metropcs

U.S. Cellular, other small U.S. operators continue to lag behind

Phil Goldstein — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:24:52 -0500

When Verizon Wireless' $28.1 billion acquisition of Alltel closes, there will be no U.S. wireless networks with between 7 million and 30 million customers, and the gap between small operators and large behemoths will grow wider, according to a report by the Mobile World Briefing.

There are currently seven networks with fewer than 7 million subscribers but greater than 250,000, although if AT&T's plan to buy Centennial gains regulatory approval, there will only be six. They include Qwest, Ntelos, U.S. Cellular, Leap, MetroPCS and Cincinnati Bell. During the third quarter, four out of the seven experienced net declines in subscriber growth, with Qwest experiencing the largest drop. Qwest lost 45,000 subscribers in the quarter, taking its base down to 770,000, its lowest base since the third quarter of 2005.

Leap and MetroPCS remain the fastest-growing small operators, with annual growth rates of 27.6 percent and 32.3 percent respectively. However, the annual growth rate for the seven combined was 13.1 percent, compared to 15.9 percent for T-Mobile USA, 14.0 percent for AT&T Mobility, 11.2 percent for Verizon and -6.3 percent for Sprint Nextel.

When the Verizon-Alltel deal closes it will create company with more than 83 million subscribers. AT&T is the second largest, with nearly 75 million subscribers.

For more:
- see this article

Related Articles:
FCC approves Verizon's acquisition of Alltel
AT&T buys Centennial for $944M

MetroPCS launches nationwide plan

Phil Goldstein — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:30:47 -0500

MetroPCS announced a new service coverage plan, Unlimited Nationwide, which it says will be available in 300 cities in the contiguous United States, and takes advantage of the company's roaming agreement it made with Leap Wireless earlier this fall.

MetroPCS said that the expanded network will not cost its customers any additional charge to their $45 and $50 service plans, and can be purchased for $5 per month on other qualified service plans. The flat-rate carrier said the service will begin Nov. 10.

"This offering is a major benefit and value to consumers. It takes our existing predictable, affordable wireless service platform and extends it to our customers nationwide," said MetroPCS CEO Roger Linquist. "Our customers can now seamlessly use their MetroPCS wireless service while they travel throughout the expanded service area."

At the end of September, MetroPCS and its rival and sometimes-rumored merger partner Leap Wireless, settled all of their outstanding litigation and inked a roaming deal that covered both networks' present and future markets.

For more:
- see this release

Related Article:
Leap, Metro PCS announce roaming deal
Auction over: Time for Leap-MetroPCS to merge?

MetroPCS adds 249K subs in Q3

Phil Goldstein — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:00:53 -0500

MetroPCS saw a drop in third quarter net profits, despite a 23 percent rise in revenues, mostly because of higher costs that the regional carrier took on from adding subscribers as well as a drop in ARPU. The company saw its net profits drop nearly 16 percent to $44.88 million, down from $53.11 million in the year-ago period.

Net adds: There were 249,000 net adds in the quarter, up from just over 114,000 net adds in the year ago quarter, and closed out the quarter with 4.84 million consolidated subscribers.

ARPU: The company's ARPU declined to $40.42, down from $42.77 in the year-ago quarter. MetroPCS attributed this to higher participation in family plans and services that are now bundled into plans that were once a la carte.

Churn: Churn declined to 4.8 percent, down from 5.2 percent in the third quarter last year, and, in the earnings statement, CEO Roger Linquist cited the decline in churn in both the carrier's core and expanding markets as one of the key highlights for the quarter.

Expanding service: At the beginning of the third quarter the carrier launched its first market in the Northeast, in Philadelphia. Linquist said the carrier expects to launch in the New York and Boston metropolitan areas in the near future. "We expect our Northeast markets will represent a significant opportunity for the future growth of MetroPCS," he said. "The Northeast includes some of the most densely populated metropolitan areas in the country that we believe are ideal for MetroPCS' predictable, affordable and flexible service."

