On Rad's Radar? - spectrum Archives

Some Interesting Reads

2013-03-13T13:58:17Z

Zayo CEO Dan Caruso wrote a good blog titled "Is Bandwidth Production Lucrative?". In the wake of Jim Crowe stepping down at Level3, Caruso's analysis of the fiber players in an interesting read.

Personally, I think these CEOs - Crowe, Hesse, and others - have to take more responsibility for revenue, integration, value and culture. The role of CEO is more than just setting some ambiguous vision that your reports then have to crystallize and execute on.

Best quote from Mobile World Congress:

"Openness is not something to be afraid of. There are lots of business models available. But openness is also about being open to innovate." - Jolla CEO Marc Dillion (launched Sailfish at MWC)

FCC and FTC gave the green light for T-Mobile to merge with MetroPCS. To VZW and ATT, this is a yawner. To the consumer, it will just eliminate one of the all-you-can-eat players.

This news comes as Gary Kim writes about the spectrum crunch that never came. Please note that all of the Top 5 cellcos still have a bunch of spectrum that they have not deployed yet. It bears repeating: there is plenty of spectrum that they have not deployed yet! (Despite what Hesse spouts to the press. He likes being in the spotlight, which is fine, if someone else was running Sprint.)

Susan Crawford wrote an article about the lack of wireless competition. Every flavor of broadband - terrestrial or wireless - has clear winners and losers, but mostly losers, who we call customers.

I have beat this drum before but all the value in the US economy is in knowledge and innovation -- it is the Internet Economy. Stifling that due to profits for a few companies is not going to make the US competitive in a global race.

Nice blog about small business, Obamacare and the opportunity for channel partners.

In SAAS, the secret sauce is data integration - which fails almost 20% of the time!

Parallels, Cisco, Google and Panda

2013-01-22T04:07:30Z

If every day feels like you are on a hamster wheel, maybe you are examining the wrong metric.

An interesting announcement today two weeks before thier customer summit, Cisco bought a stake in Parallels and gets a Board seat.

Parallels is the middleware for many cloud providers, customers that Cisco would like to sell a lot of stuff through. This might be a response to the cooling relationship between Cisco and VMware, according to reports.

Alltel is completely gone now. AT&T grabbed the leftover assets (customers 500K+ and spectrum) of Alltel for $780 million per VZW's divestiture of Alltel after their 2009 sale.

Google updated Panda again. SearchEngineLand has this to say: "Google has announced a new Panda refresh, making this version number 24. This refresh has a noticeable impact 1.2% of English based queries according to Google. The previous confirmed update was #23 and it impacted 1.3% of English queries on December 21, 2012. Prior to that was a refresh on November 21st that impacted 0.8% of queries. It seems like Google is now rolling out these updates every 4 weeks or so."

Panda is Google's algorithm for search results to " helping people find high-quality sites in Google's search results."

Moves and Changes This Week

2012-11-19T16:29:14Z

Cisco announced plans to acquire Meraki, a managed Wi-Fi company, for about $1.2B.

Broadsoft announced UC One and now Rich Communications Services (RCS) to be added to its BroadCloud SAAS platform. [UCStrategies]

After Softbank put $20B into Sprint, Sprint turns around and buys some US Cellular markets for $480M. Consolidation - that's all we have left as an industry.

RUMOR! Google and DISH launching wireless network! This is the rumor, since the FCC is about to rule on spectrum that DISH controls (40 MHz of MSS S-band spectrum in the 2 GHz band, that the FCC renamed AWS-4). This spectrum may get cropped and added to the H-block auction. Should have an FCC announcement by Thanksgiving.

Right now, One in five smart phones sold in the U.S. is from the Samsung Galaxy series. I guess the $1B patent fine was nothing!

Buying or Being Bought: Sprint

2012-10-02T04:23:13Z

In March, Craig Moffett of Bernstein Research announced that Sprint would end up in bankruptcy. MSN reports, "After assigning a 50% likelihood in March that Sprint would end up in bankruptcy as it raced to build a national wireless network to handle smartphones like the iPhone 5 and compete with stronger carriers -- and citing bond trading prices -- telecom sector bear Craig Moffett of Bernstein Research now says that readily available financing makes that prospect remote. However, amid a 100%-plus stock rise for Sprint in 2012, Moffett says that even if bankruptcy is not a near-term risk for Sprint shareholders, significant risks remain."

Bloomberg writes, "Sprint's stock surged 136 percent for the second-biggest gain in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index as the wireless provider boosted sales with Apple Inc.'s iPhone and began rolling out a faster network. Cash and equivalents stand at almost $6.8 billion after reaching the highest this year since the end of 2005." The debt stands at $21B as of June of this year. This includes debt raised for its network build, to fund Clearwire (its 4G partner for life), and for re-financing debt due in 2013 and 2014.

