FierceWireless

Samsung notes 4G chip shortage; Some Motorola phones may be blocked in U.S.

Mon, 21 May 2012 11:24:36 -0400

Quick news from around the Web.

@FierceWireless: RT @allthingsd: HTC Says Some New Products Are Making Their Way Through U.S. Customs -by @inafried Article | Follow@FierceWireless

> JK Shin, Samsung's mobile chief, said the company expects a 4G chipset shortage to continue into the early fourth quarter of this year. Article

> Some Motorola Mobility smartphones infringe on a Microsoft patent and will be stopped from being imported to the United States, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission. Article

> Research In Motion got FCC approval for an LTE PlayBook. Article

> The FCC and Congress are pressing the wireless industry to strike more voluntary agreements. Article

Mobile Content News

> The U.S. mobile data market increased to $18.7 billion in the first quarter of 2012, growing 6 percent quarter over quarter and 21 percent year over year despite the increasing popularity of over-the-top communication services, according to new data from Chetan Sharma Consulting. Article

> Facebook has acquired gifting application Karma, representing the social networking giant's first move as a publicly traded company. Financial details were not disclosed. Article

> Mitek Systems' imaging technology has now enabled $10 billion in mobile banking deposits, with transaction volumes increasing more than 143 percent since the end of 2011, the firm reports. Article

Broadband Wireless News

> Sprint Nextel is using Verizon Wireless' words on unlimited 3G data plans against it, reminding mobile users that Sprint still offers unlimited data for all smartphone subscribers. Article

> Advertising support for free Wi-Fi service is a small but growing part of Boingo Wireless' business, which is also rapidly growing its legacy Wi-Fi network business as well as its DAS business. Article

> Ethertronics is entering the distributed antenna systems business with EtherDAS Indoor, a line of products designed for deployments in areas such as offices, arenas, airports and convention centers. Article

European Wireless News

> Is white space the next frontier for mobile operators? Commentary

> Mexico's Carlos Slim held talks with Telekom Austria shareholders over acquiring a stake in the operator, according to a report in an Austrian magazine that did not cite sources. Article

> Nokia is burning through its cash reserves at a rate that is unsustainable, causing heightened worries among industry analysts over the embattled company's ability to stay afloat. Article

> Ireland's High Court has dismissed Hutchison Whampoa's attempt to stop the financial restructuring of the bankrupt Eircom after the judge ruled there were numerous shortcomings in Hutchison's bid for the Irish operator. Article

And finally... Don't try this at home: Nokia's Lumia 900 as a hammer. Post

Apple's Cook, Samsung's Choi to meet on patent dispute

Mon, 21 May 2012 11:07:31 -0400

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook and Samsung Electronics CEO Choi Gee-sung will participate in two days of mediation talks starting today in San Francisco in hopes of putting the long-simmering patent feud between the two companies to rest. The talks will also include the companies' general counsels and are expected to be completely confidential. The two companies, the world's two largest smartphone makers in the first quarter, have been locked in a worldwide patent battle since last year. Apple first sued Samsung in April 2011, claiming that Samsung "slavishly" copied its iPhone design. Samsung countersued and since then the patent battle between the companies has spread to multiple continents, reaching dozens of cases in 10 countries. Article

Cable companies agree to nationwide Wi-Fi roaming deal

Mon, 21 May 2012 11:01:59 -0400

The country's largest cable companies have banded together to create a nationwide Wi-Fi roaming network for their customers, giving their subscribers free access to 50,000 hotspots that the companies collectively own.

Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Cox Communications and Bright House Networks said they will create a new network name, "CableWiFi," for subscribers to use when accessing the Wi-Fi hotspots outside their home market. The companies said that over the next few months the "CableWiFi" network name will be added by each of the cable companies to their branded Wi-Fi hotspots. In the coming months, users will be able to have their devices auto-connect to the Internet when located in any of the "CableWiFi" hotspots.

Currently, the companies offer 50,000 Wi-Fi hotspots located in New York City and the surrounding Tri-State area, Los Angeles, Tampa, Orlando, and Philadelphia. The companies said they plan to continue to grow the number of Wi-Fi hotspots and expand into several additional cities.

The deal is not without precedent. In early 2010, Cablevision, Comcast and Time Warner Cable struck a deal allowing their customers in New York City, Long Island, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Connecticut to access W-iFi hotspots offered by each operator in these areas.

The deal comes amid an FCC review of Verizon Wireless' (NYSE:VZ) planned $3.9 billion purchase of AWS spectrum from the cable companies, excluding Cablevision. 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. Separately, Verizon said it will buy Cox Communication's 20 MHz of AWS spectrum covering 28 million POPs for $315 million.

Interestingly, Verizon Wireless might at some point also offer access to the cable companies' joint Wi-Fi network. Part of Verizon's spectrum purchase includes an agreement that it be allowed to resell cable services. A Verizon spokesperson declined to comment on the topic.

For more:
- see this release
- see this CNET article
- see this Dow Jones Newswires article (sub. req.)

MVNO Voyager Mobile launches unlimited $19 and $39 plans

Mon, 21 May 2012 10:46:08 -0400

After a brief delay, MVNO Voyager Mobile unveiled its service, becoming the latest in a string of MVNOs catering to niches of the wireless market that are looking for a cheap service that is different from traditional wireless offerings.

Voyager offers a range of phones, including the Samsung Galaxy S II with WiMAX capability for $549.

Voyager, the brainchild of John Mardini, a 22-year-old entrepreneur and New York University student, runs on Sprint Nextel's (NYSE:S) CDMA EV-DO network and Clearwire's (NASDAQ:CLWR) mobile WiMAX network. Voyager offers no-contract plans starting at $19 per month (plus tax) for unlimited voice and texting and $39 per month (plus tax) for unlimited voice, texting and data.

Like many no-contract MVNOs, Voyager customers must pay the full, unsubsidized cost for handsets. The MVNO offers everything from a Samsung M370 flip phone for $119 to an LG Optimus S for $219 all the way up to the Samsung Galaxy S II with WiMAX capability for $549.

Interestingly, Voyager also plans to offer a rewards program that gives customers points based on how many voice minutes they use per month. However, according to Voyager's website, that feature is not yet available. The firm also promises to launch USB modems, mobile hotspots and tablets, as well as a wireless management portal.

