators at the Department of Justice and FCC would be open to wireless industry consolidation if the resulting combination created more competition for Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T), the nation's two largest carriers.

"I actually believe that Washington would be receptive to consolidation to provide more balance to the big two," he said, speaking Wednesday at the 40th Annual J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference. While Hesse said it depends on who the individual regulators are deciding proposed transactions, he noted that he was very close to the process last year as regulators ultimately blocked AT&T's proposed $39 billion deal for T-Mobile USA, which Sprint vigorously opposed.

"I honestly believe that both the Department of Justice and the FCC have a very open mind with respect to any industry consolidation and want to see a competitive industry," Hesse said. He said in an ideal world, Sprint would not have to think about potential M&A activity until after it has largely completed its Network Vision network modernization plan by the end of 2013, but he said that may not happen.

Last week at the CTIA Wireless 2012 conference in New Orleans, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowksi defended the agency's decision to block the deal. AT&T fired back that while the FCC was within its rights to withhold approval from the transaction, "it is incorrect when it denies the impact such decisions have on the price of wireless services."

When asked about Verizon's bid to acquire AWS spectrum from a group of cable companies and Sprint's decision to join a group with T-Mobile and the Rural Cellular Association, dubbed the Alliance for Broadband Competition, which opposes the deal, Hesse said it would be going a little too far to say that Sprint had joined forces with any other companies. However, he said the FCC is cognizant of the need to fight against too much spectrum consolidation.

In a wide-ranging conversation, Hesse, who was re-elected Tuesday to Sprint's board, also touched on smartphone data pricing and subsidies as well as Network Vision, which he said remains on track. Hesse noted that improving customer satisfaction metrics allowed Sprint to keep its unlimited smartphone data plans but raise the price last year by $10 per month to a base amount of $80.

Hesse said Sprint always has the option of raising prices again to keep unlimited, but repeated his mantra that simplicity and unlimited plans serve customers well. He also said that Sprint has not seen a change in customer's data usage patterns, even with the addition of Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone, as customers have switched from other carriers to take advantage of Sprint's pricing. "We have not seen a change in usage pattern of the customers that have moved to Sprint since our competitors have gotten away from unlimited," he said. "We'll continue to watch that pretty closely."

And of course, Hesse could not resist trumpeting the fact that Sprint topped the charts in terms of customer satisfaction, according to a new report from the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Sprint's score of 71 nudged it just ahead of Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ), which scored a 70 on a 100-point scale. Both carriers recorded scores of 72 in last year's ACSI survey.

Interestingly, Hesse provided several metrics to back up his assertion that "good customer service costs a lot less" for the overall business. He said customer care costs used to cost Sprint $3.7 billion a year and now run around $2 billion a year. By simplifying Sprint's rate structure since he took over as CEO in late 2007, he said Sprint has reduced its total billing costs by one-third. Those improvements have seen the number of customers on the "Sprint" (i.e. non-Nextel) brand jump from 26 million to 51 million in last two years, he said.

For more:
- see this webcast

Verizon will kill 'grandfathered' unlimited data plans, push users to data share

Wed, 16 May 2012 11:54:34 -0400

Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) plans to eliminate the $30 per month unlimited data plan that it still provides to 3G customers who were "grandfathered" into the plan because they were data customers prior to the company's switch to tiered data pricing last July. Speaking at the 40th J.P. Morgan Technology, Media and Telecom conference, Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo said that as these 3G unlimited data plan customers migrate to 4G LTE, they will have to purchase the company's data-share plan (which Verizon plans to launch in mid-summer) and move off the $30 per month unlimited data plan. "Everyone will be on data share," Shammo said.

Shammo

Verizon's data share plan is scheduled to launch in mid-summer but no pricing details have been announced. Shammo said that he believes this new plan will make it easier for families and small businesses to connect multiple devices. The industry, Shammo said, has constrained the market around connected devices because people think they need an additional data plan. "If I can add as many devices as I want, that is more efficient from a family perspective and a small business perspective," he said.

However, Shammo said that with the launch of this new data share plan, the industry will have to change a key metric--average revenue per user. Shammo said that Verizon will move to a "revenue per account" metric that will more accurately measure the company's business.

When asked how Verizon will drive customers to this new data share plan, Shammo said that LTE will be the anchor for the new plan and that as customers upgrade from 3G to LTE, they will have to be on a data share plan, allowing the company to sunset its unlimited 3G data plan. "A lot of our 3G base is on unlimited," Shammo said. "When they migrate off 3G they will have to go to data share. That is beneficial to us."

In an unrelated note, Shammo also said that the company will launch Voice over LTE technology at year end, but will not push the technology until mid-2013 when it has a bigger LTE footprint. In fact, Shammo noted that by the end of 2013 Verizon's LTE footprint will be equal to or even bigger than its existing 3G footprint.

For more:
- see this webcast

Report: Android conquers UK market with 50.1% share

Wed, 16 May 2012 11:53:45 -0400

The latest smartphone sales data released by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows that Google's Android platform retained its the top position in the UK in the latest 12 weeks. According to the report, Android now has a 50.1 per cent share, up from 44.6 per cent a year ago. HTC and Samsung are dominating Android handset market sales, Kantar found, holding 86 per cent share between them. Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar, said: "With less than one week of sales, the HTC One X is already one of Britain's 10 best-selling smartphones over this period. The release of the Sony Xperia S and the announcement of the Samsung Galaxy S III have also added to a surge of interest from consumers looking for their next upgrade." Article

Analyst: Mobile data growth could double infrastructure costs within 5 years

Wed, 16 May 2012 11:52:45 -0400

The continuing growth in mobile data could place operators under extreme financial pressure unless they implement ways to provide bandwidth in a more cost-efficient way, according to a new study from Solon Management Consulting.

The research firm expects data traffic to increase 15-fold between 2011 and 2016 for Germany alone, which could see operator costs doubling for access and backhaul networks.

Mobile operators need to act now to meet the mobile cost challenge, according to Stephan Kalleder, principal at Solon and author of the study. Without adequate countermeasures, "network capacity requirements would almost double network Opex from 12 per cent of revenues in 2011 to 23 per cent of revenues in 2016," Kalleder wrote.

The consultancy recommends that operators need to adopt two approaches so as to reduce the danger of cost outstripping data revenues: network optimisation and network sharing.

Solon claims that accelerating the migration to LTE will provide strong benefit from additional spectrum allocation and higher spectral efficiency. Additionally, operators can benefit from actively managing network data traffic by implementing different tariff and policy models or by offloading mobile traffic to Wi-Fi or fixed lines. The company also believes that a focus on optimising video delivery--which is likely to be around 70 per cent of anticipated traffic growth over the next five years--will help limit costs.

Negotiating network sharing deals is also proving to be a highly successful strategy especially for smaller to mid-size operators, clams Solon. "By sharing the same infrastructure--from base stations to backhaul, mobile operators can save between 25 to 35 per cent of the cost of the shared site," Kalleder wrote.

Even further cost saving potential can be realised from extending access sharing to the core network, and setting up a joint network company would allow operators to take full advantage of integration. If operators adopt these infrastructure improvements, Solon believes that mobile operators will be able to increase transmission efficiency significantly and partly contain network operating expenses growth.

However, without optimisation, Solon says that operator EBITDA margins could decrease by 11 percentage points. The proposed network optimisation measures will help to limit margin risk to 5 per cent, and if the operator also enters into a network sharing agreement for its UMTS and LTE sites, network cost could almost be maintained at today's levels.

For more:
- see this release
- see this Solon Management Consulting white paper

Huawei scoops up O2 UK managed service contract

Wed, 16 May 2012 11:50:51 -0400

Telefónica's O2 UK awarded Huawei a five-year deal to plan and manage the operator's mobile core network. The contract will see over 50 O2 employees and 62 contractors transfer over to Huawei.

The deal is the first managed services contract that Huawei has secured in the UK and is not, according to the company, linked to the sale of any network infrastructure. Commenting on the agreement, a Huawei spokesperson told Mobile Europe, "The team that's transferring is much more about the monitoring and planning and design of the core network, rather than operations."

