AT&T acquisition, Sprint small cell update … 5 things to know today

1. AT&T said it will buy platform partner Quickplay Media for an undisclosed amount. The company said Quickplay will support the three streaming video services it plans to launch this year through DirecTV. One of those will be a mobile-first video service that appears to be a direct competitor to Verizon Wireless’ Go90 service.
AT&T said Quickplay’s multitenant IP distribution infrastructure will allow the carrier to “host and distribute all forms of video traffic.” The carrier said that Quickplay’s 350 employees and contractors will join AT&T.
The Quickplay platform complements AT&T’s growing video content business, which the carrier recently consolidated into a unit called Ellation. The unit includes the Crunchyroll and Creativebug properties AT&T and The Chernin Group acquired through their Otter Media partnership.
2. Comcast has made another acquisition to bolster its ad delivery capabilities, as it faces stronger competition in the content delivery space from AT&T and Verizon Communications. The cable giant confirmed the purchase of French company StickyAds.tv. Last year, Comcast bought an advertising company Visible World.
3. Sprint and its partner Mobilitie appear to be using Airspan’s equipment for wireless backhaul as part of the carrier’s small cell rollout. A California transportation engineer posted pictures this weekend that seem to show Airspan’s IBridge solution on a Sprint small cell in Los Angeles. Wireless backhaul can cut costs and time to market as fiber does not need to be run to each small cell node.
Mobilitie has deployed fewer than 2,000 small cells for Sprint so far. The carrier said earlier this month it will push much of its network densification spending into next year. Analysts are keeping a close eye on small cell deployments as they believe the carrier needs to densify its network soon in order to take advantage of its rich spectrum position and grow its subscriber base.
4. Microsoft may be selling the Nokia feature phone business to Foxconn, according to China’s VTech. The software giant acquired that business in 2014, and Nokia was restricted from licensing its name for smartphones until this year. But, feature phones were always a bigger business than smartphones for Nokia, and Microsoft apparently retained the rights to use the Nokia brand on the basic phones that still dominate many emerging markets, including India. Now, Microsoft is reportedly set to sell the feature phone unit to Foxconn, the Chinese iPhone manufacturer that also made and distributed Nokia’s N1 tablet last year.
5. PCIA’s 2016 Wireless Infrastructure Show is a week away. Register here for the show, and sign upherefor the May 23 Women’s Wireless Leadership Forum reception.
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