Sprint is sitting on over $6B in cash, according to Bloomberg. Coupled with easy available financing, Sprint is ready to start acquiring, as indicated by CEO Dan Hesse. Rumor has T-Mobile or MetroPCS. While Leap has a deal with Clearwire, MetroPCS does not (yet). Neither does T-Mobile, who made a spectrum swap with VZW. All this says that T-M or MetroPCS would be good buys for Sprint.

Here's the flip side: Sprint stop is still under $5 and it is sitting on cash - lots of cash. That makes them a takeover target. Nothing says that MetroPCS or T-Mobile can't buy them!

Obviously any move would create a mess. Clearwire and Sprint are entangled. Sprint is still unraveling iDen. We know that Sprint sucks at integration from acquisition! Sprint-Nextel was second only to TW-AOL in bad deals.

Bloomberg gives many reasons for Sprint-MetroPCS, including MetroPCS CEO Roger Linquist admitting that acquisition was possible. However, all that debt Sprint has may prove more of an obstacle than the FCC. Consolidation will be necessary for Leap/Cricket, US Cellular, C Spire, T-Mobile, MetroPCS and Sprint - to compete with the RBOC/cellcos and their stranglehold on the market - subscribers, spectrum and handsets.

One other glitch today: ATT talked the FCC into giving them 20 MHz of 4G spectrum nationwide! "Genachowski on Wednesday began circulating a proposed order among commissioners that, if approved, would give AT&T a free-and-clear 20 MHz of spectrum in the 2.3 GHz Wireless Communications Services (WCS) band for a new LTE network. " ATT is buying up as much 700 MHz, AWS and WCS spectrum it can including NextWave Wireless. This will make it impossible for most of the other carriers to compete long term. VZW and ATT will have the most spectrum. Clearwire with Sprint also has a hefty amount of spectrum. One more reason consolidation is all but required.

What's Happening?

2012-08-24T20:34:01Z

Broadview Networks filed bankruptcy, albeit a pre-packaged debt reduction plan.

CenturyLink and Mediacom join the broadband cap club. Mediacom has a low end cap of 150 GB. Ouch! For cable companies, metering and caps are about preserving the TV money, but telcos should be cap free.

Are you a Start-up? Pitch your company at StartupCamp in Austin!

President's Club contests are popping up. Microcorp has recruited 6 carriers - M5, Level3, Comcast, EarthLink, Cbeyond, ACC Business - to help Agents qualify for the trip. WTG just announced their first President's Club destination: Puerto Rico. And Telepacific has a President's Club, too.

FCC's 8th Broadband Progress Report is out. About 30% of the US population does not purchase fixed line broadband - but they may get broadband at work or via 3G. Only 6% are stranded on dial-up, so I am having a hard time swallowing all the money that CenturyLink, Frontier and Fairpoint are getting in federal funds to build out - at approximately $775 per user!!

EarthLink's customer profile according to Mike Toplisek: "In large part, they would fit into the range of five employees up to 1,000 employees. Probably 95% of that customer base fits in that size."

The Economist has an article about OTT (over-the-top) VoIP apps and their effect on mobile operators.

The FCC approved the sale of SpectrumCo spectrum to VZW. There were a few restrictions on the joint marketing venture between the two.

FCC Suspends Special Access Rules, Will Collect Data To Modernize Them.

Another Unpopular Decision is the Tale of the FCC

2012-08-16T18:34:00Z

don't think the FCC has ever had a popular decision. As far as I have seen, every decision they make ends up in court. TELRIC, Brand-X (DSL and Cable access for ISP's), CBS Nipplegate, Tennis Channel versus Comcast, AT&T-T-Mobile decision, cell phone radiation (which is back in the news), USF Reform and the list just goes on.

Today, the DOJ and the FCC announced that they will approve the VZW-SpectrumCo deal. I am still trying to wrap my head around this one. How do you say No to the number 2 and the number 4 cellcos merging but okay the Duopoly working together?? There was competition before. Now there will be none!

""The Antitrust Division's enforcement action ensures that robust competition between Verizon and the cable companies continues now and in the future as technological change alters the telecommunications landscape," Wayland added."

The FCC's only job is to protect the consumer and make sure that they have access to phone lines. Once again failure at the F-Agency. It's myopic view of LTE as some kind of sacred cow is laughable. They won't innovate or manage their spectrum better if you keep taking away competition!

Rural DSL will now be replaced with LTE, which is not only more expensive but is metered!

The best part for VZW is that they can't write all this off. Scrap the copper and follow the ATT lead:

"While AT&T was slapping usage caps and overlimit fees on its customers ostensibly to help pay for network upgrades, AT&T wrote off the value of those upgrades on its federal taxes, winning turbo-charged tax deductions for every new cell tower, 4G upgrade, and just about everything else AT&T used to enhance its network," reported Stop the Cap about ATT paying zero taxes and getting a $420M rebate.