"For us this is about building our capability as a managed service business in the U.K. People assume that we would win this deal in a network or part of the network where we have kit deployed, but we have no kit in this network," the spokesperson said.

While neither company revealed the value of the contract, a Telefónica spokesperson told Mobile Europe that the deal centred around the planning and implementation of core elements such as RNCs and switching centres. O2 UK already has an agreement with BT to manage some elements of its backhaul network.

Huawei has been pushing hard to gain sales traction in Europe with its mobile devices and its infrastructure business, and in April 2011 it would hire 500 peopleto its UK staff as it beefed up its enterprise and device business.

For more:
- see this Mobile Europe article
- see this ZDNet article

Nokia unveils low-cost handsets to regain share in emerging markets

Wed, 16 May 2012 11:49:13 -0400

Nokia is attempting its rebuild its market share in developing markets with the announcement of two new dual-SIM handsets. The low-cost devices will ship with a licence to download 40 games by Electronic Arts and offer Internet access using a new browser from Novarra, which Nokia acquired in 2010.

Nokia 110

The new Nokia 110 model will sell for €35 with delivery during the second quarter, while the Nokia 112 model will cost €38 and become available in the third quarter. Both handset are based upon Nokia's Series 40 software.

"Today's mobile phone users want a quick Internet experience that allows them to discover great content and share it with their friends--but without being held back by high data costs," Mary McDowell, Nokia's executive vice president of mobile phones, said in a statement.

The need for the company to take urgent action to stop any further decline in developing markets came after Nokia revealed that unit sales of its low-end handsets had plunged 16 per cent in the first quarter of 2012.

Commenting on the new handsets, Geoff Blaber, analyst at CCS Insight, told Reuters: "These products are critical for Nokia to maintain traction in the face of mounting competition from Samsung and the Chinese rivals. Nokia's Series 40 platform is under attack from all sides. Full touch support is a must if Nokia is to fend off the challenge from aggressively priced Android devices."

Nokia began introducing dual-SIM devices for emerging markets in the second quarter of 2011. Since then, the company has introduced its Asha sub-brand to appeal to consumers, especially young ones, in emerging markets.

For more:
- see this Nokia statement
- see this Reuters article
- see this Dow Jones Newswires article

Report: Vodafone mulls European shakeup

Wed, 16 May 2012 11:47:07 -0400

The departure of Vodafone's European head, Michel Combes, could trigger a dramatic reshaping of the company's European operations, according to a Bloomberg report. The report, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, claim that the decision by Combes to become head of SFR could lead to Vodafone separating its European subsidiaries into Western and Eastern entities.

Colao

Any reorganisation, which is said to be at an early stage, could see Vodafone divide its operations into three large units: Western Europe, Eastern Europe (comprising Turkey and its Central and Eastern European properties) and a third unit that would include the company's assets in southern Africa and India.

Will Draper, an analyst at Espirito Santo Investment Bank in London, told Bloomberg that Vodafone's Italian head Paolo Bertoluzzo and Serpil Timuray, the CEO of Vodafone Turkey, as internal execs that could take on greater responsibilities, together with Michael Joseph, the former CEO of Vodafone's Kenyan subsidiary who is now director of global payments.

After Combes's departure, "any person who fills that similar position has the potential to move to a bigger role," Guy Peddy, an analyst at Macquarie Securities in London told Bloomberg. "That's the opportunity that's now been provided."

Of note, Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao said last week that it Turkish unit, which had the fastest growth in service revenue last quarter over any other market, doesn't fit within the current structure "I cannot put it either in mature and sophisticated Europe or in emerging markets because it is at the same time sophisticated and emerging," Colao said when asked how he viewed the Turkish market.

"I have to say in this sense it's clearly an engine for growth, it's also a sophisticated market and so in that sense it's also a European market," he told Bloomberg.

For more:
- see this Bloomberg article

LG intros new UI for Android; T-Mobile launches B2B service plans

Wed, 16 May 2012 11:18:14 -0400

Quick news from around the Web.

@FierceWireless: What was the biggest winner at the #CTIA Wireless 2012 show? Poll #ctiaw12 #ctia12 | Follow@FierceWireless

> LG announced a new Android user interface for its Optimus phones. Article

> Hewlett-Packard said it sold its AppSystem for the SAP HANA database and related services to T-Mobile USA. Article

> T-Mobile USA's new Small Business Productivity Plan goes for $99.98 per month and includes unlimited data, talk and text plus overage-free 5 GB Mobile Broadband service with a two-year agreement. Release

> Apple defended Siri's performance in a class-action lawsuit. Article

> Gartner said worldwide mobile phone sales declined 2 percent in the first quarter of 2012. Release

> According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple could release an iPhone with a larger screen. Article (sub. req.)

> Sprint Nextel shareholders voted to re-elect Dan Hesse. Article

> Sprint reportedly plans to further tighten its upgrade policy. Post (reg. req.)

> China Mobile is in talks with Apple for the iPhone. Article

> Virgin Atlantic rolled out an in-flight cell phone service. Article

Mobile Content News

> A month after acquiring photo-sharing application Instagram for $1 billion, Facebook has scooped up the similar Lightbox. Article

> U.S. smartphone owners now average 41 applications per device, up 28 percent from the 2011 average of 32 apps, according to new data from Nielsen. Article

> Mobile social gaming powerhouse Zynga is committed to acquiring new talent and startups, a key company executive said, indicating Zynga will continue its buying streak. Article

And finally... According to a new survey, nearly half of all iPhone users would buy an Apple iTV. Release

HTC's One X and Evo 4G LTE get held up at customs

Wed, 16 May 2012 10:47:32 -0400

HTC's smartphone troubles appear to be worsening. The company acknowledged that U.S. customs officials are reviewing two of its new flagship devices, the One X for AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) and the Evo 4G LTE for Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S), to ensure that the devices comply with an exclusion order issued in December by the U.S. International Trade Commission. The ITC ruled then that HTC had violated an Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) patent, which covers the ability to convert clicking on phone numbers and email addresses into actionable links on smartphones. HTC said it was developing a workaround to the patent for its phones. "The U.S. availability of the HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE has been delayed due to a standard U.S. customs review of shipments that is required after an ITC exclusion order," HTC said in a statement. "We believe we are in compliance with the ruling and HTC is working closely with customs to secure approval. The HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE have been received enthusiastically by customers and we appreciate their patience as we work to get these products into their hands as soon as possible." Article

FCC presses Verizon for details on proposed 700 MHz spectrum sale

Wed, 16 May 2012 10:35:54 -0400

The FCC pressed Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) for more details on its proposed sale of Lower 700 MHz A and B Block spectrum, which Verizon has said is contingent on the carrier getting regulatory approval to buy more attractive nationwide AWS spectrum from cable companies.

In a letter to John Scott, Verizon Wireless' general counsel, Rick Kaplan, the chief of the FCC's wireless bureau, asked pointed questions about why Verizon has now chosen to potentially give up the 700 MHz spectrum it spent billions of dollars on in 2008. In the letter, Kaplan noted that Verizon's Lower A and B Block spectrum covers around 175 million POPs, but that as of January 2012 Verizon had not deployed the spectrum (Verizon's existing LTE network, using 700 MHz Upper C Block spectrum, covers two-thirds of the U.S population).

Kaplan noted that Verizon's Lower A and B Block licenses have buildout requirements that mandate coverage to 35 percent of the licensed geographic areas by mid-2013. "What steps to date, if any, has Verizon Wireless taken to deploy mobile services using the Lower 700 MHz A of B block licenses (either or both)?" Kaplan asked. "On what timetable has Verizon Wireless been planning to deploy mobile service in these Lower 700 MHz blocks?" Kaplan also asked for Verizon's assessment of the challenges of deploying Lower 700 MHz A Block spectrum.

Additionally, Kaplan asked Verizon about the relevance of the sale of the Lower A and B Block spectrum to the FCC's review of Verizon's planned $3.9 billion purchase of AWS spectrum from cable companies. Kaplan also asked Verizon what steps it took to sell the Lower A and B Block spectrum before announcing its plans last month to do so, and if Verizon will abandon plans to sell the spectrum if the FCC does not approve Verizon's purchase of all of the AWS spectrum licenses.