Voyager's launch was delayed last week because of a "malicious network attack" on the company's site.

Voyager joins the likes of Ting and Republic Wireless, which also use Sprint's network, as well as FreeedomPop, which is making use of Clearwire's network, as MVNOs trying to break the mold of traditional wireless carriers.

For more:
- see this Voyager site
- see this AllThingsD article
- see this The Verge article
- see this Phone Scoop article

Special Report: Will today's next-generation MVNOs shake up the U.S. market?

Google gets Chinese approval for Motorola deal, must keep Android free and open

Mon, 21 May 2012 10:25:10 -0400

Over the weekend Chinese regulators gave their stamp of approval to Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI), the last remaining regulatory hurdle for the deal. Motorola said it expects the deal to close early this week.

However, according to multiple reports, the Chinese antitrust officials attached one major condition to the deal: For the next five years Google must keep Android free in China and must not discriminate against any handset maker seeking to use Android, according to the reports from the Wall Street Journal, Reuters and AP. Chinese handset vendors Huawei and ZTE are using Android smartphones to grow their share of the global handset market.

"Our stance since we agreed to acquire Motorola has not changed, and we look forward to closing the deal," Google spokeswoman Niki Fenwick told Reuters, confirming that the Chinese had approved the deal.

The Department of Justice and the European Union each gave their blessings to the deal in February, and the two companies have been waiting for Chinese approval since then.

The ruling that Google could not "discriminate" against Android OEMs is unclear in terms of how this will affect Google's distribution of Android source code to certain device makes earlier than others as part of its Nexus program. Last week the Wall Street Journal reported that Google 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. 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.

China's Ministry of Commerce said Google can still charge for services it might provide that are associated with Android. "If Android has to be free, then the definition of 'Android' is potentially open to interpretation," Rocky Lee, Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft LLP's Asia managing partner in Beijing, told the Journal. "For instance, there could be a lot of fees and services for Android that come from the cloud side."

When the DOJ approved the deal, it said it had "determined that the acquisition of the [Motorola] patents by Google did not substantially lessen competition, but how Google may exercise its patents in the future remains a significant concern." Google will obtain 17,000 wireless patents through its acquisition of Motorola. Chinese regulators said they agreed with antitrust officials in the United States and EU that Google needs to ensure that Motorola's existing patent obligations continue to be licensed on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory--or FRAND--terms.

For more:
- see this SEC filing
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)
- see this Reuters article
- see this AP article
- see this Bloomberg article

Related Articles:
Report: Google to expand Nexus device program to multiple OEMs
Report: Google, Motorola still unsure how to integrate
Report: Google to sell its own co-branded tablets to consumers
Rumor Mill: Google to ditch Motorola's set-top box division
Motorola exec: Product strategy won't change after Google acquisition
Google's Rubin: We're building a 'firewall' between Android and Motorola
Report: Google to replace Motorola CEO Jha with Woodside

Forget net adds and ARPU – the future of wireless is 'revenue per account'

Mon, 21 May 2012 09:28:57 -0400

I've been assembling a list of the top U.S. wireless carriers for FierceWireless every three months since the first quarter of 2009. Thanks to figures provided by Strategy Analytics, I've been able to provide trends in standard wireless business metrics like churn, ARPU and net subscriber additions.

But the days of comparing Verizon Wireless' (NYSE:VZ) quarterly net adds to those from AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) are rapidly drawing to a close. These types of metrics are quickly being replaced by things like "revenue per account" or "revenue per bit."

For example, in its Clear-branded WiMAX service, Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR) offers a weekly service option and a two-hour service option. If a customer signs up for either of these two options, they are not counted in Clearwire's quarterly subscriber figures. Why would they be? People who purchase two hours of WiMAX service aren't subscribers, they're just people using the network. Nonetheless, they are generating revenues.

(To be clear, Clearwire said the vast majority of its users select its monthly service option, and therefore the carrier's quarterly subscriber count is a relatively accurate reflection of its business. But for how long?)

An even more pressing example comes from Verizon, the nation's largest carrier and a carrier that in the first quarter of this year stopped providing the number of "total connections" to its network. During Verizon's quarterly conference call, CFO Fran Shammo said Verizon is not disclosing total connections because "M2M is more complicated." He said the main thing for investors to focus on is that the company's revenue is increasing and it is adding more customers.

Click here for a list of the top U.S. wireless carriers in the first quarter of 2012.

Interestingly, Shammo provided more insight into Verizon's future direction during an investor conference last week. He said the carrier's move toward shared data plans will force it to measure its business differently. "But then as we come out with the data share plan, quite honestly, when we do that, we are going to have to change the metric in the industry," he said, according to a transcript of the event. "And we are going to have to go to an account, if you will, a revenue per account. It really won't be a revenue per customer anymore because if you think about the number of devices that will be added to these accounts, it really won't be important anymore what the revenue per customer is; it is going to be revenue per account."

Analyst Chetan Sharma's latest first-quarter figures offer a look at additional metrics on wireless carriers that may become more important in the future. For example, Sharma noted that Verizon has been the clear leader in terms of postpaid net adds during the past four quarters. But the postpaid market grew only 1 percent year over year. Meantime, the connected devices segment grew 23 percent year over year, prepaid grew 15 percent during that period and wholesale grew 10 percent.

It's clear that the future of the wireless business isn't going to be about which carrier can sign up the most subscribers during a particular quarter (or that will become not necessarily the most important statistic). It's going to be about which carrier can squeeze out the most money from a bit traveling over its network, and which carrier can connect the largest number services, like smart grids or ereaders, to its network. It's also going to be about which carrier can add value to a smartphone platform like Android or iOS rather than which can lock the platform down most tightly or load it with the most bloatware.

Of course, that future isn't quite here yet--which is why FierceWireless is still providing this list of the top U.S. wireless carriers, thanks to figures provided by Strategy Analytics. We'll be evolving this list in the coming months and years as the industry itself evolves. Stay tuned. +Mike Dano

Grading the top 10 U.S. carriers in the first quarter of 2012

Mon, 21 May 2012 06:19:41 -0400

The following charts the top U.S. wireless carriers in the first quarter of 2012 by subscriber base, according to research firm Strategy Analytics, and includes major metrics--such as churn, ARPU and revenue--of each carrier.

