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 those sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories!
Dish adds more spectrum to its holdings
Dish Network (DISH) said it has closed on an acquisition of BDSD North America and “substantially all of the assets of TerreStar Networks,” which has helped Dish secure 40 megahertz of nationwide spectrum in the 2 GHz band. Those spectrum holdings have become a hot item in the mobile space as established operators continue looking for avenues to bolster their service offerings. Dish bid nearly $1.4 billion for TerreStar’s assets last year through a bankruptcy auction. Dish recently saw its plans to launch a mobile network postponed by the Federal Communications Commission, which called for a formal debate in regards to Dish’s attempt to … Read more
T-Mo aligns itself with rural operators
The Rural Cellular Association, which nowadays would like to be known as RCA – The Competitive Carrier Association, continued to grow its base of large operators by welcoming T-Mobile USA to the fold. RCA, which counts more than 100 carrier members, last year added MetroPCS and Sprint Nextel to its membership that now basically includes most domestic operators save Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility. That’s not to say that the “Big 2” have ignored RCA as in fact Verizon Wireless has on numerous occasions been featured as a guest speaker at RCA’s events touting its LTE in Rural America program. That program has so far attracted more than a dozen rural operators, with plans for the first network launches later this year. “We share RCA’s goal of promoting a healthy, competitive wireless industry and look forward to working with the other RCA members on advocacy efforts that advance competition and ultimately benefit US wireless,” said T-Mobile USA general counsel and EVP Dave Miller in a statement. It should be noted that T-Mobile USA joins RCA following AT&T’s failed attempt to acquire the nation’s No. 4 carrier, which was vehemently opposed by RCA and its members. … Read more
Leap signs wholesale deal with Clearwire
Having seen its previous LTE roaming partner stumble over spectrum concerns, Leap Wireless today announced a five-year wholesale deal with Clearwire. The agreement will provide Leap and its Cricket brand with LTE coverage for customers when they are outside of the company’s native markets. Financial terms of the deal were not released. Macquarie Equities Research noted that the deal could provide Clearwire with a “few hundred million dollars per year in incremental [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.” Clearwire’s (CLWR) stock was up more than 4% in early Wednesday trading, while Leap’s (LEAP) stock was trading down just over 1%. Leap currently provides LTE services using its 1.7/2.1 GHz spectrum in Tucson, Ariz., with plans to expand the technology to cover 25 million potential customers by the end of this year and across two-thirds of its current CDMA network footprint over the next three years. The carrier last year announced an LTE roaming agreement with LightSquared, which appears to have fallen apart as LightSquared has been unable to gain access to its spectrum assets. Leap currently relies on Sprint Nextel for a 3G roaming agreement that allows the carrier to offer both roaming services to customers that stray outside of its home markets as well as to offer 3G services in markets where it does not control its own network. … Read more
AT&T, Verizon gear up for another iPad launch
With talk that supplies could be limited at launch, Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility have begun ramping up marketing efforts for Apple’s latest iPad model, which is set to hit stores March 16. Both carriers, which are the two domestic carriers tapped to offer the LTE-equipped version of the device, are promoting the March 16 launch date on their websites, with similar prices for the LTE models: $630 for the 16 gigabyte model; $730 for the 32 GB model; and $830 for the 64 GB model. Those prices are a $130 premium over the Wi-Fi only models. As for data pricing across the cellular networks, Verizon Wireless is showing current plans starting at $30 for 2 GB of data transmission, $50 for 5 GB and $80 for 10 GB, with no contract required. Overage charges are priced at $10 per gigabyte for those choosing a contract. AT&T Mobility for its part is charging $15 per month for 250 megabytes of cellular use, $30 for 3 GB and $50 for 5 GB. … Read more
Ofcom considers spectrum position for 4G
The United Kingdom took a step closer to next-generation mobile broadband services as the country’s regulatory body said it would begin looking at allowing current mobile providers to tap into their 2G and 3G spectrum holdings to offer LTE-based services. Traditionally, European countries have tied specific spectrum bands to network technologies, which resulted in the so-called “2G” and “3G” spectrum auctions. However, as plans to auction off “4G” spectrum are not expected in the near term and consumer demand for such services is spiking, Ofcom said it has released a proposal that would allow LTE services to be launched using 2G and 3G spectrum as early as this year. The move follows an announcement last month from Everything Everywhere – a joint venture between German Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile and France Telecom’s Orange – that laid out its plans for LTE services it expected to have commercially launched later this year. The carrier is currently trialing LTE services using its 800 MHz spectrum holdings in Cornwall, with plans to add a trial using its 1.8 GHz spectrum assets in the Bristol area in April. “Allowing Everything Everywhere to reuse its spectrum in this way is likely to bring material benefits to consumers, including faster mobile broadband speeds and – depending on how Everything Everywhere uses the spectrum – potentially wider mobile broadband coverage in rural areas,” Ofcom noted in a statement. … Read more
802.11ac: It matters, just not yet
In the good old days, the IEEE or a similar standards body would go through the long, intentionally-arduous process of developing a new standard. Then a subset of that standard would be certified by a trade association, like the Wi-Fi Alliance, for purposes of interoperability, as the IEEE doesn’t specify compliance or interoperability testing as part of a standard. Then vendors would produce products based on the interoperability specification, and customers, armed with the warm, fuzzy feeling that standards and interoperability certifications bring, and benefitting from the lower prices and improved performance that are the usual perks of a competitive market at all layers of the food chain, would consequently profit from productivity gains inherent in a technology sufficiently advanced to merit the process just described. Today, however, the hyper-competitive nature of the market for wireless local area networks has flipped that sequence of events on its head. We’ve already seen announcements this year of (claimed) 802.11ac-compliant chipsets and even a few end-user products from leading vendors, this despite the fact that there is not yet a standard in existence to claim compliance with. OK, there are drafts, but the Wi-Fi Alliance is at least a year, I believe, from issuing its initial interoperability specification and likely two years will elapse before this work is completely finished. Why, then, is there such a rush to get 802.11ac products into the market? … Read more
Check out the RCR Wireless News Archives for more stories from the past.