Verizon declined to comment on the letter, according to multiple reports.

In December, Verizon agreed to pay $3.6 billion for the nationwide AWS spectrum licenses held by SpectrumCo, a joint venture of cable companies Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. Separately, Verizon said it will buy Cox Communication's 20 MHz of AWS spectrum covering 28 million POPs for $315 million. All of the deals include the option of Verizon reselling cable services and cable companies reselling Verizon service. The cable companies can also become MVNOs of Verizon.

For more:
- see this FCC letter (PDF)
- see this Reuters article
- see this GigaOM article
- see this Bloomberg article

Report: Google to expand Nexus device program to multiple OEMs

Wed, 16 May 2012 10:08:50 -0400

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) plans to give multiple Android device vendors early access to the next version of its operating system as it expands its Nexus device program and tries to husband more control over the devices from carriers, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The report, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, said Google may expand its Nexus program--previously reserved for one OEM to build a "lead" device with the latest Android software--to as many as five vendors. Google plans to sell the devices, including smartphones and tablets, to consumers in the U.S., Europe and Asia through its website and potentially through retailers, the report said. The devices will run the next version of Android, codenamed Jelly Bean.

Google declined to comment, according to the Journal.

Interestingly, the report also noted that the expansion of the Nexus program is being done to temper the concerns of other OEMs that Google might favor Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI) over other vendors once Google's $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola officially closes. Google has said Android will remain an open platform once the deal closes, and the new model could allow Google to give Motorola and other OEMs a leg up at the same time.

The report follows a separate Journal report from March that said Google is going to sell co-branded Android tablets directly to consumers later this year via an online store.

The last two Nexus smartphones have been made by Samsung Electronics. Motorola produced the first tablet running Android and HTC produced the Nexus One, the first Nexus smartphone. Google's new Nexus strategy could potentially benefit other Android OEMs such as LG Electronics and Sony Mobile Communications that are struggling to keep pace with Samsung.

Additionally, since the new devices will be sold unlocked without carrier contracts, the plan could allow Google to bypass wireless carries even more, something that it has tried to do with middling success in th United States. Carriers have subsidized smartphones heavily in the U.S. market in return for customers signing up for two-year contracts.

Last month Google began selling an unlocked, HSPA+ version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone via its online Google Play store for $399, marking a return to direct Android smartphone sales for the mobile search giant. The device works on the GSM networks of networks of AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) and T-Mobile USA; currently Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) and Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) sell CDMA-LTE versions of the Galaxy Nexus for $199.99 with a two-year contract.

The strategy is similar to the one Google employed to sell its Nexus One smartphone. The HTC-made, Google-branded device went on sale online from Google in January 2010 and was intended to be a showcase of the latest Android software at the time, 2.1, or Eclair. However, Google, HTC and T-Mobile USA, the carrier Google partnered with for the device, faced criticism from customers who were unsatisfied with the level of customer service they received, and unsure of which company to approach for customer service. Google shuttered the Nexus One online store after five months.

For more:
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)
- see this Wired article
- see this CNET article
- see this Computerworld article

Related Articles:
Google to sell unlocked HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus for $399
Report: Google, Motorola still unsure how to integrate
Report: Google to sell its own co-branded tablets to consumers
Google's Schmidt: Nexus One was a success
Google shutters Nexus One direct sales channel
Is it game over for Google's direct-to-consumer Nexus One plans?

AT&T, U.S. Cellular buying 700 MHz licenses for LTE

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:48:16 -0400

In separate transactions, AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) and U.S. Cellular are looking to purchase 700 MHz licenses, mainly from Cox Communications. Terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Pending FCC approval, AT&T is hoping to buy eight Lower 700 MHz B Block licenses from Cox covering areas on the East Coast, including cities in Florida and Virginia. Cox paid around $28 million for the licenses during the FCC's 700 MHz spectrum auction in 2008. An AT&T spokesman declined to say how much the carrier paid for the spectrum.

"The entire industry is focused in ensuring there is enough spectrum to meet surging customer demand for mobile Internet users," wrote AT&T spokesman Steven Schwadron in an email to FierceWireless. "AT&T's purchase of the 700 MHz licenses will support our continued deployment of 4G LTE services and is consistent with our strategy to pursue additional spectrum to support a great mobile Internet and voice experience for our customers."

Separately, U.S. Cellular purchased four Lower 700 MHz A Block licenses from Cox covering mainly locations in Kansas. Cox paid around $30 million for the licenses during the FCC's 2008 auction.

"USCC plans to use the acquired spectrum to develop its ‘fourth generation' LTE facilities," U.S. Cellular said in its FCC filing. A U.S. Cellular representative declined to answer further questions on the topic.

Finally, in another separate transaction, AT&T purchased four Lower 700 MHz C Block licenses from Peoples Telephone Cooperative covering locations mainly in Texas. AT&T said it would use the spectrum for its LTE services.

The spectrum transactions, taken together, reflect a number of notable trends in the U.S. wireless industry. First, they represent AT&T and U.S. Cellular's continuing spectrum needs. Both carriers are building out LTE networks and both have said they will need additional radio waves to meet demand.

Indeed, U.S. Cellular has said it would be interested in purchasing the 700 MHz Lower A and B Block spectrum Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) has said it would sell if the FCC approves its purchase of spectrum from cable companies. (In December, Verizon agreed to pay $3.6 billion for the nationwide AWS spectrum licenses held by SpectrumCo, a joint venture of cable companies Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. That transaction is still awaiting FCC approval.)

Second, the spectrum deals represent the further withdrawal of Cox from the wireless market. The company purchased AWS and 700 MHz spectrum licenses covering much of its wired footprint and had begun constructing a wireless network, but ultimately gave up that effort and has been selling off its spectrum licenses since. In December, Verizon said it would buy Cox's 20 MHz of AWS spectrum covering 28 million POPs for $315 million.

For more:
- see these two AT&T-Cox FCC filings (PDF)
- see this U.S. Cellular-Cox filing (PDF)
- see these two AT&T-Peoples filings (PDF)

Article updated May 16 with comments from AT&T.

T-Mobile plans 900 more job cuts

Tue, 15 May 2012 14:50:33 -0400

T-Mobile USA will continue with its restructuring, which will lead to 900 more job cuts at the nation's No. 4 carrier, according to a memo that T-Mobile CEO Philipp Humm sent to employees.

The memo, obtained by The Verge, was confirmed in a separate statement that T-Mobile sent to FierceWireless and other media outlets. A T-Mobile spokeswoman confirmed to FierceWireless that a net total of 900 jobs will be lost, noting that some jobs will be eliminated, some outsourced and some created as a result of the changes within the company.

In the memo to employees, Humm said the company is moving to "a new structure that further aligns our costs with our revenue realities, enables teams who support our field organization to act and react with greater speed and effectiveness to customer and market opportunities, and better positions us to return to growth."

He said that the new structure "required difficult decisions that will impact some of our employees," and that the company will be reaching out this week to individual employees whose teams are affected. "Changes will include some position eliminations and changes to individual roles and responsibilities," Humm said in the memo. "It is important to emphasize these impacts to employees result from business decisions. We have tremendous employees here at T-Mobile and we truly wish we could retain all our talent, but our business realities require hard choices."

T-Mobile announced a net loss of 1,900 jobs in March to consolidate the number of its call centers around the country from 24 down to 17. At the time, the carrier also said it would restructure other parts of its business by the end of May. The company did not specify what those changes might be, but at the time a T-Mobile spokesman told FierceWireless that the planned changes will not affect customer service representatives in the remaining 17 calls center, network technicians and engineers or front-line employees at T-Mobile's branded retail stores.

Humm said the new structure will allow the company to focus on future growth, including "modernizing our network to LTE, repositioning the T-Mobile brand and aggressively pursuing the B2B segment where we plan to add 1,000 positions over the next few years."

Parent company Deutsche Telekom plans to spend up to $4 billion upgrading T-Mobile's network. Speaking at the 40th Annual J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, Deutsche Telekom CFO Timotheus Höttges said the company would be able to stand on its own as it transitions to LTE next year, and would not need to partner or merge with another carrier. However, he also noted that the carrier plans to cut $900 million in costs, though he did not give a specific timeframe for the cuts. He said T-Mobile might reinvest some of that money into the business.