The subscriber figures include both retail and wholesale customers.

This list does not include resellers or MVNOs such as TracFone. (To see how TracFone did in the first quarter, click here.)

And don't forget to see how these figures stack up against the the fourth quarter of 2010, the first quarter of 2011, the second quarter of 2011, the third quarter of 2011 and the fourth quarter of 2011.

(And you also might want to check out our wrap-up of the wireless industry in the first quarter of 2012.)

As the first-quarter reporting season comes to a close, it's time to start parsing the information to see which carriers slipped and which managed to get ahead.

Top US Wireless Carrier Metrics Q1 2012 (ranking by subscribers, retail + wholesale)
	Carrier	Subscribers (millions)	Net Adds (millions)	Churn (Avg Monthly)	Service Revenue ($ millions)	Data % of Service Revenue	ARPU
1	Verizon Wireless*	109.838	1.084	1.24%	$15,410	42.9%	$53.66
2	AT&T	103.940	0.726	1.47%	$14,566	42.1%	$46.87
3	Sprint Nextel**	55.793	1.072	2.51%	$7,112	n/a	$49.44
4	T-Mobile USA	33.373	0.187	3.30%	$4,444	32.4%	$44.51
5	Clearwire***	11.000	0.586	3.09%	$323	100.0%	$10.04
6	MetroPCS	9.478	0.132	3.08%	$1,159	n/a	$40.56
7	Leap Wireless	6.192	0.258	3.30%	$774	n/a	$42.59
8	U.S. Cellular	5.837	-0.054	1.93%	$1,024	n/a	$58.21
9	C Spire Wireless****	n/a
10	ATN	0.579	-0.004	3.22%	$134	n/a	$49.36
11	Cincinnati Bell	0.446	-0.013	3.58%	$59	34.0%	$43.52
12	Ntelos	0.421	0.007	3.12%	$102	38.8%	$49.08
Subscribers include retail and wholesale connections of both traditional and new connected device categories (e.g. M2M) Verizon Wireless subscribers include Strategy Analtyics' estimates for wholesale and connected device volumes Sprint Nextel subscribers and net adds excluding estimated number of affiliate subscribers, but including wholesale; service revenues excluding wholesale and affiliate Clearwire subscribers and net adds include wholesale subs outside current 4G network coverage area, but from whom Clearwire receives nominal revenue. **C Spire Wireless (formerly Cellular South) is a private company and does not reveal its metrics, estimated to have 0.9-1.0 million subscribers. Source: Strategy Analytics, based on carrier reports

T-Mobile isn't jumping on the shared-data plan bandwagon

Fri, 18 May 2012 16:13:02 -0400

T-Mobile USA isn't planning to offer shared data plans to its customers like its competitors Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T). In a blog post, T-Mobile USA's Senior Vice President of Marketing Andrew Sherrard said that the company doesn't think that consumers want a "one size fits all" approach to shared family data plans, nor would they benefit from that model.

T-Mobile is clearly trying to capitalize on the uproar caused by Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo earlier this week. Shammo told investors at a J.P. Morgan conference that the company plans to migrate 3G customers who were "grandfathered" into the carrier's $30 per month unlimited data plan to the company's data-share plan (which Verizon plans to launch in mid-summer) when those customers upgrade to an LTE device. Verizon later clarified Shammo's comments by saying that customers with unlimited plans will get to keep their unlimited plans--however, when shared data plans become available, the unlimited option will no longer be available to customers who buy a new device at a subsidized price, which usually happens with a two-year service contract. Those customers who purchase their device for full price can keep their unlimited data plan.

At the same conference, AT&T Mobility President and CEO Ralph de la Vega said that his company is working on a data-share plan. De la Vega said he believes AT&T can increase tablet sales by allowing customers to share a single data plan among multiple devices, including smartphones and tablets.

Instead of introducing a data-share plan, T-Mobile is touting its new prepaid mobile broadband data plans for tablets, which let customers pay in daily, weekly or monthly installments starting at 300 MB per week for $15 and going up to 5 GB per month for $50. The company also offers "unlimited" data plans for smartphones that start at $10 for 200 MB per month and go up to $60 for 10 GB per month. The catch is that customers' data speeds are slowed when they surpass their monthly data allotment; customers can move to a higher tier in order to avoid having their speeds throttled.

For more:
- see this blog post

Smartphone growth to propel LTE to 1B connections by 2017

Fri, 18 May 2012 12:38:23 -0400

LTE connections will reach 90 million by the end of 2012, according to a new study by Strategy Analytics. The report said sales of LTE-based smartphones are expanding beyond early LTE hotbeds, including the United States, South Korea and Japan, and the technology will grow to 1 billion connections by early 2017.

LTE now has overwhelming support from global operators as their 4G upgrade path, said the analyst firm. Further, the technology will account for 15 per cent of all mobile connections in 2017, putting it on a faster trajectory than any other mobile technology. Article

German operators slam regulator over LTE approval delays

Fri, 18 May 2012 12:37:40 -0400

German wireless carriers are in an uproar over what they said is a delay by the German telecom regulator BNA in approving their applications to deploy LTE network technology in key German cities. According to the Financial Times Deutschland, BNA is sitting on over 8,000 applications made by Vodafone, Telefónica, E-Plus and Telekom Deutschland for LTE deployments, thus resulting in significant delays in building LTE in urban German areas.

The head of Germany's telecom operators association VATM, Juergen Grützner, has written to the BNA claiming that the statutory maximum of six weeks to process an application is often being exceeded by several months.

The BNA said the issue is due to not having adequate staff assigned to the task. The agency said new software will be implemented that should help alleviate the delays.

Grützner has told VATM members that, "We expect the new president of the BNA to find a quick and pragmatic solution," according to the Financial Times Deutschland.

Having been restricted by their 800 MHz LTE licence conditions to initially provide coverage to rural areas, the operators are now keen to deploy the technology into more profitable urban and city locations.

The operators are required to obtain permission from the BNA for each microwave and base station antenna prior to installation.