Snarky News Bits

2012-08-06T17:38:31Z

Just so many things to comment on in telecom, but just do not have the time to hit each one. So here are some snarky news bits.

The VZW-SpectrumCo deal in for "tough remedy", Reuters is reporting. Yeah, conditions that will never be enforced. Public Knowledge is pounding on the FCC about Comcast caps, declaring that the caps violate the merger agreement with NBCU. Will any action occur? Probably not. The issue with the spectrum deal is the joint venture. "Anti-trust regulators have sought strict limits on controversial side deals." We'll see how that goes. I hear that VZW stores are already marketing cable deals.

VZW is also in the news because the FCC forced them to allow tethering apps on Android phones. VZW says that they never blocked apps or functions on any smartphones. CNET has a long FAQ about what the tethering settlement means to the end user.

Fake AT&T Bills Direct Users to Blackhole, Zeus.

How "Toggle" Worked Its Way Through AT&T's Innovation Pipeline And Into Cell Phones.

AT&T plunked down $650M for Nextwave Wireless - well, really for the spectrum, hoping that the FCC will allow its use for LTE despite its proximity to satellite spectrum. Didn't Lightsquared just go down this path?

Nashville is lucky enough to be the trail market for Comcast's metering plan. "Comcast Starts Billing Bandwidth Hogs, But Exempts Its Own VOD Apps". In other words, Netflix goes towards usage but not anything from Comcast servers. The pipe for on-demand is probably a separate channel. The meter is on the Internet pipe. Also, VOD is part of the TV service and is On-Net. Netflix is off-net. Why meter? Increase ARPU and save your TV franchise.

The Fight Over Spectrum Dominance

2012-07-16T20:32:54Z

It looks like the FCC is going to approve the Verizon acquisition of the SpectrumCo - cable companies alliance - spectrum. Competitors are hoping for conditions on the deal, including conditions on the marketing deal that the joint-venture is designed for.

Sprint's concern to the FCC is about equal access to cablecos for tower backhaul. I wasn't aware that the cablecos had a huge stake in the tower backhaul business. They might, but I hear claims that every carrier has its fingers in that pie.

The ITTA President Genevieve Morelli wrote on July 10: "Under the Commercial Agreements, the parties have created strong incentives to ensure that competitors such as the Midsize Carriers no longer receive backhaul business. For example ... they will effectively shut out all competition for backhaul contracts with Verizon Wireless."

"Thirty-two House Democrats today penned a letter to the FCC and the Justice Department urging the agencies to review Verizon's pending purchase of spectrum from several cable firms with extreme caution," from PCMag. And delay the decision if possible. The FCC decined to delay. However, "The full FCC will appear before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce's technology subcommittee tomorrow for an oversight hearing that will likely touch on the spectrum issue." So that will show them.

After saying NO to ATT-T-Mobile, it seems hypocritical to say YES to this deal, which puts VZW in bed with the Top ISP's and MSO's, who right now are the ONLY competition that the RBOC has.

Here's hoping the DOJ and the FCC put some restraints on them -- but more important actually ENFORCE the terms of the deal, which they have failed to do --- EVER!!!

Hey, Julius, maybe you can give them a pile of Connect America cash too, just to sweeten the deal.

Similar article on TMC.

The Answer to Flat Revenue

2012-06-12T19:27:50Z

The markets are flat. Broadband, voice, TV and cellular. There are more cellphones activated than there are people in the US. The average home has 4 Internet enabled devices.

So what do you do if you are a Cellco and more than 60% of your revenue is wireless?

What do you do if your best selling smartphone can only attach to your 3G network? And you have this new LTE network that you want to monetize quickly (to pay back the costs on)?

"At Verizon Wireless, the iPhone effect was clear in Thursday's first-quarter report: the average monthly bill for subscribers on contract-based plans was $55.43, up 3.6 percent from a year ago. A few years ago, monthly fees were stagnant at Verizon," reported the USA Today in April 2012.

The problem with the iPhone is that Apple makes more money on it than the carriers. The subsidy is hurting Sprint, VZW and AT&T. It's one reason VZW pushes other smartphones. Suddenly, Leap/Cricket and others will be selling non-subsidized iPhones, which analysis says is cheaper over 2 years for the consumer. [Look here and NYT too.] Plus no extra fees and taxes on a pre-paid plan versus the monthly billing from the cellco. That may impact the Big 3. (Sprint has placed its bets on prepaid with Virgin Mobile selling the iPhone 4 and 4S by July.) The real winner: Apple.

I look at these rates and wonder why I am paying over $100 per month for an Android, when prepaid would be about half that!