For more:
- see this The Verge article
- see this Seattle Times article
- see this AllThingsD article

Related Articles:
DT CFO: T-Mobile USA can stand alone
T-Mobile to axe 1,900 jobs, close seven call centers
Report: Deutsche Telekom may try to merge T-Mobile with MetroPCS
Report: Sprint board nixes MetroPCS acquisition at the last minute
T-Mobile takes aim at AT&T's iPhone in new ad campaign
T-Mobile: Prepaid 'has doubled over the past year'

SFR plans to fight subscriber declines with low-cost offers

Tue, 15 May 2012 12:20:49 -0400

SFR is planning radical action to counter the success of Iliad's Free Mobile after losing 620,000 customers in its first-quarter. SFR, the second largest operator in France, is looking to regain market share by launching new low-cost services.

While Vivendi, SFR's parent company, reported better than expected first-quarter profits at €823 million--compared to a €765 million net profit estimated by a poll of analyst conducted by Bloomberg--the company said that the ongoing price war within the mobile sector will drag profits down in the coming quarters. This outlook has prompted SFR to rush out two new services aimed at regaining the initiative in the low-cost sector.

Frank Cadoret, SFR's marketing director, told Reuters that the company will launch its new low-cost "Buzz Mobile" service in early June targeted at people who want cheap international calls. The exec also confirmed that SFR willadd a budget mobile broadband offer to its existing cut-price "Red" offering to better compete with Free Mobile.

"Our low-cost Red offers have signed up 200,000 customers so far and today we think this low-cost segment accounts for some 16 per cent of customers overall," Cadoret told Reuters. "But it is only going to get bigger from here and could reach up to 30 per cent or more. So SFR will have to be very active in the low-cost market. We're going to take steps in terms of distribution and branding."

But these plans for new and revamped services have been overshadowed by reports that SFR is planning to slash operating expenses by €450 million this year through job loses--rumoured to be around 500--together with cuts to marketing budgets and call centres, according to Bloomberg.

The Financial Times reported that Vivendi would be making "drastic and structural changes" at SFR and implementing "significant cost-cutting programmes."

Cadoret also opened the door to Orange and Bouygues Telecom by suggesting SFR was willing to sign network sharing deals with its rivals to reduce the cost of deploying LTE. "We are open to anything that allows us to bring costs down," Cadoret told Reuters, adding that no specific talks had yet begun.

Separately, Thomas Reynaud, the CFO of Free Mobile parent Iliad, told the Wall Street Journal that its mobile customer base is still growing at a "sustainable rhythm," adding that Free Mobile has a medium-to-long-term goal of winning 15 per cent to 25 per cent of the mobile market. Free Mobile attracted 2.6 million customers in less than months, around 3.8 per cent of the total French mobile market.

"Don't believe this is the end of the story of Free Mobile," Reynaud said. "This is just the beginning."

For more:
- see this Bloomberg article
- see this Reuters article
- see this Financial Times article (reg. req.)
- see this Wall Street Journal article (sub.req.)

DT CFO: T-Mobile USA can stand alone

Tue, 15 May 2012 12:18:56 -0400

Declaring that parent company Deutsche Telekom has a plan to move T-Mobile USA forward as it transitions to LTE, Deutsche Telekom CFO Timotheus Höttges said the carrier is "not a problem" for the company.

Speaking at the 40th Annual J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, he said that in the aftermath of AT&T's (NYSE:T) failed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile, DT took the $6 billion breakup fee, including AWS spectrum in 128 markets, and developed a path forward.

"There's always a perception that if these guys are selling an asset it must be a problem child," Höttges said. "It is not a problem for us. And that is due to the fact that we have a clear path toward LTE. It is definitely a big opportunity in the marketplace."

The DT CFO said that the $1.4 billion the company will spend this year and next year to upgrade T-Mobile's network--and the $4 billion in investments over time--will be all "self-funding" and come from cash flow T-Mobile generates in the United States. He said at the end of the network upgrade, T-Mobile will have 2X10 MHz channels for LTE in almost every one of its markets, which he said will give the company a strong spectrum position through 2017 or 2018.

"There is no need for us to enter into any kind of deal at this point in time," he said, seemingly throwing cold water on the speculation that DT might try and merge T-Mobile with prepaid player MetroPCS (NYSE:PCS). "We have cash flow. We are investing $4 billion."

Höttges noted that T-Mobile has started implementing a challenger strategy on pricing, and that the prepaid market has grown significantly even as the postpaid business has suffered. However, he noted that the market for Android smartphones is growing, that T-Mobile has a largely unloaded HSPA+ network with fiber backhaul, and that "we could really play with this capacity."

He also said as part of the company's rebranding it will "approach the market with new propositions," especially for small and medium businesses. He also said T-Mobile will cut $900 million in costs, which could then be partially reinvested in the business.

T-Mobile plans to deploy LTE on its AWS spectrum. As part of its network upgrade, by the end of 2012 T-Mobile will deploy HSPA+ services in its PCS 1900 MHz spectrum band, which it is currently using for 2G GSM services (the carrier's HSPA+ network currently runs on T-Mobile's 1700 MHz AWS spectrum). The company said it will continue to support 2G customers as it refarms the spectrum. T-Mobile said network modernization trials have shown a 33 percent improvement in HSPA+ data speeds and in-building signal penetration.

Due to the refarming, T-Mobile has said that in the fourth quarter unlocked Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhones on its network will get HSPA+ 1900 MHz support. Currently, customers who bring unlocked iPhones to T-Mobile can only get 2G EDGE data speeds, since the iPhone does not support T-Mobile's 1700 MHz AWS spectrum.

Höttges said that T-Mobile's forthcoming LTE network, which will run on its AWS spectrum, will be supported by major chipset makers. The carrier has been somewhat hobbled by its HSPA network on its AWS spectrum since some manufacturers--mainly Apple--do not support it. Thus, Höttges said T-Mobile could get an LTE iPhone in 2013.

"We hope that we would get a decent portion without being forced into a huge volume commitment. That is something we cannot afford," he said. "We hope that we can help grow Apple's business in the U.S. without a different chipset."

For more:
- see this webcast

Majority of mobile game developers struggle to make money

Tue, 15 May 2012 10:38:52 -0400

Mobile game developers are competing in one of the most difficult of all mobile application markets. Although the mobile game market is full of promise, it does not offer financial success to the vast majority of developers. The market is also entering a period of change, which will intensify competition. Mobile games are played by 101 million people in the United States, according to a recent study by Newzoo. Worldwide, the revenues are substantial. Juniper Research recently projected that the global mobile games market will be worth $18.3 billion by 2016. While some companies such as Rovio and Zynga have struck it rich, that type of success is the exception rather than the rule, as most game developers struggle to make meaningful revenues. Special Report

Rumor Mill: Apple already pulling back on iPhone production ahead of refresh

Tue, 15 May 2012 10:35:12 -0400

Wall Street's consensus for Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone shipments for the second quarter is too high, according to Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu, and he said he thinks he knows why: Apple is already preparing its suppliers to transition to production of the next-generation iPhone.

Click here for Apple's quarterly iPhone and iPad shipments since 2007.

In a research note, Wu wrote that he has picked up from supplier checks that Apple's production plans for current iPhones have been "reduced significantly." He wrote that production is down 20 to 25 percent from the 35.1 million units Apple sold in the March quarter. "This means potential shipments of 26-28 million, which is below consensus closer to 30-31 million," he wrote. He said that the reason for the reduction is not related to consumer demand "but rather due to the upcoming 6th generation iPhone refresh likely in the September-October timeframe."

"It appears that AAPL is opting to be conservative with its suppliers to factor in a potential two-quarter pause ahead of the refresh and also to manage inventory," he wrote. "We believe this helps explain why its June quarter guidance was somewhat more conservative. We would also like to note that consensus last year grossly underestimated the impact of a pause and inventory drawdown ahead of the iPhone 4S refresh where estimates were significantly off." However, Wu increased his forecast for quarterly iPad shipments from 14 million to 15 million, and wrote that the addition of another HD screen supplier has helped Apple meet iPad demand.