For more:
- see this article
- see this release

Related Articles:
MetroPCS tallies 184,000 net adds in 2Q
MetroPCS will flash existing CDMA handsets

20. Roger Linquist, Chairman, CEO, MetroPCS

Phil Goldstein — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:24:17 -0400

What makes him powerful: Remember when paging was a powerful force in the wireless industry? Roger Linquist certainly does. The long-time wireless veteran founded PageMart Wireless in 1989 and was a founding director of the CTIA.

That wireless industry knowledge came in handy when Linquist founded MetroPCS in 1994. As a flat-rate regional operator, MetroPCS offers innovative no-contract monthly plans that include unlimited long-distance, unlimited text messaging and more. The company's strategy is to launch its service in urban markets where population makes capital deployments more efficient. In April 2007, MetroPCS launched a $1.15 billion IPO.

Although MetroPCS lacks a nationwide footprint, the carrier recently made coverage less of an issue by ending all pending litigation with rival Leap Wireless. At the end of September, the two companies announced they would be entering into a national roaming deal that allows their customers to roam on each other's networks.

While rumors continue to bubble beneath the surface that the two will merge before the end of the year, Linquist has given no indication that such a move is imminent.

Linquist also made a canny move when MetroPCS announced the MetroFlash service in August, which allows customers with CDMA phones from other operators to bring their existing phone over to MetroPCS service and have it "flashed" so that it will work on the network, for a fee of $30.

As traditional operators encroach on MetroPCS' territory with their own flat-rate plans, the competitive landscape is intensifying. Linquist, however, seems to be succeeding in keeping MetroPCS a step ahead of the rest.

25 Most Powerful People in Wireless

Sue Marek — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:58:35 -0400

And the most powerful people in wireless are:

In today's tough economic climate, having powerful leadership can be critical to a company's success and longevity. A powerful person can turn a critical deal into a reality. They can redefine an entire industry's business strategy. And they might even be able to influence the way consumers think about wireless technology.

How do you determine a person's "power" quotient? That's a tricky question and one that the FierceWireless editorial team has pondered quite a bit lately. We think someone is powerful if they wield the right mix of influence, business savvy, leadership and technical innovation. But they also have to have that something extra--whether it's a charismatic personality, brilliant mind or down-to-earth approachability that makes people want to work with them, for them, or just follow them in the news.

The 25 Most Powerful People in Wireless is a compilation of who we think are the movers and shakers in this industry. These are the folks who shrewdly plot the path that many of the other industry players follow. We will be revealing five of our 25 picks every day this week, ending with the five most powerful people in the industry on Friday. Be sure to check our list every day to see who made the cut.

You may not agree with all our picks but I can assure you that this list was not compiled lightly. The Fierce editors scrutinized every person we selected to make sure we could justify their position on our list. Nevertheless, I encourage you to write or comment and let us know if you disagree with our picks or think we've been negligent by not including someone.

When you take a look at our list, you may notice that it's not particularly diverse. We realize that and yet we think our list of the 25 most powerful people in wireless accurately depicts the state of the industry, which so far is still notoriously male-dominated--particularly in the high-ranking positions at many companies. We hope that trend changes in the years ahead. -Sue

Big is better in a slumping economy

Jim Barthold — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:35:12 -0400

The spiraling economy, while it doesn't favor anyone, will do the least harm to bigger telecommunications players, according to analyst Craig Moffett at Sanford Bernstein. Companies like AT&T and Verizon, while smacked by bad times, can invest in advertising and networks to grab for more market share.

Smaller, less financially stable players are in deep doo-doo. Sprint Nextel lost nearly a third of its stock value over the last fortnight and MetroPCS and Leap Wireless followed suit by losing about 14 percent. Raising more cash to cover operations is becoming a problem for companies that depend on financing, Moffett said, suggesting that Sprint would have a hard time selling off its Nextel business if it needed to raise cash because it would be just as hard for a buyer to find the money to purchase it.

While Verizon President and COO Denny Strigl emphasized his company is "well positioned," AT&T declined to comment any further on its financial position. Hesse, as expected, conceded that Sprint has "been hit harder than some other telecom companies."