For more:
- see this Financial Times Deutschland (translated via Google Translate)
- see this Telecom Paper article (sub. req.)

MVNO Lebara boosts revenues 15% with strong customer gains

Fri, 18 May 2012 12:35:38 -0400

Full-year revenues at pan-European MVNO Lebara are up 15 per cent to €648 million, helped by a 27 per cent increase in customers to 3.8 million.

Importantly, the company also reported operating profit of €20 million for the fiscal year 2011, together with an increase in gross profit margin from 27 per cent to 29 per cent.

Commenting on the results, company founder and CEO Yoganathan Ratheesan told Mobile News that the financial performance of the company was due to the exceptional value and service levels delivered to Lebara customers.

"We know that we have to continually evolve to remain at our best and competitive in this market place, and recent changes have ensured just that," he said. "The savings we have made across the business will be reinvested to continue to deliver maximum value to our customers through more low cost products and high quality services."

The company, which operates in seven European countries and Australia with a focus on the low-cost ethnic market, announced earlier this year that it had cut its workforce at its Group and UK divisions by 8 per cent.

For more:
- see this Mobile News article

Rumour Mill: Is Mexico's Carlos Slim stalking Telekom Austria?

Fri, 18 May 2012 12:34:10 -0400

The owner of America Movil, Mexico's Carlos Slim, held talks with Telekom Austria shareholders over acquiring a stake in the operator, according to a report in an Austrian magazine that did not cite sources.

Slim reportedly spoke with Ronny Pecik about the 20 per cent holding he and his partner Naguib Sawiris have in the Austrian operator. Slim also reportedly held talks with Telekom Austria's biggest shareholder, OeIAG, which has a 28.4 per cent holding in the company.

According to Reuters, America Movil has approached Telekom Austria directly in the past. The action is further evidence of Slim's long-held ambitions to break into the European mobile market; America Movil recently offered $3.5 billion for a 28 per cent stake in KPN.

Pecik and Sawiris have indicated that they will seek seats on Telekom Austria's expanded supervisory board, and have previously said they would hold their stake for two years before offloading the shares to a strategic investor, according to Reuters.

Reports from within Austria claim that Norway's Telenor remains the most likely telco to acquire a meaningful stake in Telekom Austria, and is looking to negotiate with Egyptian businessman Sawiris on possible options.

Earlier this month, Telekom Austria said that its planned acquisition of Orange Austria YESSS assets was going through the approvals process and remained on track to be complete by mid-2012.

For more:
- see this Reuters article

Hutchison €2B bid for Eircom torpedoed

Fri, 18 May 2012 12:32:13 -0400

Ireland's High Court has dismissed Hutchison Whampoa's attempt to stop the financial restructuring of the bankrupt Eircom after the judge ruled there were numerous shortcomings in Hutchison's bid for the Irish telecoms operator.

Hutchison, which had bid €2 billion for Eircom, lost its legal challenge that argued its offer had not been given due consideration, according to Dow Jones Newswire.

However, a report carried by Bloomberg claimed that Hutchison's bid for Eircom was rejected by the appointed bankruptcy official partly because it would have doubled the losses incurred by the phone company's most-senior lenders.

Rachel Channing, a Dublin-based spokeswoman at Hutchison's Three business, said the company was disappointed with the court's ruling, but noted: "Three's parent company, Hutchison Whampoa, an experienced telecoms operator, had committed to provide the stability and ongoing investment that is necessary for the Eircom business to recover."

This legal attempt by Hutchison to have its bid reviewed came after the accountancy firm handling the Irish telecom company's bankruptcy proceedings rejected the €2 billion offer in favour of giving control of Eircom to senior debt holders that are owed €2.7 billion, according to Dow Jones Newswire.

This move by the Irish court is a setback for Hutchison's wider telecoms ambitions. The company has a long-held strategy to expand its European footprint helped by the €8 billion cash currently carried on the company's balance sheet.

For more:
- see this Dow Jones Newswire article
- see this Bloomberg article
- see this Reuters article

Nokia worries analysts with cash burn rate

Fri, 18 May 2012 12:30:24 -0400

Nokia is burning through its cash reserves at a rate that is unsustainable, causing heightened worries among industry analysts over the embattled company's ability to stay afloat.

Over the past five quarters, according to Reuters, Nokia has eaten into its cash pile by €2.1 billion--a rate that would see its entire reserves of €4.9 billion disappear in a couple years.

But, according to a poll conducted by Reuters of 30 banks and brokerages, the common view is that Nokia will burn through almost €2 billion more in just three quarters. The most bearish see the company's €4.9 billion net cash buffer completely gone by next year.

"In our opinion, the company's ability to repay even its shorter-term 2014 bond could be an issue," Societe Generale credit analyst Juliano Torii told Reuters.

Nokia has two bonds issues outstanding--both now rated by Fitch and S&P as junk--for €1.25 billion maturing in 2014 and €500 million due in 2019.

Societe Generale analysts last week downgraded Nokia stock to "sell" and cautioned that the company's operating losses and restructuring costs could accelerate.

"Such an additional fall could be enough to burn through most of Nokia's existing cash pile and even bring into question Nokia's very survival," Societe Generale analyst Andy Perkins wrote in an investor note.

Nancy Utterback, credit strategist at Aviva Investors, added to the negative sentiment claiming that Nokia's Lumia smartphones were "too little, too late."

"The company is in a negative spiral that will be hard to reverse," Utterback told Reuters.

Not all industry watchers were quite so gloomy. Jens Vanbrabant, lead portfolio manager at European Credit Management, said: "The group appears to have sufficient liquidity, even under some reasonably onerous operating assumptions."

For more:
- see this Reuters article

Is white space the next frontier for mobile operators?

Fri, 18 May 2012 12:28:26 -0400

Much has been promised from the potential of utilising white space spectrum, which is basically unused gaps between TV broadcast channels. The broadcast industry has fiercely resisted any intrusion into these precious frequencies over fear that TV channels would be subject to interference from unlicensed devices. But now lobbying from heavyweight technology players has convinced telecoms regulators that this spectrum is too valuable to be left unused, and TV broadcasters have relented, albeit grudgingly.