An Apple spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

During the company's fiscal second-quarter earnings conference call, Apple CEO Tim Cook explained that the company's iPhone 4S enjoyed a "huge January" during the company's second quarter, largely due to the gadget going on sale in locations including China. The company was able to meet much of that demand, Cook said, which means the company now expects slowing iPhones sales in the coming months. One analyst in late April estimated Apple would sell fully 10 million fewer iPhones during its upcoming quarter than it did in its most recent quarter.

For more:
- see this Barron's blog post
- see this Fortune article
- see this CNET article

LG Optimus Elite lands at Virgin Mobile; Voyager Mobile launch delayed

Tue, 15 May 2012 10:28:58 -0400

Quick news from around the Web.

@FierceWireless: @inafried FYI, it looks like Voyager Mobile is postponing its launch. Release --PG | Follow@FierceWireless

> Time Warner Cable is reportedly eliminating its Roadrunner brand. Article

> Cricket provider Leap Wireless is adding 6 million more songs to its Muve Music service. Article

> Nokia introduced two new low-end phones, the Nokia 110 and the Nokia 112. Article

> A Samsung executive said the company landed "huge" orders for flexible OLED screens. Article

> Verizon Wireless will expand LTE coverage to 28 more markets on May 17. Release

> Voyager Mobile is the nation's latest low-cost MVNO, and was founded by a 22-year-old college student. Article

> According to new figures, Android smartphones commanded a global market share of 59 percent and an installed base of 331 million devices. Release

> Best Buy's founder and chairman said he will resign. Article (sub. req.)

> Research In Motion let slip its BlackBerry 10 home screen. Article

> Cassidian, an EADS company, and Alcatel-Lucent said they will launch a new solution called Evercor, based on 4G LTE technology, for the public safety, energy and transport industries. Release

> The LG Optimus Elite will arrive at Virgin Mobile today. Release

Mobile Content News

> Gameloft is predicting increasing revenues in its second quarter. Article

> Apple reportedly is planning to upgrade to iCloud by including photo-sharing features. Article (sub. req.)

> Facebook is revamping its News Feed for mobile devices, rolling out a redesign featuring larger photos and easier-to-read posts. Article

> American Express introduced My Offers, a mobile deals platform that recommends and ranks merchant offers based on a consumer's spending history and location. Article

> Millennial Media reported net losses of $4 million in the first quarter of 2012. Article

> More than 70 percent of mobile users pay little to nothing for mobile apps. Article

Mobile Developer News

> Android 4.0 development standards help designers embrace the platform. Industry Voices

> A new study from comScore identified the top apps accessed by iOS and Android customers and found that the two audiences have very dissimilar usage characteristics. Article

And finally... Nokia said Apple rigged Siri to name the iPhone as the world's best smartphone. Article

Leap to expand LTE coverage to up to 65M POPs by 2014

Tue, 15 May 2012 09:36:42 -0400

Cricket provider Leap Wireless (NASDAQ:LEAP) plans to expand its LTE network coverage from 20-25 million POPs by the end of this year to 60-65 million POPs by the end of 2013 or early 2014, according to Leap CEO Doug Hutcheson.

Hutcheson

Speaking at the 40th Annual J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, Hutcheson said the flat-rate carrier is on track with its LTE launch and that the company has no plans to pull back capital expenditures for LTE. He also said that LTE smartphone pricing may start to come down for consumers later this year but that will happen more into 2013. Leap plans to release two LTE devices in the fourth quarter. Leap's rival MetroPCS (NYSE:PCS) plans to launch LTE smartphones in the $99-$149 range later this year in a bid to drive more customers to LTE.

Hutcheson said that as more customers migrate to LTE, Leap will be able to refarm spectrum it currently uses for its CDMA services. Leap owns mainly AWS spectrum but also PCS spectrum.

Interestingly, Hutcheson said that he thinks Leap has enough spectrum for the next three years as it transitions to LTE. Over the next few years Leap also plans to deploy LTE on the Lower 700 MHz A Block spectrum it received from Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) in a spectrum swap announced in November; that spectrum covers around 11 million POPs in the Chicago metro area.

The Leap chief said his company will press the FCC on the need for data roaming agreements for LTE, and said over the next few years he expects roaming agreements for LTE to be established along similar lines as they were for 3G networks.

Leap in 2010 inked an MVNO deal with Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) that allows Leap to sell its services nationwide. In March Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR) and Leap signed a five-year wholesale agreement that will allow Leap to buy capacity on Clearwire's forthcoming TD-LTE network, which Clearwire expects to launch by June 2013.

For more:
- see this webcast

Related Articles:
Leap: We're evaluating Windows Phone 8 devices
Leap to overhaul service pricing plans in 2nd half of 2012
Leap's Cricket expands national retail presence to Target stores
Leap CEO advocates network sharing, says in 5 years consumers will use 50 GB per month
Leap CEO touts network sharing as a solution to spectrum shortages
Clearwire inks wholesale LTE deal with Leap

Study: Tablets generate triple the data traffic of smartphones

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:01:46 -0400

Mobile operators may want to carefully monitor the number of tablet users they have using their wireless network. According to a new study from video optimization firm Bytemobile, tablet users drive three times more mobile data traffic than smartphone users. According to the study, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad users browse 33 Web pages per session, generating about 160 percent more mobile Web usage per session than iPhone users.

The Bytemobile report noted that operators might want to watch this trend, particularly as adoption of tablets by both consumers and enterprises accelerates. Forrester Research estimates one-third of U.S adults will own a tablet by 2016. Of course, not all those tablets will necessarily be connected to the cellular network.

The Bytemobile report also provided some interesting insights into consumer mobile video usage. The report found that YouTube is the most frequently visited source for mobile video and YouTube sessions are longer than other video sessions. For example a YouTube session typically lasts for 8.5 minutes while a Vevo session lasts just over eight minutes.

The company also found that slower networks result in lower resolution video. On average a mobile network with a bit rate of 300 Kbps delivers 74 percent of requested videos at 240p resolution. Anna Yong, product marketing manager of Bytemobile's Mobile Analytics, said that this stat is important because it shows that consumers on slower speed networks will get lower quality video, which may indicate need for carriers to consider optimization or caching technologies to help improve quality.

Bytemobile compiles its analytics report quarterly from anonymous sources within the company's 3G and 4G wireless operator customer base.

For more:
- see this release

Sprint gets top marks in annual customer satisfaction survey

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:01:29 -0400

Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) topped the charts in terms of customer satisfaction, according to a new report from the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Sprint's score of 71 nudged it just ahead of Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ), which scored a 70 on a 100-point scale. Both carriers recorded scores of 72 in last year's ACSI survey.

While Verizon's score has been relatively constant since 2007 (rising to 74 in 2009 before dipping down to 70 in 2012), Sprint's score represents a dramatic improvement from 2008, when it had an all-time-low score of 56. Sprint received scores of 63 in 2009 and 70 in 2010 before hitting 72 in 2011. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse continually points to the company's improvement in customer care as one of the carrier's signature achievements since he took over in late 2007 from Gary Forsee.

Overall customer satisfaction with the nation's wireless carriers dipped slightly in 2012 compared with a survey in 2011, according to the survey--though smaller carriers outpaced the Tier 1 operators. Overall customer satisfaction with wireless carriers fell slightly to 70, down from 71 in 2011. However, Tier 2 and Tier 3 carriers, including the likes of U.S. Cellular and MVNO TracFone, achieved a score of 76, according to the report.

The ACSI was founded in 1994 by the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. The ACSI uses data from interviews with roughly 70,000 customers annually as inputs to an econometric model for measuring customer satisfaction with more than 225 companies in 47 industries and 10 economic sectors, as well as over 100 services, programs, and websites of federal government agencies. The survey also covers consumers' attitudes about handsets, fixed-line phone service, subscription TV service, computer software and information and entertainment choices.

AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T), which was mired in discussions over its failed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA last year, saw its score shoot up to 69 from 66 in 2011, which had been its lowest since 2006, before the carrier's launch of the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone. T-Mobile also scored a 69 in the 2012 survey, down from 71 in 2011.