For more:
- see this article

Related:
Virgin Mobile loses 111,273 customers in Q2. article:

MetroPCS partners with Best Buy

Sue Marek — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:59:00 -0400

Best Buy is dipping deeper into the wireless world. The retailer has partnered with flat-rate carrier MetroPCS to make its handsets and services available in more than 200 Best Buy stores in 14 markets where MetroPCS offers service.

Consumers will be able to purchase MetroPCS service--which does not require a signed contract for activation--at the retail chain.

Best Buy has been trying to establish itself as a leader in wireless retail sales by expanding its wireless product lines and establishing cell phone departments in its U.S. stores. The retailer is also going to start selling the popular iPhone 3G in stores this month.

For more:
- see this article

Related articles:
Best Buy will sell iPhone 3G
MetroPCS picks LTE for 4G

MetroPCS benefits from economic woes

Sue Marek — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:56:09 -0400

Flat-rate operator MetroPCS seems to be reaping the rewards of a sagging economy. The company added 184,000 net new subscribers in the quarter, giving it a total subscriber base of 4.6 million. Service revenues were $599 million, a 25 percent increase over second quarter 2007. Total revenues were $679 million, a 23 percent increase the previous year.

The company's churn was 4.5 percent, which is down 30 basis points year over year. Its average revenue per user is $41.77, which is down from $43.17 in the previous year. The company said the decline in ARPU was because of the higher participation in the firm's family plans as well as reduced revenue from certain features that before were provided a la carte.

For more:
- see this press release

Related articles:
MetroPCS will flash existing CDMA handsets
MetroPCS tallies 184,000 net adds in 2Q

J.D. Power: Flat-rate prepaid pricing plans a hit

Lynnette Luna — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 11:37:30 -0400

According to J.D. Power and Associates' annual prepaid wireless customers satisfaction study, the overall satisfaction among U.S. prepaid users is higher among those who subscribe to flat-rate plans with unlimited minutes versus those who have per-minute pricing plans because of the cost advantages associated with the flat-rate plans.

"Prepaid customers are clearly responding favorably to these unique service plan options, as they provide a cost-effective alternative to traditional price-per-minute plans that are typically offered and allow customers freedom from worrying about being charged extra fees for making too many calls within a given time period," said Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates. "Although plans with unlimited minutes typically have geographic restrictions for placing and receiving wireless calls, they still fulfill customer expectations and tend to meet a specific service need better than other wireless plans. In fact, 46 percent of unlimited plan customers have completely replaced their traditional landline phone with wireless service, compared with only 13 percent of traditional pay-as-you-go customers."

MetroPCS ranks highest in prepaid wireless satisfaction for the first time since the inception of J.D. Power's study that began measuring prepaid user satisfaction three years ago. Virgin Mobile was at the top in 2007.

For more:
- check out Cellular-News

Related story:
Report: Virgin Mobile best prepaid customer service. Virgin Mobile story

NextWave offloads AWS spectrum

Lynnette Luna — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:19:36 -0400

NextWave Wireless offloaded a large swathe of spectrum, signing agreements with four operators to sell a portion of its AWS license portfolio. The sale represents 63 percent of its total AWS megahertz-pops, for a total of $150.1 million.

According to the company's 8-K filing with the SEC, AWS Wireless, the wholly owned subsidiary of NextWave, agreed to sell certain AWS licenses to T-Mobile for $97.5 million. The geographic areas covered by the licenses include markets in: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, California, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The company also entered into separate agreements to sell certain parts of its AWS licenses to each of Atlantic Wireless, ACS (Alaska) Wireless and MetroPCS. NextWave is selling AWS licenses to Atlantic, Alaska and MetroPCS for an aggregate consideration of $52.6 million. The geographic areas covered by the licenses include markets in Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Ohio, Alaska, Georgia and Florida.

