Year-end 4G expansion plans were touted by Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile … 4 years ago this week.
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!
Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA jump on expansion bandwagon
The race to meet year-end network expansion goals continued this week as Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA both announced greater coverage from their respective next-generation networks, just a day after similar announcements from AT&T Mobility and Sprint Nextel. Verizon Wireless claims that it has added LTE coverage to 29 new markets today, bringing that networks total coverage to 470 markets across the country. The carrier noted that new markets include Selma, Ala.; Clarksburg, W. Va.; and Port Angeles, Wash. In addition to the new markets, Verizon Wireless said it has bolstered coverage in 36 current markets, with total network coverage at more than 250 million potential customers covered. … Read More
AT&T Mobility, Sprint Nextel expand LTE
Just ahead of the holidays, AT&T Mobility and Sprint Nextel announced expansions of their respective LTE networks, with AT&T Mobility adding or expanding service in nine markets, while Sprint Nextel launched service or expanded coverage in six markets. For AT&T Mobility the new market launches include Oxford, Miss.; Tucson, Ariz.; Melbourne, Fla.; Springfield, Mass.; and Green Bay, Wisc.; with expanded coverage in Phoenix; Middlesex County, N.J.; Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. This expansion is not to be confused with the carrier’s HSPA+-based network that it labels as “4G” compared with “4G LTE.” … Read More
RIM sells NewBay, makes $65M payment to Nokia
Research In Motion is selling NewBay to Synchronoss Technologies for about half of what it paid for the company 14 months ago. Synchronoss will buy the provider of cloud-based content for $55.5 million. RIM bought NewBay for an estimated $100 million in October 2011, before the troubled smartphone maker brought in Thorstein Heins as its new CEO. Despite its well-documented decline, RIM has remained debt-free and has almost $2 billion in cash on hand. So it doesn’t appear to be unloading NewBay in a desperate attempt to raise cash, although its bills are mounting. In addition to a hefty marketing budget associated with the upcoming launch of BlackBerry 10, RIM now has to pay royalties to Nokia for use of the Finnish company’s standards essential patents related to Wi-Fi. … Read More
FCC approves smartwatch
The Federal Communications Commission has approved the Pebble wristwatch, one of the most prominent products financed on Kickstarter. The Pebble watch uses Bluetooth to connect to smartphones running Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android operating system, enabling users to download watch faces and apps and to feel vibrations on their wrist when they receive a call or text message. As a Kickstarter company, Pebble already has orders for its product. Rather than raising venture capital, the startup financed the watch’s development with payments from individuals who have enough confidence in the concept to place an order before the product is ready to ship. … Read More
SBA jumps into Brazilian tower market
SBA Communications jumped into the Brazilian tower market, announcing today the acquisition of 800 “freestanding” towers from an undisclosed mobile broadband provider for approximately $174 million. The company said the transaction will be paid for with cash on hand and borrowing under its revolving credit facility. SBA management said it expects the towers to generate approximately $9 million to $11 million in cash flow through 2013. … Read More
Ericsson writes down ST-Ericsson investment
Ericsson says it will write down the value of its investment in ST-Ericsson by $1.2 billion, and that its third quarter earnings will be off by the same amount due to the charge. The news comes less than two weeks after Ericsson’s partner in the chipmaking venture announced plans to bail out. STMicroelectronics is exiting the joint venture as part of a reorganization. The dissolution of the joint venture led to speculation that Ericsson would sell the 50% it does not own, but Ericsson says it has no plans to do that. So the future of ST-Ericsson is up in the air. Ericsson could try to sell it, either as a unit or in pieces. The venture’s applications processor unit is already being absorbed by STMicroelectronics. … Read More
DT CEO Obermann to be replaced by Höttges at end of 2013
T-Mobile USA parent company Deutsche Telekom announced that CEO Rene Obermann will leave the company effective Dec. 31, 2013. Obermann has been at the company for 16 years, the past seven as CEO. Replacing Obermann will be Timotheus Höttges, who has been with the company since 2000, most recently serving as CFO. DT noted that Höttges played a central role in the company’s decision to form the Everything Everywhere joint venture in the United Kingdom with France Télécom, as well as the eventually nixed sale of T-Mobile USA to AT&T. DT added that while the T-Mobile USA deal failed, it “did lead to the payment of a considerable break-up fee to Deutsche Telekom,” which included $3 billion in cash and considerable spectrum assets. … Read More
Carriers to invest more in infrastructure in 2013
Telecom infrastructure spending is projected to bounce back in the year ahead, with investment in North America and Asia driving growth. Infonetics Research is projecting worldwide growth of roughly 4%, as even operators that have been delaying investments finally start spending. “Service providers have no choice but to invest in their networks now; some have been restricting capex for so many years that they are experiencing network outages, unable to handle exploding traffic,” said Infonetics analyst Stéphane Téral. Infonetics projects that carrier spending on every type of telecom equipment except optical and TDM voice will be up in 2013, and that capital expenditures will focus on fiber-based wireline broadband, 2G mobile network capacity expansion, 2G migration to 3G, and migration to LTE projects through 2015. … Read More
Hesse’s 5-year ride on the Sprint Nextel roller coaster
Few wireless companies over the past five years have provided more fodder for news than Sprint Nextel, a time frame that is also the length in which its current leader, Dan Hesse, has been at the helm. Over those 1,800-plus days, Sprint Nextel has been a harbinger of feast or famine that has kept many entertained. A root cause for much of that vacillation, according to Hesse, has been the financial straits the carrier has been operating under, which almost led to a bankruptcy filing in 2008. … Read More
Samsung expands iPhone processor foundry
Samsung is moving forward with plans to invest $3.9 billion in the Texas chip foundry that makes the processors for the iPhone, despite reports that it may be losing Apple’s business in the near future. The Texas government has given the Korean electronics giant the green light to move forward with its expansion, meaning that production at the upgraded Austin facility could start as soon as the second half of 2013. The iPhone 5’s A6 processor is made by Samsung in Austin, as is the A5 processor that powers the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2. But Samsung is Apple’s number one rival in the smartphone market and in courtrooms around the world, so it is hardly surprising that the iPhone maker is reportedly ditching Samsung as it specs its next device. Samsung’s contract to supply chips to Apple expires in 2014. … Read More
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