While the U.S. now leads the way in liberating white space spectrum, the U.K. is not far behind. The telecoms regulator Ofcom is apparently keen to see white space being used for new services and is encouraging U.K. operators to include the use if this spectrum, along with cellular bands, in their bids to run smart grid services in the U.K.

Some operators accepted the challenge and incorporated the use of white space technology into their proposals and it could be used to complement cellular networks when the smart grid service is deployed next year.

The use of white space for an M2M service might sound like adding unnecessary risk to what, according to those in the M2M business, is already an increasingly complex environment.

To counterbalance this risk, Glenn Collinson, co-founder of Neul, a white space technology developer, said that contracts such as the U.K. smart grid calls for guarantees that the service will cover the country's entire population, something cellular still struggles to achieve.

"The way to approach this is to use technology that is better-suited to providing coverage in remote locations in the first instance, and then migrate the coverage towards the more densely populated areas. White space is so clearly advantaged over the current licensed spectrum for use in this situation," he said.

Collinson maintains that white space doesn't cannibalise or threaten the existing mobile broadband business that big cellular operators are focused upon, and can provide them with an additional resource to make the ‘internet of things' a reality without disrupting their cellular operations.

However, a stumbling block for white space technology is the lack of an ecosystem, which is vital to lift the new technology into the mass market.

While Collinson accepts that an ecosystem will take time to build and mature, he claims--from his extensive experience with Bluetooth--that it is much easier and quicker to build an ecosystem as a private enterprise initiative rather than a regulated model.

He claims that the Weightless standard, which is being developed by a number of wireless industry players, will provide impetus to the wider use of M2M within the white space spectrum.

To help promote the use of white space a EU policy group is investigating how other European countries can follow the regulatory lead set by the U.S. and the U.K. This initiative could significantly boost the number of firms wanting to join a white space ecosystem.

Whether mobile operators want to adopt this unlicensed spectrum to offer and manage M2M services remains in question. A worry could be that maintaining connectivity is fundamental to providing M2M services, and unlicensed bands are not recognised as being the best for achieving this. --Paul

Samsung sees 9M pre-orders for Galaxy S III; ZTE warns of Score security hole

Fri, 18 May 2012 10:25:55 -0400

Quick news from around the Web.

@FierceWireless: RT @phonescoop: LTE Arrives In a Handful of New Markets for AT&T. Article | Follow@FierceWireless

> ZTE confirmed a serious security hole in its Score Android phone. Article

> Worries are mounting about Nokia's cash position. Article

> Samsung said it has received 9 million pre-orders for the Galaxy S III. Article

> Research In Motion and Motorola Mobility are offering Apple a compromise on the nano-SIM standard. Article

> RadioShack recently hired a new advertising firm and plans a new ad campaign this year. Article

> Strategy Analytics predicts 90 million LTE connections worldwide this year. Article

Mobile Content News

> Amazon plans to sell the Kindle Fire homescreen for $60,000. Article

> Facebook is set to begin trading on the Nasdaq after a blockbuster initial public offering that ranks as the second largest stock market debut in U.S. history. Article

And finally... Steve Jobs reportedly aided in the design of the next iPhone. Article

Dish won't launch its LTE Advanced network until 2016 - or later

Fri, 18 May 2012 10:23:56 -0400

Dish Network said that it will not be able to launch its proposed LTE Advanced network using 40 MHz of S-Band spectrum until 2016 or later. This is about 12 months longer than the FCC's current proposed buildout schedule, which requires Dish to launch its network in three years covering 30 percent of the U.S. population. However, Dish has indicated that when it does launch its network, it will cover 60 percent of the U.S. population.

In a filing to the FCC, Dish provided details of its deployment plans. The company said that it will take at least 48 months from the time the 3rd Generation Partnership Project finalizes the S-Band specifications for LTE Advanced for Dish to launch its network. The 3GPP is not expected to finalize those specs until December, which means that Dish will not launch its network until at least December 2016 or later.

The FCC, which approved Dish's acquisition of S-Band satellite spectrum, has so far denied the company's request for a waiver to allow it to build a terrestrial wireless network. Instead, the agency has initiated a rule-making process that covers the topic. Initial comments on the proceeding were due May 17, replies are due June 1 and the agency would rule sometime after that.

Dish is arguing that the FCC's buildout requirements are not feasible and are not in line with similar requirements for terrestrial services. For example, Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) have 10 years to cover 75 percent of the population using the 700 MHz spectrum licenses they won at auction.

In its filing, Dish said it needs 48 months after the LTE Advanced specifications are finalized to obtain network infrastructure equipment, chipsets and devices. The company also will have to upgrade its customer service and billing systems to support the new services as well as develop systems to meet regulatory requirements such as E911. In addition, the company will have to construct its backhaul network, deploy cell sites, and trial its service before launching.

Earlier this month, during Dish's quarterly earnings call, Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen noted that Dish is willing to partner with other wireless companies to launch its proposed LTE Advanced network. "We're talking to everybody out there that has some piece of the wireless business that we think can help us either as a vendor or a partner or a customer, whether that be in the chipsets, the handsets, the towers and so forth and so on," he said.

For more:
- see this Reuters article
- see this FCC filing (PDF)

Verizon: We offered MetroPCS LTE roaming agreement

Thu, 17 May 2012 17:27:16 -0400

Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) said it offered MetroPCS (NYSE:PCS) an LTE roaming agreement in February, but that MetroPCS did not respond to the offer. Verizon said MetroPCS is stalling on the issue in hopes that the FCC will step in and mandate better roaming terms.

Verizon made the assertion in its latest filing with the FCC. The filing is part of the agency's ongoing investigation into Verizon's proposed purchase of AWS spectrum from cable companies including Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications.

MetroPCS, in one of its previous filings with the FCC on the subject of Verizon's AWS spectrum purchase, implied that Verizon was unwilling to offer a roaming agreement. Verizon said that was incorrect.

"MetroPCS and Verizon Wireless have been engaged in roaming discussions, and they exchanged rate proposals last November," Verizon wrote in its FCC filing. "Verizon Wireless also offered to extend the negotiations, which had previously focused on voice and EV-DO data roaming, to include discussions toward an LTE roaming agreement. In February, Verizon Wireless sent MetroPCS a revised offer and attempted to contact MetroPCS to continue negotiations, but until this week MetroPCS had not responded. It appears that MetroPCS has decided to try to wring conditions out of the regulatory process rather than negotiate commercial arrangements."