David VanAmburg, managing director of the ACSI, noted that while Sprint continues to lead in customer satisfaction, the gap between top and bottom is very narrow, as only 2 points separates Sprint from laggards AT&T and T-Mobile. He said overall customer satisfaction with the largest wireless telephone companies is below average for service-based industries.

"AT&T makes a significant move to within striking distance of the industry lead, a combination of improving service and some evening out of the bandwidth burden now that Verizon and Sprint also offer the iPhone," he said. "The big customer satisfaction challenge for wireless carriers remains how to keep up with rapid growth as more customers adopt cell phone services, and especially as the smartphone market and its bandwidth-eating data plans expands, while at the same time improving the reliability of service."

The new report comes amid the backdrop of cuts that carriers are making to their customer care centers. T-Mobile USA said in late March it would cut 1,900 jobs as it moves to consolidate the number of its call centers around the country from 24 down to 17. However, the nation's No. 4 carrier said it would begin hiring immediately at the remaining 17 call centers and expects to fill as many as 1,400 positions, resulting in 1,900 net jobs lost.

Similarly, Verizon said in March that it would close a handful of call centers across the country in a move that could affect up to 3,175 jobs.

For more:
- see this release

LightSquared files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:57:26 -0400

LightSquared filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after reports had indicated that the company would do so amid disagreements with its creditors.

The company, which has been backed by hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, had until 5 p.m. Eastern Time Monday to work out an arrangement with creditors. Apparently, those talks collapsed and LightSquared filed for protection from creditors with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. It listed more than $1 billion in assets and liabilities.

Harbinger, headed by Philip Falcone, sunk more than $3 billion into LightSquared with the intention of building a wholesale LTE network. The FCC in February revoked a conditional waiver for LightSquared to build a wholesale LTE network due to GPS interference concerns related to the 1.6 GHz L-band spectrum that LightSquared intended to employ. LightSquared has been battling to stay afloat ever since. Falcone said in early April that he was "seriously considering" putting LightSquared into bankruptcy. LightSquared has also hinted it may sue the FCC.

Last week LightSquared received a second weeklong extension from creditors, including Carl Icahn, Andrew Beal and David Tepper. The creditors had earlier given Falcone a deadline of April 30 to revisit a waiver to avoid a default. They had also pushed for Falcone to step aside as the public face of LightSquared and for LightSquared to be overseen by an independent board that would not include Falcone. Unsecured LightSquared creditors include Boeing, which LightSquared owes $7 million, and Alcatel Lucent, which LightSquared owes $7 million.

"Today's filing was not an option the company embraced quickly or easily, but it was necessary to protect LightSquared against creditors who were looking for a quick profit, as opposed to our goal to create long-term market competition, job creation, and the promise of wireless connectivity for every American," Falcone said Monday in a statement, according to the Wall Street Journal.

LightSquared said in a statement that the bankruptcy filing will give it "breathing room" to fight the FCC's decision while continuign to move forward on its network plans.

Icahn sold $250 million in LightSquared debt holdings on May 3 for about 60 cents on the dollar, according to a May 6 report from Reuters. The Reuters article indicated that Icahn made money on the sale, as he had paid roughly 40 cents on the dollar to acquire the debt months ago.

For more:
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)
- see this Washington Post article
- see this Bloomberg article
- see this Reuters article
- see this The Hill article
- see this CNET article

Related Articles:
LiqhtSquared may veer into bankruptcy today, Dish's role a question mark
Dish's Ergen: We have enough spectrum for wireless biz
LightSquared: Icahn sells holdings, company keeps battling default
Report: Creditors want to push Falcone out as face of LightSquared
LightSquared to pay Inmarsat $56.3M, delays further payments until 2014
Lawmakers press FCC to give LightSquared new spectrum
Rumor Mill: LightSquared nearing bankruptcy

Article updated May 15 with additional statements from Falcone and LightSquared.

RCA abandons handset exclusivity fight in favor of 700 MHz interoperability

Mon, 14 May 2012 11:02:12 -0400

The Rural Cellular Association said it is no longer asking the FCC to investigate handset exclusivity arrangements between OEMs and Tier 1 carriers. Instead, the RCA said it would focus on the FCC's open proceeding exploring interoperability in the Lower 700 MHz band. Handset exclusivity was an issue that got a great deal of attention in 2008 and 2009, but it has since faded in importance--especially after more and more carriers got access to Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone. In a filing posted Friday with the FCC, the RCA said that while device exclusivity continues to "harm competition and impede the ability of wireless carriers to compete with AT&T and Verizon," the FCC's 700 MHz proceeding opened a window of opportunity. "Importantly, ensuring interoperability also will have a positive impact on the availability of cutting-edge devices that consumers demand and that competitive carriers require to compete effectively with the largest super-carriers, because the absence of interoperability has been a significant impediment (along with exclusivity) in smaller carriers' ability to obtain access to the latest handsets," the RCA wrote. Filing

Carriers set to turn on emergency alert system

Mon, 14 May 2012 10:55:04 -0400

All major U.S. carriers will begin using a new emergency alert system later this month that wireless operators and federal agencies rallied around last year.

"Wireless carriers representing more than 97 percent of subscribers voluntarily agreed to develop and offer free, geographically targeted wireless emergency alerts," CTIA spokeswoman Amy Storey told USA Today.

The system, called Wireless Emergency Alert system, will allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to deliver warning messages to wireless networks from the president of the United States, the National Weather Service and state and local emergency operations centers. The system also supports AMBER alerts for missing children. Customers will receive the warnings when their phones are enabled with special chipsets and software and the warnings are sent based upon geolocation. The system is based on a series of protocols called the Commercial Mobile Alert System , or CMAS, which will provide an interface to participating carriers for delivery of critical alert information to mobile phones.

Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) enabled its network to support the system last November. Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ), AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T), T-Mobile USA, U.S. Cellular, Cricket provider Leap Wireless (NASDAQ:LEAP) and Cellcom also support the WEA system.

"These text alerts will be very brief, under 90 characters," National Weather Service spokeswoman Susan Buchanan told USA Today, "and are intended to prompt people to immediately seek additional information through the wide range of weather alert communications available to them, such as the Internet, television, radio or NOAA Weather Radio."

Only users within the affected areas will receive the alerts, and subscribers can opt out of all alerts except those sent by the president. The alerts will be routed through local cell towers, and will be accompanied by a unique signal and vibration.

For more:
- see this USA Today article
- see this Phone Scoop article
- see this The Verge article

Related Articles:
Verizon teams with TeleCommunication Systems to offer SMS-to-911 services
Sprint enables new SMS emergency alert system
FCC, wireless carriers team up on SMS emergency alerts
SMS to 911? Wireless industry split over future of emergency texting
Verizon's 911 service fails, FCC asks for answers
Pinpointing wireless 911 calls remains tricky

Article updated May 14 to reflect that the Wireless Emergency Alert system is not an SMS-based system.

Clearwire: Our LTE Advanced network will be able to hit 168 Mbps

Mon, 14 May 2012 10:43:11 -0400

WiMAX provider Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR), which plans to deploy an LTE Advanced-ready network by June 2013, will be able to deliver theoretical peak speeds of up to 168 Mbps by 2014, according to CTO John Saw.

Saw

Saw told GigaOM that Clearwire plans to use carrier aggregation technology in its forthcoming TD-LTE network to meld together it spectrum holdings into 40 MHz-wide channels. Such a configuration would give Clearwire spectrum channels that would be twice as wide (2 X 10 MHz--i.e. 20 MHz) as the FDD LTE channels being deployed by Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T). (However, Verizon and AT&T's 700 MHz spectrum has much better propagation characteristics than Clearwire' 2.5 GHz spectrum).

Saw that the carrier aggregation technology will not be in commercial products until 2014. "We're going to start with 20 MHz carriers," he said. "When carrier aggregation comes along we will go to 40 MHz, which will essentially leave the competition in the dust."

It should be noted that AT&T has openly talked about using carrier aggregation as well. AT&T has said it will deploy LTE Advanced technology in 2013 and plans to eventually use carrier aggregation technology to glue together the 700 MHz spectrum it spent $1.93 billion acquiring from Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) with its existing AWS, 1900 MHz or 850 MHz spectrum holdings. AT&T has said it will cost an additional $1 billion to $2 billion to integrate Qualcomm's spectrum with its own.