In all, the agreements call for NextWave to sell 599 million MHZ-pops of AWS spectrum at an average price of $0.25 per MHZ-pop. Pursuant to the terms of NextWave's 7 percent Senior Secured Notes, $75 million of the proceeds from the sale will be deposited into a restricted cash collateral account and $75 million will be used to redeem a portion of the Notes. After the sale, the company will possess 348 million MHz-pops of AWS spectrum primarily in New England, Florida and California. NextWave acquired all of its AWS licenses for a total of $115.5 million, or $0.12 per MHZ-pop, at an FCC auction held in 2006.

NextWave's remaining U.S. spectrum assets include 2.8 billion MHZ-pops of 2.3 GHz WCS spectrum, 972 million MHz-pops of 2.5 GHz BRS/EBS spectrum, and 348 million MHz-pops of AWS spectrum. In addition the company has 5.9 billion MHz-pops of spectrum in Europe, Canada, and South America.

In April, NextWave announced that it had retained Deutsche Bank and UBS Investment Bank to sell its U.S. spectrum assets. The company has also retained Canaccord Adams to sell its Canadian spectrum assets.

For more:
- read this 8-K report

Related story:
NextWave selling big swathes of spectrum. NextWave story

MetroPCS tallies 184,000 net adds in 2Q

Sue Marek — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:40:49 -0400

Flat-rate carrier MetroPCS released a few tantalizing second quarter 2008 metrics. The carrier added 793,000 gross subscribers, bringing its total customer base to 4.6 million subscribers as of the end of the quarter. This figure includes net adds of 184,000, which is up from 154,713 net adds in the second quarter 2007. Overall MetroPCS grew its subscriber base by more than 1 million compared to the same quarter in the previous year.

Churn was 4.5 percent for the quarter, which was down slightly from the previous year but an increase of 0.5 percent from first quarter.

The company has continued to launch its service in new markets including Philadelphia, Shreveport/Bossier City, Jacksonville and Bakersfield.

For more:
- see this press release

Related stories:
MetroPCS taps Alcatel-Lucent for AWS buildout
MetroPCS adds 452K subs as ARPU falls 3.5%

MetroPCS will flash existing CDMA handsets

Sue Marek — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:55:48 -0400

Flat-rate carrier MetroPCS is offering potential customers a unique proposition--come to MetroPCS and you don't have to buy a new phone because the operator will reflash your existing CDMA handset so it will work on the carrier's network. Of course, this will only work with CDMA handsets, so that means it will primarily benefit customers that have purchased phones from Sprint, Verizon Wireless, Alltel, U.S. Cellular, Leap Wireless or another CDMA operator.

Called MetroFlash, the service will cost customers $30 and then they can get unlimited local, long distance, voicemail and text messaging from MetroPCS for $40 per month (the first month of service is free). MetroFlash is available at all MetroPCS company-owned stores and select authorized dealers in all MetroPCS markets except Las Vegas and Shreveport/Bossier City.

This is probably a smart defensive move for flat-rate carrier MetroPCS. The company is facing increased competition from nationwide operators and MVNOs that have recently launched unlimited airtime packages.

For more:
- see this release

Related story:
MetroPCS taps Alcatel-Lucent for AWS buildout
Virgin goes unlimited for $80 per month

Verizon's Alltel acquisition: What are the ramifications?

Sue Marek — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:32:03 -0400

Now that analysts and industry pundits have had 24 hours to rehash yesterday's announcement about Verizon's $28.1 billion acquisition of Alltel, there is lots of debate about how this deal will impact the industry and Alltel customers. Here's a roundup of the latest:

Alltel subscribers: Alltel customers are worried about Verizon's commitment to rural coverage and whether the deal will lead to reduced competition in rural markets. They are also concerned about the possible demise of the firm's popular MyCircle's rate plan that lets them have unlimited calling to 5, 10 or 20 numbers for a monthly fee. Alltel CEO Scott Ford says that there will be not rate plan changes right away.

What does this mean for other operators? Most of the speculation surrounds Sprint, which now moves to a more distant third place behind Verizon and AT&T. Some believe Verizon's acquisition of Alltel increases the chance that Sprint will be acquired by Deutsche Telekom. Technology Business Research believes the acquisition of Alltel will place new burdens on AT&T and cause it to search for possible acquisition targets. That may be tough since prospects are limited. Possible acquisition targets would include U.S. Cellular, Centennial, and unlimited local service providers Leap Wireless and MetroPCS.

