Wireless Carriers

Qualcomm embraces the widget idea

Sue Marek — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:43:13 -0400

Building on the growing personalization phenomenon, Qualcomm Internet Services is announcing Plaza, a platform-agnostic service that provides a framework for widget development enabling operators to provide users with personalized access to the mobile Internet. Plaza will let operators and developers produce and deliver Internet-based content across devices. "We are leveraging our service delivery ecosystem with BREW and bringing it to the Widget delivery platform," said Andrew Gilbert, executive vice president and president of Qualcomm Internet Services, MediaFLO Technologies and Qualcomm Europe, in an interview with sister publication FierceMobileContent.

Plaza is intended to let operators personalize their subscribers' mobile Internet experiences and drive additional revenue. According to Gilbert, Plaza lets subscribers build a widget catalog easily and seamlessly. "It's a great way to deliver and consume content in a mobile environment. It's easy to get access to the web. We will help the operator ensure these widgets are trusted, certified and part of the good experience for customer," Gilbert said. "We also will strengthen the brand value of the operator and deliver it as part of an overall package to the operator. It ties with recommendation and profiling. They come together as part of this rich and open BREW experience."

Plaza is not device-dependent, but operators can personalize and certify them. Qualcomm is also working with developers to develop widgets for Plaza.

For more on Plaza:
- read this release

Related stories:
Qualcomm launches consumer portal via Ntelos
Qualcomm moves into off portal

FCC may cap early termination fees

Sue Marek — Wed, 21 May 2008 11:49:51 -0400

According to the Associated Press, the FCC is quietly negotiating with wireless carriers to reduce termination fees that carriers charge customers when they cancel their contracts. Many carriers still charge customers $175 for quitting their service contract early. The FCC is supposedly proposing that wireless carriers give customers up to 30 days after they sign a cell phone contract or until 10 days after they receive their first bill to cancel their service without penalty.

The plan would not put an end to all early termination fees, however but would reduce the fees based upon how long the customer sticks with the contract. In exchange for agreeing with the plan, wireless carriers would not be held accountable in state courts when they are sued by angry customers over the termination fees.

Many operators already pro-rate their early termination fees, a practice first championed by Verizon Wireless back in 2006. T-Mobile, Sprint, AT&T and Verizon Wireless have all said that they will pro-rate their fees.

For more details:
- see this AP story

Related stories:
T-Mobile USA to pro-rate ETFs, too. See this T-Mobile story.
AT&T changes ETF policy. Read this AT&T story.
Verizon makes good on ETF promise. See this Verizon article.

Vodafone makes first mobile Internet acquisition

Lynnette Luna — Tue, 20 May 2008 11:39:43 -0400

Vodafone made its first acquisition in the mobile Internet space, paying $49 million in cash for Zyb, a private Dutch company that provides social networking and contacts management technology--two hot applications in the mobile space. Zyb enables mobile users to back up their contacts on a website and offers IM services and calendar-sharing with other users online, a service that could morph into a platform for mobile advertising. The deal is part of Vodafone's "total communications" strategy in the newly created Internet Services division to offer services beyond the mobile phone.

For more about Vodafone's Internet strategy:
- check out this article from the Financial Times

T-Mobile USA to merge with Sprint Nextel?

Mon, 05 May 2008 06:59:58 -0400

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, T-Mobile USA parent company Deutsche Telekom is mulling a bid to acquire Sprint Nextel. The acquisition would lead to a combined T-Mobile USA and Sprint Nextel, which would make for the largest wireless carrier in the U.S. Sprint Nextel boasts a market capitalization of $22 billion after its revenue fell to $40.1 billion in 2007 from $41 billion a year earlier--the operator also booked a net loss of $29.5 billion in the fourth quarter due to a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $29.7 billion. At the end of its fourth quarter, Sprint was still the No. 3 carrier with 53.8 million subscribers. With 28.7 million customers at the end of December, T-Mobile USA lags a distant fourth, but a merger with Sprint would roughly triple its subscriber base and vault the company ahead of AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

Sprint uses CDMA technology and T-Mobile USA uses GSM, which has led some to predict LTE could be the technology that bridges the two carriers. That, of course, leaves Sprint's WiMAX build out plans in the lurch. Would regulators really allow the No. 3 and No. 4 U.S. carriers merge?

For more on the report:
- read the full article at WSJ (sub. req.)

SPOTLIGHT: Vodafone bundles data into all plans

Fri, 02 May 2008 06:59:52 -0400

Vodafone U.K. has added unlimited data usage to all its new monthly plans, which makes it the first U.K. carrier that does not require a separate plan for mobile Internet or email usage. Article

Can Garmin find a home for nuvifone?

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:59:54 -0400

Garmin debuted its GPS-centric handset, nuvifone, earlier this year just before the Mobile World Congress show, but now the company claims that "a number of wireless carriers in our primary markets" are interested in carrying the new phone. Many carriers already offer substantial location-based services developed by Garmin's myriad competitors, which could make finding a home for the GPS device in the U.S. a tough sell.

For more on Garmin's nuvifone:
- read this article from Kansas City Star

2008's Top Emerging Wireless Companies: The Fierce 15

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:59:59 -0400

A medley of smart startups and engaging entrepreneurs

Despite wireless carrier consolidation and an 84 percent penetration rate, the U.S. wireless industry remains vibrant and highly competitive. Much of its continued success can be attributed to the entrepreneurial startups that flock to this industry in hope of success.