A MetroPCS spokesperson provided this statement from the company in response to questions from FierceWireless: "MetroPCS is continually in talks with existing and potential partners with regards to CDMA and LTE roaming agreements."

A roaming agreement between Verizon and MetroPCS would be a first for the industry; so far, no carrier has announced a public roaming deal for LTE (except for those carriers working in Verizon's rural licensing program). Moreover, MetroPCS' LTE network works primarily on its AWS spectrum whereas Verizon's network works mainly on its 700 MHz spectrum. Thus, an LTE roaming agreement between the two companies would be contingent on devices that could support both spectrum bands.

The filing by Verizon is the carrier's latest attempt to convince regulators to approve its AWS spectrum purchases. 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.

A range of companies and public-interest groups are opposed to the deals, arguing they will stifle competition in the marketplace.

Despite the uproar, Verizon is "very, very confident" regulators will approve the plans, according to Verizon CFO Fran Shammo, who spoke this week at an investor conference.

The roaming dust-up between Verizon and MetroPCS isn't the first time major carriers have squabbled over the issue. Indeed, according to past FCC filings, AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) and T-Mobile USA couldn't come to an agreement on HSPA roaming. That situation though was ironed out following AT&T's failure to acquire T-Mobile; AT&T agreed to a 3G UMTS roaming agreement with T-Mobile as part of its $6 billion breakup fee.

For more:
- see this Verizon FCC filing (PDF)

Clearwire CTO: We'll offer VoLTE when we launch TD-LTE network

Thu, 17 May 2012 14:47:18 -0400

Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR) CTO John Saw said the WiMAX provider will offer Voice over LTE technology when it launches its LTE Advanced-ready network by June 2013.

"It's really up to our wholesale customers," he said in an interview with FierceWireless. "If they choose to do Voice over LTE, our network would certainly be capable of supporting that."

He added: "Because we plan to be a wholesaler of LTE bandwidth, we need to make sure our network has the RF performance and metrics to support Voice over LTE."

Clearwire plans to launch 5,000 TD-LTE base stations by the summer of next year in major metro markets including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle. Clearwire LTE customers include Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) and Leap Wireless (NASDAQ:LEAP). Sprint has said it will launch VoLTE devices in the first quarter of 2013.

The industry overall is moving toward VoLTE technology as a way to make voice calls clearer and the transmission of voice more network efficient. AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) plans to have VoLTE in place by 2013. MetroPCS (NYSE:PCS) executives have said the company will launch two to three smartphones with Voice over LTE capabilities in the second half of this year. And Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) has said it will deploy the technology in late 2012 but will begin pushing it more broadly in mid-2013.

According to research firm ARCchart, over 74 million VoLTE-enabled handsets will be in the global market by 2016.

Interestingly, Clearwire's Saw said the company currently offers Voice over IP technology on its existing network. "On the WiMAX network, we do support a number of Voice over IP customers," he said. "It's nothing new for us."

For more:
- see this ARCchart report

T-Mobile tweaks prepaid mobile broadband pricing

Thu, 17 May 2012 12:30:49 -0400

T-Mobile USA revamped its prepaid mobile broadband plans by cutting prices slightly and also introducing new, higher data allotments. The nation's No. 4 carrier, which has banked on prepaid and mobile data to keep it afloat amid postpaid subscriber losses, said the new plans will go into effect May 20.

T-Mobile said its new prepaid mobile broadband plans are as follows:

300 MB per week for $15
1.5 GB per month for $25
3.5 GB per month for $35
5 GB per month for $50

Under T-Mobile's existing prepaid mobile broadband plans, the company charges $10 per week for 100 MB, $30 per month for 1 GB and $50 per month for 5 GB.

The new pricing scheme will apply to a number of T-Mobile devices, including the Samsung GalaxyTab 10.1, the Huawei-made T-Mobile Springboard tablet, the T-Mobile Sonic mobile hotspot and the HSPA+ 42-enabled Rocket 3.0 USB Laptop Stick.

T-Mobile lost 510,000 branded contract customers in the first quarter, a figure smaller than its losses in previous quarters. T-Mobile added 249,000 branded prepaid customers during the quarter and 262,000 M2M customers.

Currently, T-Mobile offers an HSPA+42 network covering 184 million POPs in 185 markets, and its HSPA+21 network covers around 220 million POPs. The company plans to launch LTE service in 2013.

For more:
- see this release

AT&T's de la Vega: We want to minimize phone subsidies

Thu, 17 May 2012 11:56:04 -0400

To help drive down costs and keep margins high, AT&T (NYSE:T) is focusing on smartphones that require lower subsidies yet are appealing to consumers. Speaking at the J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, AT&T Mobility President and CEO Ralph de la Vega told investors that AT&T studies smartphone subsidies every day in an attempt to minimize them. "We have to watch subsidies and make sure that we bring devices to market that customers love and will keep and have low subsidies."

De la Vega

De la Vega gave the Nokia (NYSE:NOK) Lumia 900 and the HTC One X as two examples of smartphones from AT&T that fit this category. "These are great devices that I think customers will like," de la Vega said.

Wireless carriers have been under increasing pressure from smartphone sales, which tend to drive up costs at a very fast rate. According to a Credit Suisse research report, smartphone subsidies have been the biggest source of pressure to mobile operators, with costs rising 34 percent from 2010 to 2011.

De la Vega also touted Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone platform. He said that sales of the Lumia 900, which uses the new OS, have exceeded expectations. He also believes Microsoft has a great opportunity with this OS, especially once it introduces Windows 8, because the company will be able to bring the same user experience to the PC, tablet and smartphone.

Though he declined to provide specifics, De la Vega said he believes AT&T can increase tablet sales by allowing customers to connect a tablet to the network using an existing data plan and share that plan across multiple devices. "That is what we are working on," he said. Yesterday, Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) CFO Fran Shammo told investors at the conference that Verizon Wireless too is working on shared data plans. He also said Verizon plans 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.