For more:
- see this AP story
- see this Chicago Tribune story
- read this Sprint Connections story

Related stories:
Verizon finally moves back into No. 1 slot. Read this Verizon acquires Alltel opinion
Verizon snaps up Alltel for $28.1B. Read this Verizon acquires Alltel story

Report: Huawei to sell mobile devices unit

Thu, 08 May 2008 06:59:57 -0400

Huawei is mulling a sale of a multi-billion dollar stake in its mobile devices unit to a foreign investor that could connect it with U.S. carriers. The renewed interest in such a deal comes after a failed $2.2 billion bid by Bain Capital and Huawei for 3Com. Since 3Com had contracts with the U.S. government for some security services, the deal did not pass the regulatory process.

Huawei has risen as a competitive force on the networking side of the wireless industry, but the company has had some difficulty breaking into the competitive handset market in the U.S. and Europe. In 2006 Huawei inked a deal with Vodafone to supply 3G handsets to the various carriers through Europe. For handsets in the U.S. however, Huawei only has one announced carrier partner: MetroPCS.

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

MetroPCS adds 452K subs as ARPU falls 3.5%

Tue, 06 May 2008 06:59:54 -0400

MetroPCS' latest quarterly earnings included strong net income, which increased 8.7 percent to $39.5 million, up from $36.4 million last year and solid subscriber gains. Revenue increased 23 percent year-on-year to $662.4 million.

ARPU: Average revenue per user fell 3.5 percent to $42.22 from $43.75 this time last year.

Churn: MetroPCS' average monthly churn rate remained at 4 percent.

Net Subscribers: The carrier added close to 452,000 subscribers during the quarter, down from 454,000 subscribers in the year-ago period. MetroPCS now has more than 4.4 million subscribers.

For more:
- read this release on MetroPCS Q1 2008 earnings

Is there much value in competitive PTT offerings?

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:59:59 -0400

Is there much value in push-to-talk offerings from operators other than Sprint Nextel?

Verizon Wireless, according to The Wall Street Journal, is planning to launch a new, faster version of its PTT service over EV-DO this summer after offering PTT for nearly five years. The news follows MetroPCS' launch of a PTT service that enables users to connect to other subscribers on other networks if they use a specific MetroPCS PTT phone. And others such AT&T and Alltel have been offering PTT services for some time now.

Ever since Nextel, prior to its merger with Sprint, launched PTT and recorded the industry's best churn and ARPU rates, competitors have been trying to replicate its success. In 2003, the first competitive offerings came on the scene, and they had little impact on Nextel's subscriber base or customer growth as they were technically inferior and could not penetrate the vast number of user groups.

Then in 2006, Sprint Nextel began losing iDEN customers, and competitors still could not achieve much market success with PTT offerings.

Fast forward to 2008, and Sprint Nextel is working on wooing back the many disgruntled iDEN users and launching QChat over EV-DO Rev. A. But the country's largest PTT operator may find a diminished market. PTT simply isn't on the top list of requirements for the enterprise market anymore, says Phil Redman, vice president of research with Gartner Research. There are only certain groups where PTT is important, he says.

That also means a diminished market for competitors too. Of course, carriers like MetroPCS are targeting the consumer and family groups, but the entire dynamic of the industry has changed. PTT was originally used to help keep voice prices down. With unlimited mobile plans on the market and features such as free calling to fellow customers of a particular operator, does PTT really offer much of a significant differentiator?

But what's a really interesting play is the idea of pushing voice and data services. For instance, one QChat initiative Qualcomm has undertaken is Yagatta, which is an advanced version of push to talk that includes simultaneous voice and data sessions. Yagatta would allow PTT to be incorporated with other services such as social networking, user-generated content, chat rooms, video text messaging and more.

