Carl Ford : 4G Wireless Evolution
Carl Ford
| 4G is the next evolution in wireless technology. Discover how 4G will transform the wireless industry

4G Wireless

Should Vodafone Let Go of Verizon Wireless?

May 3, 2013

Let's get serious about where we are today.  The Fed has made cheap money available everywhere and its going to lead to more Mergers and Acquisitions.  

From Verizon's perspective there is never a better time to engage Vodafone in talks about buying back their interest.

However, in Vodafone's case there are few investments as beneficial as Verizon Wireless.  In fact, it would hard to imagine that the deal code be sweet enough to not overcome the concern of not having a US partner.

As we look at Softbank's efforts to finalize their buy into Sprint, and DT trying to leverage MetroPCS to fortify T-Mobile, it becomes hard to figure out where alliances will take companies.

Softbank has long been a partner to Verizon Wireless and if Vodafone is to go its separate ways as well, it indicates a very US centric view for VZW.  







Catching the Corner of My Eye!

November 1, 2010

-       We as an Industry are consolidating Profitablly.

Sparked by the ViVo acquistion efforts in Brazil the Headlines today are from the WSJ about Telefonica and their expansion.  We are friendly with many of their company employees from O2 in Europe and Movistar in Latin America.  The article's quote César Alierta, CEO of Telefonica is very true to our experience of key personnel in these companies representing the management of capital and brand.

"The key factor for Telefónica to do anything is: first, human resources. Second, money," he explains.

Sprint Executives Resign From Clearwire Board Due to Anti-Trust Laws

October 5, 2010

The three Sprint (S) executives that were residing on the Clearwire(CLWR) board have resigned, leading many to question the stability of the company.

The Opportunity Gap: New Spectrum Same Problem

June 28, 2010

The Wireless world is expanding in traffic and spectrum now that President Obama is looking to open up spectrum. 

Regardless of what the policy is from the White House the need for data services on mobile solutions is expanding and the need to support these solutions is requiring the carriers to become more efficient.

The use of multicore systems is part of the mainstay of development by the silicon companies that are at the heart of the 4G evolution.  These systems can impact the can increase the ability to deliver new services which can be used to increase the average revenue per unit. 

If you are specifying the future here is where you should start.

What Attendees will learn:
Join Wind River for an informative session on the role network acceleration solutions play in increasing the overall intelligence in the network. In this web seminar we'll discuss the advancements in embedded software for multi-core technologies and how it is enabling network elements to make intelligent packet processing decisions related to traffic management, security, and content handling.

Who should attend:
  • Network equipment providers
  • Telecom equipment manufacturers
  • Service providers
  • Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) board vendors Speakers:
Mark Guinther
Product Line Manager Wind River

Mark Guinther is a Product Line Manager for Networking Technologies at Wind River. He has over twenty years of experience in the data/ voice/wireless networking industry including management positions at Alcatel and FORE Systems.


















Not the Usual Suspects: The Road Block Ahead Audiocast

May 10, 2010

Audiocast: Come join the Conference Call

The Roadblock Ahead:  FCC vs. Comcast  What's Next.
    May 25, 2010 From 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EDT

powered by


Abstract:  As the US looks to redefine its National Broadband Policy the FCC finds itself be questioned about its authority.  Access and Over the Top services are both desired in the future
markets, but the role of the FCC is now in question.
    -  Does the FCC have jurisdiction to manage the interaction between access and applications?  
    - How much of the old rules can be applied when the model is no longer based on carrier interaction but theinternetworking that goes beyond the distance the of a single provider?
    - What concerns do applications and services like peer to Peer have about the control by access providers?  
    - Should the rules be the same regardless of wireline and wireless?

To Participate email me.  Carl Ford  [email protected] or sign up here




Glenn S. Richards  Partner Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman
Glenn is a partner in Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman's communications group.  He represents VoIP providers, wireline and wireless communications carriers, satellite companies, equipment manufacturers and large users of telecommunications services in transactional and litigation matters, and in regulatory matters before the FCC, state public utility commissions and international regulatory agencies.
Glenn has been active with the Voice on the Net Coalition since its inception, serving as primary outside counsel from 1997-2006 and Executive Director since September 2009.
He has also served as a member of US delegations for International Telecommunication Union radio conferences, including the 1995 and 1997 World Radiocommunication Conferences, and CITEL conferences in 1992 and 1995.  He has also served on the North American Numbering Council.




Hank Hultquist - Vice President, Federal Regulatory, AT&T
Hank joined AT&T (then SBC) in 2004.  He represents AT&T at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on a number of issues including broadband and Internet policy, video and media policy, intercarrier compensation, and universal service.
























Is Skype Mobile the Exception or the Rule?

March 10, 2010

Verizon Wireless and Skype provided a model for the VoIP provider to meet the wireless operator, but the model is probably not how must carriers will meet.

Next week we are running a webinar about Voice over LTE [VoLTE] which is an interoperabilty standard that the carriers are looking to deploy complying with the 3GPP architecture.

While other proposals have been out there, the VoLTE group represents the scale and overall perspective of the GSMA carrier membership.

It's a SIP based solution using the IMS standard, so in the end it may be that only the larger operators are going to interconnect.  However it may be that because of this common platform new services will be available to third parties.

These are the questions that I am looking to get answers to when I attend the webinar March 18th and 11 EDT.

To join us sign up here.











Web envy Google vs. Vodafone

February 17, 2010

At Mobile World Congress Vittiorio Colao the CEO of Vodafone made mention of the fact that regardless of what smart phone your were using over 80% of the time was using Google.

This pointed to the latest love hate the carriers have with Google, but they have a history of not liking any of the computing partners.  Apple got to watch the wholesale app announcement with about half of the 24 carriers being their partners pledging to work with LG, Samsung and Sony to build an app market.

Likewise Microsoft has a long history of trying to bring smarts at a time when the network had little capacity for computing.

However, in these times when wireless broadband is an imperative to the carriers the strategies of come one come all, have proven less than successful.

Its clear that mobile markets are going be more like computing the in years past and the company's success will be based on finding ways to partner without losing brand to the consumer, or without using the brand in the application (as in M2M).

One thing that has not risen to the surface in MWC this week is e-readers.  The group is strangely silent, either because they are retooling after the iPad or because the deals are not that valuable to the carriers. 

Whatever the reason, the computing devices are coming more and more often and it will take more than an app store to catch the consumer's attention.











LG Breaks the Categories, but not the model

January 11, 2010

"It's not a Femtocell!"

Chris Zeigler at engadget took this picture and as asked what is this thing?



If you live alone and you don't have to keep the family entertained.  Why have the Internet Access at the house and not with you.  That seems to be the reasoning behind the this terminal adapter.  That connects your LTE phone to the house and gives you connectivity. 

Given the fact that 60% of CES, was trying to move video from the Internet to the media server in the house, this would probably require some network smarts.  

In my humble opinion this places LG's LTE closer to the dual mode camp, but since they have femtocell strategies, it maybe this was an internal product that had to be different the LG / Nortel Femtocell.

Can we call it MonoMode?





















Its a MSlate vs iTablet

January 11, 2010

Google vs. Apple

January 5, 2010

Google and Apple are vying for your attention today.

If you are a carrier, your bed fellows are not staying the night! Google with the Nexus One announcement that is all about the Android operating system and not a carrier. And strangely enough the Apple iTablet maybe the same thing.

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