Interestingly, de la Vega was asked about AT&T's plans to allow developers and content companies to pay for the mobile data that users generate when accessing their services. De la Vega said that the company already does this via its relationship with Amazon. "When you download a book to your Amazon Kindle, we provide the connectivity. The cost for downloading the book is something we wholesale to Amazon. That makes business sense," de la Vega noted. "We have done this for several years and there will be other cases like that."

For more:
- listen to this webcast

LG intros Optimus LTE II; Boost gets visual voicemail from Smith Micro

Thu, 17 May 2012 10:24:31 -0400

Quick news from around the Web.

@FierceWireless: A Look at Android Fragmentation: The Good, The Bad and the Pretty Charts - Article by @inafried | Follow@FierceWireless

> Klausner Technologies inked patent-licensing deals for its visual voicemail technology with MetroPCS (release), Alcatel-Lucent (release) and others.

> Boost Mobile will use visual voicemail technology from Smith Micro. Release

> Clearwire will name its TD-LTE vendors in the third quarter. Article

> The FCC chose spectrum for wireless medical devices. Article

> U.S. Cellular launched a Samsung LTE mobile hotspot for $50. Release

> LG introduced the new Optimus LTE II. Article (sub. req.)

> Wireless carriers are boosting their networks for an upcoming NATO summit in Chicago. Article

> New legislation would prohibit tampering with registry information in cell phones. Article

> Samsung may not suffer if Apple is working to take its supply business elsewhere. Article

Mobile Content News

> Sprint Nextel now supports carrier billing in Google Play. Article

> Viacom has reached an agreement with Time Warner Cable enabling subscribers to view live content from cable networks like MTV and Comedy Central across mobile devices including Apple's iPad. Article

> Groupon pins its future on mobile. Editor's Corner

> Pinterest could be worth $1.5 billion. Article

Broadband Wireless News

> AT&T's Kris Rinne dishes on the carrier's plans for LTE Advanced, VoLTE and the idea of infrastructure sharing. Hot Seat

> NewNet Communications Technologies is bullish about the WiMAX business that it acquired earlier this year from Nokia Siemens Networks and appears committed to making a stand for the technology. Article

> In a positive vote for Wi-Fi offloading, 84 percent of survey respondents who have Wi-Fi connectivity at home are proactively connecting their smartphones to it. Article

European Wireless News

> 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. Article

> Telefónica's O2 UK awarded Huawei a five-year deal to plan and manage the operator's mobile core network. Article

> SFR is planning radical action to counter the success of Iliad's Free Mobile after losing 620,000 customers in its first-quarter. Article

And finally... Microsoft posts letter from user who switched from the iPhone to Windows Phone. Post

T-Mobile USA's Brad Duea explains Bobsled's accelerating momentum

Thu, 17 May 2012 10:17:27 -0400

With over-the-top voice and data services emerging as a major disruption to conventional carrier business models, T-Mobile USA decided that if you can't beat 'em, you may as well join 'em. Last spring, the operator introduced Bobsled, which enables users to place free Internet calls over almost any data connection across devices including iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. On the eve of the recent CTIA Wireless 2012 conference, T-Mobile announced that more than a million consumers are using Bobsled services, which are available to consumers on any wireless operator network across the globe--in fact, 95 percent of Bobsled Calling users are not T-Mobile subscribers, and 80 percent of calls originate from international numbers. FierceMobileContent spoke to Brad Duea, the carrier's senior vice president of value-added services, to discuss the evolution of the mobile data ecosystem. Hot Seat

T-Mobile clarifies restructuring plans, will cut only 350 jobs

Thu, 17 May 2012 10:11:51 -0400

T-Mobile USA gave a little more clarity to its latest restructuring plans, explaining that it plans to cut a net 350 jobs instead of the 900 it had previously reported.

While the nation's No. 4 carrier is still cutting 900 positions across the company, it also said late Wednesday it would add 550 additional jobs in 2012 "to support the needs of the business and strategic opportunities." The figures bring the carrier's net loss down to 350 employees.

"The majority of the new positions will be located in the Puget Sound area," the company said in a blog post. "These 550 new positions are in addition to the 1,000 new B2B sales representatives T-Mobile plans to hire in the coming years as we aggressively pursue that opportunity."

The carrier said employees who are affected by the restructuring are encouraged to apply for openings that suit their qualifications. The job cuts do not affect technicians in engineering, customer service representatives in T-Mobile's 17 remaining call centers, or front-line retail employees in corporate-owned T-Mobile stores.

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.

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 earlier this week, Deutsche Telekom CFO Timotheus Höttges said T-Mobile USA 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 T-Mobile post

Related Articles:
T-Mobile plans 900 more job cuts
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
T-Mobile takes aim at AT&T's iPhone in new ad campaign
T-Mobile: Prepaid 'has doubled over the past year'

MetroPCS lassos Chinese vendor Yulong for cheap LTE smartphones

Thu, 17 May 2012 09:30:54 -0400

MetroPCS (NYSE:PCS) expects to cover between 102 million and 104 million POPs with its LTE network by the end of the third quarter when it finishes its network buildout, a senior executive said. The carrier is also bringing in a new handset supplier, Chinese vendor Yulong, to help it offer inexpensive LTE smartphones.

Speaking at the 40th Annual J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference Thursday, MetroPCS COO Tom Keys reiterated that the flat-rate carrier currently has built out LTE to 85 percent of its CDMA footprint and will complete the buildout over the next several months. He declined to say what speeds customers will get, in keeping with company policy of not commenting on average downlink speeds, but noted that the company is investing in microwave backhaul to supplement fiber and improve capacity for its LTE network, particularly in urban areas.

Interestingly, Keys also discussed the company's handset strategy. He discussed two of the company's forthcoming LTE devices, which MetroPCS hopes to sell for below $150. One, he said, is a phone from LG Electronics with a 3.5-inch screen and 1.2 GHz processor. Another is from the Chinese vendor Yulong, and will have a 4-inch screen and 1 GHz processor. The phone, which Keys said will be Yulong's first handset for the U.S. market, will be sold under the "Coolpad" brand.

Both phones will presumably run on Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android platform. Keys said by year-end MetroPCS hopes to have three to four LTE smartphones retailing for under $150.