Simple PTT is passÃƒÂ© now. And Sprint Nextel understands this as it's working to add push-to-x features such as using one button to send email and pictures. With all the talk about how difficult it is for customers to navigate through menus to consume the mobile content they desire, this one-button instantaneous feature should become a powerful tool to generating data revenues. -Lynnette

Verizon Wireless to launch 3G PTT

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 06:59:58 -0400

Verizon Wireless is planning to launch a new, faster version of their push-to-talk service over its 3G network this summer, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal that cites the carrier's director of business marketing, Michael Willsey. The carrier has offered PTT for almost five years.

The news follows MetroPCS' launch of a PTT service that allows users to connect to subscribers on any network if they use a specific MetroPCS PTT phone. The service turns the phone of the user on the receiving end into a temporary walkie-talkie.

According to Gartner, there are 26 million subscribers to the most popular version of PTT, iDEN. Sprint Nextel counts 19 million of those subs as its own.

For more on the PTT trend:
- read this article about Verizon Wireless' 3G PTT

Leap: VZW, AT&T maybe shouldn't bid on D Block

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 06:59:56 -0400

Leap Wireless' SVP and general counsel Robert Irving testified today before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet about Leap's take on the outcome of the 700 MHz auction.

"We have been concerned in recent years with the ever-increasing consolidation of spectrum assets and market share into the hands of the nation's largest wireless carriers, and the consequences that this portends for Leap and other small and mid-sized carriers," Irving said, according to his prepared remarks.

Irving outlined a few lessons learned from the 700 MHz auction:

One disturbing trend in wireless: Two of the largest carriers increased their vast spectrum holdings thanks to the auction. Verizon Wireless and AT&T contributed $16.3 billion of the total $19.6 billion raised during the auction.
Meanwhile, Leap and Alltel won no licenses, while MetroPCS won one license.
The auction provided limited bidding opportunities for small and mid-sized carriers and little headway was made in bringing new entrants into the industry.
The creation of large geographic areas in the C Block made it difficult for smaller and mid-sized carriers to compete.
The complex public/private partnership framework for the D Block, especially the extremely stringent geographic build out requirements, made the spectrum slice highly unattractive.
The FCC should examine whether breaking the D Block into smaller segments makes better sense and whether AT&T or Verizon Wireless should be allowed to bid on it given the large swaths of 700 MHz spectrum those carriers already have.

For more on Irving's remarks:
- take a look at the entire testimony

MetroPCS pre-releases Q1 results

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 06:59:57 -0400

MetroPCS announced that it added 960,000 gross subscribers during the first quarter of this year or 452,000 net subs. The additions represent a 15 percent increase over the first quarter of 2007. Churn declined 0.8 percent from the fourth quarter to 4.0 percent, but was unchanged when compared to the first quarter of 2007. The 452,000 new subs brought the carriers total subscriber base up to 4.4 million.

"With over three quarters of a million net subscriber additions in the last six months, consumers continue to see the extraordinary value proposition that MetroPCS provides to those who want unlimited wireless service at a compelling price," said Roger D. Linquist, MetroPCS' Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.

For more on MetroPCS' growth:
- read this article from the AP

Auction over: Time for Leap-MetroPCS to merge?

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:59:58 -0400

Now that the 700 MHz auction is over Leap Wireless and MetroPCS can resume talks about a merger since the FCC's anti-collusion rules are no longer in effect. During the bidding process for the wireless spectrum, participants were not allowed to discuss business propositions or spectrum strategy. Analysts expect the companies to begin talks and eventually work out a deal, according to a report from the AP. FierceWireless predicted at the beginning of the year that the two carriers would renew talks after the auction, too.

MetroPCS placed an unsolicited buyout bid on Leap Wireless last year, but Leap rejected the bid. MetroPCS offered $5.5 billion in stock plus $2 billion in acquired debt for Leap. As the carrier mulled the unsolicited bid, its executives and board members got antsy: First, Leap's CFO Amin Khalifa left the flat-rate carrier. Then, James Dondero, a Leap board member and president of Highland Capital Management resigned effective immediately.

For more on the potential deal:
- read this article from the AP
- check out the backstory to the deal here