For carriers, carrier aggregation technology holds potentially large benefits. By bonding non-contiguous spectrum into a single, wider channel, carriers can address the asymmetry of data flows between downlink and uplink channels. The data traffic that is growing the fastest is video, and it is asymmetrical traffic. As such, carrier aggregation helps operators efficiently manage these downlink flows.

For more:
- see this GigaOM article

Related Articles:
Clearwire, Qualcomm team up on multi-mode LTE chipsets
Clearwire to launch 5K TD-LTE hotspots in 31 markets by June 2013
Clearwire: Usage on our network increased 705% year-over-year
Clearwire boosts stock offerings, could use cash for super-fast TD-LTE
AT&T, Qualcomm demo carrier aggregation technology for the FCC
Carrier aggregation: How AT&T will use Qualcomm's MediaFLO spectrum to double LTE speeds

Sprint deploys Amdocs; Nvidia, Intellectual Ventures purchase 500 patents from IPWireless

Mon, 14 May 2012 10:34:22 -0400

Quick news from around the Web.

@FierceWireless: RT @engadgetmobile: Report: Apple dumping Google for own Maps app in iOS 6. Article | Follow@FierceWireless

> Nvidia and Intellectual Ventures jointly acquired 500 patents from IPWireless. Article

> Verizon Wireless' Samsung Galaxy S III appears to be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 chipset. Article

> Nvidia delayed slightly the delivery of chipsets with integrated LTE modems. Article

> Nokia is looking to boost revenues from patent licensing. Article

> Apple has dropped "4G" from some of its iPad advertisements. Article

> Sprint Nextel will deploy Amdocs' customer management product. Release

> T-Mobile USA is pushing out an Ice Cream Sandwich update to its Sensation 4G phones. Article

> LG has sold more than 1 million Optimus LTE phones in South Korea. Article

Mobile Content News

> Facebook's CEO said mobile is a priority for the company. Article

> Apple reportedly will move away from Google Maps with its iOS 6 upgrade. Article

> Yahoo faces an uncertain mobile future following the departure of its CEO. Article

Broadband Wireless News

> One of the big hurdles for operators preparing to introduce voice over LTE is ensuring they can provide legally mandated emergency 911 access over this IP-based voice service. Article

> AT&T Mobility's LTE network is fast, but overall data speeds on the company's mobile networks are not quick enough to dethrone Verizon Wireless as the data king, according to a new report from wireless testing company RootMetrics. Article

> An executive with C Spire Wireless said the operator had to delay the commercial launch of its LTE network because it could not acquire suitable devices for its 700 MHz band class. Article

European Wireless News

> The Dutch senate passed net neutrality fully into law, thus concluding a process that was sparked by OTT mobile apps such as WhatsApp. Article

> French mobile operator SFR, still reeling from the impact of Free Mobile's launch onto the market, now looks set to face some serious cost cutting as parent company Vivendi continues its efforts to develop a new strategy for the company. Article

> The European Parliament this week voted in favor of further caps on mobile roaming charges in a move that will be good for consumers' bills, including data, but will hit operators' revenues in the coming years. Article

And finally... Apple's next iPhone will reportedly feature a completely new design. Article

T-Mobile, RCA join forces to stop Verizon's cable deals

Mon, 14 May 2012 10:26:06 -0400

T-Mobile USA, the Rural Cellular Association and public interest group Public Knowledge are joining together to formally oppose Verizon Wireless' (NYSE:VZ) planned $3.9 billion purchase of AWS spectrum from cable companies.

The three will forge a new group, dubbed the Alliance for Broadband Competition, which describes itself as a "collection of like-minded businesses, trade associations, and public interest groups who are concerned about the ability for the current marketplace to sustain a competitive broadband landscape." Representatives from the American Antitrust Institute and Free Press are scheduled to make an appearance during the group's introductory conference call with media.

Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S), which has urged the FCC to examine the Verizon deal closely but has not formally asked the FCC to block the transaction, supports the new coalition but is not participating in the call.

T-Mobile, the RCA and Public Knowledge have made no secret of their opposition to the deal, with RCA accusing Verizon of warehousing it spectrum and T-Mobile arguing that it uses spectrum 50 percent more efficiently than Verizon in top markets. Verizon has rebutted these claims repeatedly in its FCC filings, and has said it needs the spectrum to keep pace with growing data demands. Moreover, Verizon has argued that it will put to good use spectrum that the cable companies are not using and that it will sell its Lower 700 MHz A and B Block spectrum if it receives regulatory approval for the cable deals.

"This faux-coalition is 'old whine in a new bottle.' The same companies and political groups, making the same claims, that have already been filed at the FCC on the SpectrumCo deal," Verizon said in a statement. "In short, there is nothing new here. Verizon Wireless has responded to each of these claims in our filings on multiple occasions, has addressed them with the FCC, and is confident that we have a made a strong case on bringing unused spectrum to meet the needs of consumers is in the public interest."

T-Mobile, meanwhile, has a clear interest in ensuring that as much AWS spectrum remains on the market as possible. The company is using AWS spectrum to deploy LTE, and despite the spectrum it received from AT&T (NYSE:T) as a result of AT&T's failed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile, T-Mobile has said it will need more spectrum.

In December Verizon agreed to pay $3.6 billion for the nationwide AWS spectrum licenses held by SpectrumCo, a joint venture of cable companies Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. Separately, Verizon said it will buy Cox Communication's 20 MHz of AWS spectrum covering 28 million POPs for $315 million. All of the deals include the option of Verizon reselling cable services and cable companies reselling Verizon service. The cable companies can also become MVNOs of Verizon.

Sprint, T-Mobile and the public interest groups have argued that Verizon and the cable companies have been too secretive about the details of the commercial arrangements they have struck. Verizon and the cable companies have said the deals are outside of the FCC's purview.

For more:
- see this AllThingsD article

Related Articles:
U.S. Cellular interested in buying Verizon's 700 MHz spectrum
T-Mobile's Ray: We're not interested in Verizon's 700 MHz spectrum
T-Mobile: We use spectrum 50% more efficiently than Verizon in top markets
RCA: Verizon warehousing 44 MHz in some markets, doesn't need more
T-Mobile, MetroPCS ask FCC to block Verizon's cable deals
Sprint, T-Mobile, MetroPCS urge FCC to delay review of Verizon's cable deals

Article updated May 14 with a statement from Verizon.

U.S. Cellular interested in buying Verizon's 700 MHz spectrum

Fri, 11 May 2012 16:21:20 -0400

U.S. Cellular is interested in buying Verizon Wireless' (NYSE:VZ) 700 MHz Lower A and B Block spectrum, according to an FCC filing. U.S. Cellular did not indicate how much it would be willing to pay for the spectrum but said the sale could be beneficial to the industry.

According to the filing, which was posted to the FCC's website Friday, U.S. Cellular CEO Mary Dillon met with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on May 8. At the meeting Dillon and other U.S. Cellular executives, including CTO Michael Irizarry, said the proposed sale could benefit other carriers that own licenses in Band Class 12 of the 700 MHz band, which include C Spire Wireless and others. Verizon has proposed selling the spectrum if it gets regulatory approval of its purchase of AWS spectrum from a group of cable companies.

Interestingly, the U.S. Cellular executives also supported the idea of AT&T (NYSE:T) purchasing the spectrum, as long as AT&T supported the Band Class 12 ecosystem. The carrier also said it would support Verizon simply building out a network using the spectrum (Verizon's current LTE network uses its 700 MHz Upper C Block spectrum).

Importantly, U.S. Cellular executives said the sale did not override the need for the FCC to issue interoperability requirements for the lower 700 MHz band. Such a mandate would require carriers to sell phones that support multiple 700 MHz bands, not just the bands they own licenses in.

The lower 700 MHz interoperability issue speaks to the problems caused by the fragmented nature of the 700 MHz band. U.S. Cellular said in its filing that its representatives have spoken with AT&T and Verizon about possible voluntary industry efforts to create interoperability, but that it is doubtful such efforts will bear fruit "in a reasonable time frame to move the LTE ecosystem forward absent regulatory intervention."