Both Keys and MetroPCS CFO Braxton Carter, who was also speaking at the conference, noted that the company is in a transition period as it waits for cheaper LTE smartphones. Once those are available, they said, the migration of customers to LTE can accelerate.

Keys said the carrier hopes to decrease the number of CDMA-1X Android smartphones it sells, and that in the future the company would offer mainly LTE smartphones and then one or two feature phone models.

"We don't think there's going to be a forced migration where we're going to have to do things to take 1X Android devices off the network," Keys said, explaining that the natural upgrade cycle of customers will lead them to LTE smartphones. By the end of 2013 Keys said around 95 percent of the company's handset lineup will be LTE phones.

Carter also touched on the company's prospects for buying spectrum. He noted the company has built up a "war chest" of money to buy spectrum (MetroPCS had $1.88 billion of cash and cash equivalents on hand at the end of the first quarter). Carter noted that MetroPCS owns Lower 700 MHz A Block spectrum, and that MetroPCS might be interested in purchasing A Block spectrum from Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ), especially if the FCC takes steps to clear up interference concerns between A Block spectrum licensees and Channel 51 broadcast operations.

For more:
- see this webcast

Clearwire to announce LTE vendors in Q3 timeframe

Wed, 16 May 2012 17:27:51 -0400

Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR) CEO and President Erik Prusch said the carrier would announce its TD-LTE equipment suppliers sometime in the second half of this year, likely in the third quarter.

Prusch

Clearwire has said it will light up on 5,000 TD-LTE base stations by June 2013. Then, according to Prusch, Clearwire will increase that number to 8,000 "sometime thereafter." The buildout will occur mainly in dense urban areas in top markets where Clearwire already offers WiMAX service (New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle are the markets Clearwire has named for LTE). Clearwire's current WiMAX network covers 120 million POPs and comprises around 16,000 towers.

It's unclear which vendors will supply network equipment to Clearwire, but Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) is likely a lead candidate. Clearwire outsourced its network operations to Ericsson in May 2011, following Sprint Nextel's (NYSE:S) lead. Sprint inked a $5 billion, seven-year outsourcing deal with Ericsson in July 2009. Ericsson has also supplied LTE to virtually all of the nation's major carriers.

Clearwire has also said it would engage in vendor financing in order to fund its LTE buildout. Prusch said Clearwire likely would announce its vendor financing details when it announces its LTE equipment suppliers.

Speaking Wednesday at the 40th Annual J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, Prusch said Clearwire's LTE deployment is a much more "intricate process" than its WiMAX buildout. He said the carrier is carefully selecting which of its existing WiMAX sites will be upgraded to LTE, in consultation with wholesale customer Sprint, in order for Clearwire to maximize its return on investment. Prusch said that, in many cases, workers would only need to swap out a card and install a software upgrade to add LTE to Clearwire's cell sites, rather than installing a completely new antenna.

"That is all going as planned," Prusch said of Clearwire's LTE buildout.

For more:
- listen to this webcast

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.

Hesse

"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. He said right now is not a perfect time for Sprint to consider a merger. "Clearly, the time is not ideal based upon where our shares are currently trading," he said.

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
- see this Dow Jones Newswires article (sub. req.)

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 Annual 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. "So as you come through an upgrade cycle and you upgrade in the future, you will have to go onto the data share plan," Shammo said, according to a transcript of his remarks. "And moving away from, if you will, the unlimited world and moving everybody into a tiered structure data share-type plan."

"So when you think about our 3G base, a lot of our 3G base is unlimited," he added. "As they start to migrate into 4G, they will have to come off of unlimited and go into the data share plan. And that is beneficial for us for many reasons, obviously."

Verizon later issued a statement clarifying Shammo's remarks, as there was some confusion about when the unlimited data plan would sunset. Specifically, the company said that customers with unlimited plans will get to keep their unlimited plans. However, when shared data plans become available, the unlimited option will no longer be available to customers when they buy a new device at a subsidized price, which usually happens with a two-year service contract.

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
- see this Verizon transcript
- see this New York Times article

Related Articles:
Verizon to launch family data plan by mid-year
Verizon revives double LTE smartphone data promotion
Verizon LTE subscribers climb to 8M in Q1, iPhone activations decline to 3.2M
Verizon's McAdam: Family data plans coming in 2012

This article was updated May 17 to include the statement from Verizon providing more details about what happens to unlimited data plans when consumers upgrade their devices.

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

FierceWireless

Samsung notes 4G chip shortage; Some Motorola phones may be blocked in U.S.

Apple's Cook, Samsung's Choi to meet on patent dispute

Cable companies agree to nationwide Wi-Fi roaming deal

MVNO Voyager Mobile launches unlimited $19 and $39 plans

Google gets Chinese approval for Motorola deal, must keep Android free and open

Forget net adds and ARPU – the future of wireless is 'revenue per account'

Grading the top 10 U.S. carriers in the first quarter of 2012

T-Mobile isn't jumping on the shared-data plan bandwagon

Smartphone growth to propel LTE to 1B connections by 2017

German operators slam regulator over LTE approval delays

MVNO Lebara boosts revenues 15% with strong customer gains

Rumour Mill: Is Mexico's Carlos Slim stalking Telekom Austria?

Hutchison €2B bid for Eircom torpedoed

Nokia worries analysts with cash burn rate

Is white space the next frontier for mobile operators?

Samsung sees 9M pre-orders for Galaxy S III; ZTE warns of Score security hole

Dish won't launch its LTE Advanced network until 2016 - or later

Top wireless stories of the week

Verizon: We offered MetroPCS LTE roaming agreement

Clearwire CTO: We'll offer VoLTE when we launch TD-LTE network

T-Mobile tweaks prepaid mobile broadband pricing

AT&T's de la Vega: We want to minimize phone subsidies

LG intros Optimus LTE II; Boost gets visual voicemail from Smith Micro

T-Mobile USA's Brad Duea explains Bobsled's accelerating momentum

T-Mobile clarifies restructuring plans, will cut only 350 jobs

MetroPCS lassos Chinese vendor Yulong for cheap LTE smartphones

Clearwire to announce LTE vendors in Q3 timeframe

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

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

Report: Android conquers UK market with 50.1% share

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

Huawei scoops up O2 UK managed service contract