Sprint Chairman Son tried to convince lawmakers a combined Sprint and T-Mobile was best for the country
Editor’s Note: RCR Wireless News goes all in for “Throwback Thursdays,” tapping into our archives to resuscitate the top headlines from the past. Fire up the time machine, put on the sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories!
Son claims Sprint can turn around US inferior broadband service
Following a week of build up, Sprint and Softbank Chairman Masayoshi Son took to the stage in front of the Washington D.C. Chamber of Commerce in a presentation detailing where the United States is falling behind in terms of broadband service, but decidedly absent of any talk regarding a potential Sprint offer to acquire smaller rival T-Mobile US. Son used a number of charts and graphs to highlight where the United States ranked among other countries in offering high-speed broadband services, while also pointing out the leadership position of his home country of Japan. In terms of wireless performance, the United States was shown to be far down the list, offering averaged weighted download LTE speeds of 6.5 megabits per second. By comparison, Son’s Softbank operations, which were the only separate company on the chart comparing countries, posted a speed of 21.3 Mbps, while the entirety of Japan was at 11.8 Mbps. … Read More
Son takes his case for T-Mobile US to the airwaves ahead of D.C. presentation
Ahead of a scheduled presentation in front of the Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., Sprint and Softbank Chairman Masayoshi Son took to U.S. airwaves in claiming his desire to become a more disruptive force in the domestic telecom market, as well as his desire to do so with the help of T-Mobile US. Appearing on an interview program with Charlie Rose, Son said he would like to acquire T-Mobile US, but that no formal agreement has been reached. … Read More
Sprint shakeup – Azzi out, Saw promoted
Sprint’s operational transformation has taken a few scalps as a couple of key network executives ere leaving the carrier. Bob Azzi, SVP of networks at Sprint, and president of network operations Steve Elfman are both set to depart. Fierce Wireless first reported this week that Azzi was set to leave the company next week, with Steve Elfman on tap to exit the carrier at a later date. Sprint confirmed the changes, noting that Azzi’s departure was a mutual decision, while Elfman’s departure was not expected in the near term. … Read More
Sprint revamps branded no-contract offer
In a move to bolster its presence in the white-hot prepaid space, Sprint today revamped its branded no-contract service with flat-rate plans that could step on the toes of its other offerings. The offering, dubbed Sprint Prepaid, will replace its previously offered “As You Go” service with lower priced rate plans. The new offer will join Sprint’s other no-contract offerings in the Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile and Assurance Wireless. The new Prepaid offering will include two smartphone options beginning at $45 per month for unlimited domestic voice calling, text messaging and data only via a Wi-Fi connection, no cellular data. … Read More
AT&T closes on Leap acquisition, with conditions
AT&T said it has closed on its acquisition of Leap Wireless, bolstering the carrier’s already ample stable of no-contract offerings. The deal closed just one day ahead of the Federal Communications Commission’s self-imposed 180-day review period. The deal, which was originally announced last summer, was priced at $15 per share and included all of Leap’s wireless properties, including licenses, network assets, retail stores and subscribers, or at least those that are left. Leap’s shareholders have also received a “contingent right” to proceeds gained on the eventual sale of the company’s A-Block 700 MHz spectrum license covering Chicago that Leap acquired in 2012. … Read More
Alcatel-Lucent announces more LTE, VoLTE support
Alcatel-Lucent announced its role in two new LTE deployments this week as well as supporting VoLTE and optical networking upgrades. In Taiwan, the vendor is working with telecom provider Asia Pacific Telecom (APT), to build an LTE overlay network that is aimed at making APT the first in Taiwan to offer Voice over LTE. The deployment will initially take place in the first part of this year in metro areas in the country’s northern, central and southern regions, with deployment expected to be complete by the end of 2014. … Read More
AT&T dives deeper into SDN tech
AT&T is the latest member of the telecom industry to make a strong push into the development of software-defined networking solutions. Delivering the keynote address at the recent Open Networking Summit in Santa Clara, Calif, the carrier’s senior executive vice president of technology and network operations, John Donovan, confirmed AT&T’s dedication to SDN. As IDG News Service noted, AT&T previously declared its interest in creating an SDN-enabled network when it announced its Domain 2.0 initiative in 2013. That process included reaching out to various vendors to determine which ones would be interested in pursuing SDN and network functions virtualization. Donovan used the occasion to reaffirm the carrier’s intent to migrate to an SDN-based network structure, beginning with critical processes and functions such as authentication before incorporating less immediate needs in the future. … Read More
T-Mobile US bolsters entry-level data buckets, increases cost on unlimited
T-Mobile US tightened up the data offerings on its Simple Choice rate plans, offering entry-level and mid-tier users a bit more to play with while charging heavy users a bigger toll. The announcement came late Friday afternoon, a time when companies typically look to hide announcements, though these plans could have more to do with recent knocks against the carrier’s network quality. T-Mobile US said that beginning later this month current Simple Choice customers will see their included data allotment doubled from 500 megabytes to one gigabyte. That will result in single-line plans now including unlimited calling, messaging and 1 GB of data for $50 per month. For family plans, the second line will remain an additional $30 with the expanded data allotment, with lines three-through-five priced at the same $10 per line. … Read More
Leap’s swan song a mess, AT&T acquisition can’t come soon enough
With its pending acquisition by AT&T set to close this month, Leap Wireless released what is likely its last report as an independent carrier on its operational performance. And from looking at the results, operations have been running thin for the one-time no-contract leader. According to a 10-K report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Leap said it lost $181 million during the fourth quarter, which was more than double the $74.3 million it lost during the final three months of 2012. The increased losses were connected with a near 10% decrease in revenues, which came in at $682.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2013. … Read More
Ixia completes financial review, CFO resigns
Ixia said it has completed a review of its finances after the resignation of former CEO Victor Alston due to falsified credentials. The company said it found that despite the controversy on his resume, there was no evidence of “intentional misconduct” in regards to the company’s financials. However, the company’s CFO, Tom Miller, resigned this week due to accounting errors that were discovered in the course of the investigation. Miller was cleared of intentional misconduct, but Ixia found mistakes that encompass six previous quarters in 2012 and 2013. … Read More
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