The FCC initiated a rulemaking on lower 700 MHz interoperability in March and has been taking comments on the issue. The 700 MHz interoperability rulemaking will primarily look at a very technical issue: the potential for harmful interference to Lower 700 MHz B and C Block operations if the Lower 700 MHz Band were interoperable and whether, if such interference exists, it can be reasonably mitigated.

AT&T and Verizon have argued against a mandate for 700 MHz interoperability. They contend that the government has no authority to create such a stipulation, that there are technical reasons against such a requirement, and that a 700 MHz interoperability mandate would create burdensome development costs that would slow the rollout of LTE. AT&T, in particular, has argued that high power broadcasts that are permitted in Channel 51 and in the lower E Block create the potential for significant interference in the lower A Block. Additionally, the Lower A Block licensees purchased their spectrum for far less in the 2008 auction than AT&T and Verizon did, in part because it was known that these interference concerns existed, and some have argued that mandating interoperability would give a windfall to the Lower A Block companies.

For its part, in its filing U.S. Cellular noted that "industry sponsored engineering testing is underway that we believe will rebut the alleged interference claims in the Band Class 12 devices currently deployed by U.S. Cellular. Those deployments include Band 12 devices already deployed in markets where Channel 51 operations exist and where we are not experiencing customer impacting interference in the B Block as some have claimed theoretically would be present. We anticipate submitting those results for the record in the interoperability proceeding."

For more:
- see this FCC filing

Wrap up: CTIA Wireless 2012

Fri, 11 May 2012 11:27:49 -0400

The carrier roundtable keynote during the show included, from left to right, Verizon's Dan Mead, T-Mobile's Philipp Humm, Sprint's Dan Hesse and AT&T's Ralph de la Vega.

The Fierce crew was out in force this week in New Orleans for the annual CTIA Wireless conference. Between the keynotes, meetings, panels and show floor, there was a lot to cover as the industry gathered for its annual confab in the Big Easy. FierceWireless editors also took some time to observe key trends at the show:

AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) brought to life the concept behind its new Digital Life home automation and security service at a stately New Orleans Garden District home. However, FierceWireless Editor in Chief Sue Marek noted that pricing was noticably absent from the discussion and it's unclear how long it will take for such services to take hold in the market.
It's not game over for Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone platform, but the window of opportunity is closing. It may seem like a moon shot, but FierceWirleess Editor Phil Goldstein found Microsoft has a chance to make the operating system fly with its forthcoming "Apollo" update.
Should content providers like Netflix and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) pay wireless carriers so that mobile customers can visit their sites for free? Some wireless carriers seem to think so. However, will carriers ever get content providers to pay up? FierceWireless Executive Editor Mike Dano is skeptical.
Be sure to revisit this slideshow of the devices announced at the show and this one of the crazy things found on the show floor.
FierceWireless will produce a scorecard next week of the winners and losers of the show. In the meantime, all CTIA show coverage can be found here.

FreedomPop starts taking orders for WiMAX-enabled iPhone case

Fri, 11 May 2012 11:13:29 -0400

FreedomPop, the startup backed by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom, started taking orders for a case for Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S that is WiMAX enabled and connects to Clearwire's (NASDAQ:CLWR) network. The case, which FreedomPop calls an iPhone Sleeve, will cost $99 up front, though it appears that customers can return a Sleeve in good condition at any time for a refund.

Click here for a video on FreedomPop's iPhone Sleeve.

However, FreedomPop is making a change to its pricing plan for the device; instead of the 1 GB of free data the company originally spoke of earlier this spring, users will get a guaranteed 500 MB free. The company had never fully settled on 1 GB of free data per month, but that was a target it had set out. FreedomPop is working on a mechanism to give users more free data, according to GigaOM.

Indeed, the company said the service will start later this summer in a beta test, indicating that the company is still sorting through how its business will operate. The case also allows up to eight other devices to connect to it and doubles as a battery charger that FreedomPop claims can extend battery life up to six hours.

FreedomPop has a wholesale deal with Clearwire for network access, and it intends to announce another carrier partner as well. Clearwire's WiMAX network covers 72 markets and around 130 million POPs. In late March FreedomPop said it intends to allow its customers to share wireless data between each other and will reward customers with extra data if they refer new users to the service.

For more:
- see this release
- see this GigaOM article
- see this TechCrunch article

Largest carriers lost combined 52,000 postpaid subs in Q1

Fri, 11 May 2012 10:54:55 -0400

The first-quarter results Thursday from T-Mobile USA helped confirm what analysts had been predicting for weeks: U.S. wireless carriers reported a net loss of postpaid subscribers for the first time ever during the quarter.

According to a tally from the AP, the seven largest carriers, comprising more than 95 percent of the market, reported a net loss of 52,000 postpaid customers during the quarter. The carriers, including the Tier 1 operators Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) and T-Mobile, have a combined 220 million postpaid devices, making up around two-thirds of the total number of U.S. wireless devices.

Meanwhile, the prepaid market surged ahead in the quarter with 2 million total net customer additions. However, while that growth is strong compared to the postpaid market, it is also down from the 5 million prepaid net additions the industry saw in the first quarter of 2011.

Verizon had 501,000 retail postpaid net additions, and AT&T had 187,000. Sprint lost 192,000 total postpaid customers and T-Mobile lost 510,000 branded contract customers. U.S. Cellular lost 38,000 postpaid customers in the quarter. Leap Wireless (NASDAQ:LEAP) and MetroPCS (NYSE:PCS) are both prepaid-only carriers.

Ultimately, the postpaid decline came because the market is reaching a saturation point, analysts said. Although carriers added machine-to-machine connections, the base of customers upgrading to postpaid plans and devices is shrinking. Additionally, the market benefited strongly in the fourth quarter from the fall launch of Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone 4S, and the first quarter is a traditionally weaker quarter.

"In Q4 we had a lot of things come together, which really helped," said Recon Analytics analyst Roger Entner. "Overall, we're running out of people who can pass credit checks, and that's one of these key requirements [for a postpaid plan], and everyone who can pass a credit check who wants to have a postpaid phone has one."

Entner noted that January is the biggest month for returns of phones, which helped drive down postpaid numbers in the first quarter. However, he also called it the "canary in the coal mine," and said that postpaid numbers from now on will only expand if the economy expands in a robust way. Now, he said, carriers will start simply shifting postpaid customers among each other.

Interestingly, Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead address the issue of a saturated wireless market during his keynote appearance earlier this week at the CTIA Wireless trade show in New Orleans. When questioned whether the wireless market would slow, he said it wouldn't.

"We are increasing our smartphone penetration. ... We like where we are," he said. "I don't think there's a wall at all. ... I'm very encouraged by what I see."

Mead explained that other markets, such as the M2M and home automation sectors, would help continue to grow the market.

For more:
- see this AP article

Special Report: Wireless in the first quarter of 2012

ZTE plans Windows Phone for U.S. market; Ting promises 20 MB grace data

Fri, 11 May 2012 10:50:31 -0400

Quick news from around the Web.

@FierceWireless: RT@allthingsd: Viddy Raises $30 Million in Series B Financing Round. Article | Follow@FierceWireless

> In their first month of service, every Ting customer will get 20 MB of data grace. Post

> Former president Bill Clinton highlighted global cellular success stories at his CTIA Wireless keynote. Article

> Samsung launched the low-end Omnia M Windows Phone. Article

> LG's Optimus Elite will bring Google Wallet to Virgin Mobile. Article

> ZTE will launch a Windows Phone smartphone for the U.S. market by the end of the year. Article

> Nvidia beat Wall Street expectations with its quarterly revenues. Article

Mobile Content News

> Google released an updated version of its Maps for Android application that integrates location-specific daily deals offers. Article

> Gameloft has inked a global partnership with fabless semiconductor manufacturer MediaTek to preload games on smartphones and feature phones incorporating MediaTek chipsets. Article

> Isis will support American Express' U.S. Consumer, OPEN Small Business and Serve Cards when its mobile wallet service begins consumer trials later this year. Article

And finally... Apple's Siri thinks the Nokia Lumia 900 is the best smartphone ever. Article