Every year FierceWireless editors evaluate dozens of the most innovative and smart emerging companies in the wireless industry. Our final selection--the top 15--are listed here as part of the FierceWireless' annual Fierce 15 list.

The winners this year are very diverse. A few are home to some of the best and brightest engineers who have developed interesting solutions to some of the most confounding wireless problems--like how to solve antenna interference issues in the handset or how to deliver better in-home coverage. Others are creative application firms that have come up with what we believe will be very compelling consumer services guaranteed to increase carrier ARPUs.

One thing all our Fierce 15 companies have in common is a bright executive team and the potential to advance the wireless industry. Here are the firms that we think will become great success stories. Click here for the full feature. -Sue

The 2008 Fierce 15 winners are...

Verizon Wireless adds 1.5M customers

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:59:58 -0400

Verizon Wireless executives said this morning that the operator is weathering the strong economic uncertainty and fails to show any signs of weakness. The company reported that first quarter net adds were 1.5 million, bringing its total subscriber base to 67.2 million. That's down from 2 million net adds in fourth quarter 2007. Revenues totaled $11.7 billion, up 13.2 percent year over year. Here's a breakdown of the other key metrics:

ARPU: Retail ARPU was $51.40, up 1.3 percent year over year. However, this is slightly down from fourth quarter 2007 when the operator had an ARPU of $51.49.

Data: Data ARPU was $11.94, up from $11.06 in fourth quarter 2007. Data now represents 23 percent of total service revenue up from 17.5 percent a year ago. Data revenues were $2.3 billion. The company had 48.1 million retain data customers in March, accounting for 74 percent of the retail customer base.

Churn: Total churn is 1.19 percent, down from 1.2 percent total churn in fourth quarter 2007. Retail post-paid churn is 0.93 percent, down from 0.94 percent in fourth quarter.

700 MHz spectrum: Verizon executives say that the company increased its spectrum inventory by 60 percent thanks to its wins in the 700 MHz spectrum auction.

Content: Verizon Wireless customers sent or received more than 58 billion text messages and 1.1 billion picture/video messages. Customers downloaded 34.6 million songs and videos.

For more,
- see this Verizon press release

Related stories:
Verizon Wireless adds 2M customers. Verizon earnings
Carrier Metrics: Churn, ARPU and subs for 2007. Wireless carrier metrics.

Timeline - Sprint's Ill-fated Pivot

Mike Dolan — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:15:43 -0400

Sprint's Pivot has had a long history of troubles. Below is a timeline of this ill-fated joint venture between the cable companies and a wireless carrier:

Nov. 1, 2005 - Four cable companies team with Sprint in $200M JV

Nov. 13, 2006 - Sprint-Cable JV to launch Wireless

Feb. 22, 2007 - Sprint-Cable JV Quietly Making Strides Toward Quad-play

April 3, 2007 - FCC privacy rules could block Sprint's Pivot

April 15, 2007 - Comcast CEO on killer apps for Pivot

April 30, 2007 - Time Warner announces Pivot details

May 18, 2007 - Waiting for Pivot's Mobile DVR

June 14, 2007 - Sprint may spin off WiMAX unit

Aug. 2, 2007 - Sprint drops out of SpectrumCo cable consortium

Nov. 2, 2007 - Sprint's about-face on Pivot

Nov. 8, 2007 - Time Warner says Pivot demand "tepid"

Nov. 9, 2007 - Sprint, Clearwire cancel WiMAX pairing, rethinks Pivot

Nov. 15, 2007 - Report: Pivot's cable companies to go it alone

Dec. 4, 2007 - Cox, Google to bid; Time Warner, Comcast won't

Mar. 28, 2008 - Cable's love affair with wireless

AT&T adds 1.3 mil subscribers in 1Q

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 06:59:58 -0400

AT&T reported its seventh consecutive quarter of wireless revenue growth. Revenue's from the telco's wireless business were up 18.3 percent year-over-year for a total of $11.8 billion. Here's a rundown of the largest U.S. operator's key metrics for first quarter:

ARPU: Average revenue per user was $50.18 up 2 percent from the year-ago quarter. Retail postpaid ARPU growth was up 5 percent.

Data: Data revenues were up 57.3 percent to $2.3 billion from the year-earlier quarter. Data now represents 21.5 percent of AT&T's total wireless revenues, up from 16 percent in first quarter 2007. During first quarter customers sent 620 million MMS messages and 44 billion SMS messages.

3G: 11 million customers now have 3G devices. The company's UMTS/HSDPA network is available in 272 metro areas.

700 MHz spectrum: AT&T executives said that based upon the company's purchase of the 700 MHz spectrum assets of Aloha Wireless and its winnings in the 700 MHz spectrum auction, AT&T will have contiguous and unencumbered spectrum that will cover 100 percent of the top 200 markets and 80 percent of the U.S. population.

iPhone: iPhone continues to be popular with AT&T customers. Executives said during this morning's call with investors that the average iPhone ARPUs are in the mid to upper $90 range. More than 40 percent of the customers that purchase an iPhone are new to AT&T.

Unlimited plans: Prior to debuting its $99/mo. unlimited rate plan about 1.5 percent of new customers would sign up for rate plans at $99/mo. or above. Now about 4 percent sign up for the $99/mo. rate plan.

For more, see AT&T's earnings release.

Related stories:
AT&T to layoff 1.5 percent of employees. See this AT&T report
AT&T: 95% of iPhone owners surf the mobile web. See this AT&T story
AT&T, T-Mobile match VZW on flat rate, sort of. Read this AT&T report