VZW recently added a $30 upgrade fee. Fees add up to real revenue.

So VZW decided to kill the grandfathered Unlimited Data plans.

Now VZW is launching Shared Data Plans. You get unlimited voice and messaging, but the data bytes are bought in blocks.

One reason is that with 4 devices in a household, the family is paying big money. This is supposed to alleviate some of that MRR (monthly recurring revenue), while also allowing a household to purchase more devices. Without the attached device specific data plan, a household will buy more devices from VZW. (I assume non-subsidized devices.)

Gary Kim notes that VZW expects a slight "dilution" in revenue at the beginning. In the long run, they will make more money. Why? More devices, more consumption. It's why Amazon can sell the Fire so cheap - lots of revenue per device tied to its network. IN the long run, this will be just another way for VZW to increasse revenue.

I guess VZW isn't worried about its spectrum running out either.

Verizon is in the News a Lot

2012-06-06T05:31:53Z

Hands off the Internet!

Sen. Alex Padilla: Bill will preserve hands-off regulatory approach toward VOIP.

VZW and T-Mobile are at odds over SpectrumCo spectrum with Verizon saying T-Mobile is hypocritical about spectrum. "Verizon told the FCC in a filing Monday that T-Mobile is two-faced in opposing the SpectrumCo deal because its parent company is telling investors it has excess network capacity while T-Mobile is telling the FCC it has too little." That seems to be typical for both T's - tell the FCC one thing and investors another. Anything to get what you want - stock price up, access to capital and more spectrum.

On the other side of VZ, FiOS is racing to speeds of 300Mbps for about $205. That isn't exactly what the FCC had in mind. It wants cheaper broadband (4MB x 1MB) available to more people, not faster speeds available to just a few.

VZW made a $612M bid for an M2M company. "Hughes Telematics (HTI) offers a portfolio of location-based services for manufacturer, aftermarket, fleet and dealer services provided through two-way broadband connectivity to the vehicle. HTI is implementing the next generation of connected services for the automobile in safety and security, according to its website.

VZW rolls out Viewdini, a mobile device app that allows VZW subscribers to search for video content. Subscribers are still subject to the cap. This app will just help them get there faster. If you don't have enough spoectrum, why are you pushing your subscribers to use more video????

IN non-verizon news, C Spire Wireless (formerly Cellular South Inc. owned by the same folks as Telepak) is suing AT&T, Qualcomm and Motorola for anti-trust. The dispute is over the fact that C Spire can't get access to 4G LTE devices. Many smaller cell companies are in the same boat. There's also a dispute about blocking its plans for 700 MHz spectrum. No competitor has won an anti-trust complaint against VZ or AT&T, despite the fact that both act like a monopoly, litigate and lobby to gain advantage, and step all over their wholesale customers - CLEC's and ISP's.

FCC approves spectrum changes for Sprint and hospitals. "For Sprint, the FCC changed the rules that govern how the 800MHz band - acquired with Nextel - of the spectrum is used." It would help Sprint with 4G, except that isn't really one of their problems. With Clearwire, Sprint has plenty of spectrum. What it doesn't have is Deployment and Customers in a vast amount.

And since the FCC loves tele-medicine so much, it granted some spectrum for medical devices. "The FCC also approved a second set of spectrum-use rules, regulating the 2360-2400 MHz band for use in hospitals as a "Medical Body Area Network," or MBAN. The MBAN will allow doctors to hook their patients up to the physiological sensors like EEGs, heart monitors or neo-natal sensors and have those lightweight and often disposable sensors transmit information back to the monitoring equipment without wires. Reducing the number of wires attached to patients will also lowers the risk of accidents and infections, and make patients more comfortable overall," reports ARS. I predict VZ or AT&T will now try to buy up medical device companies to get that spectrum.

Cellular Mayhem

2012-05-18T17:46:16Z

Just looking at the news makes me think that the cellular industry is having a week of mayhem. Besides the mess I wrote about earlier this week, "US wholesale player LightSquared has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amid efforts to resolve regulatory issues that have prevented it from launching its satellite service," according to Telecoms. "The carrier has been planning to build a ground-based LTE network, supported by satellites, but the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) blocked the project, stating that the proposed mobile broadband network will impact GPS services and that there is no practical way to mitigate the potential interference." That about spells it all out. Last I read Philip Falcone wants the FCC to give Lightsquared better spectrum.

WISPA stormed DC this week to plead at the FCC and Congress for more unlicensed spectrum. Everyone wants more spectrum, but only WISPA will settle for unlicensed spectrum. WISP's make a lot out of a little. Cellcos make a mess out of an abundance, which just goes to show that when you are too big to fail, you will fumble a lot.

Speaking of fumbling, AT&T is in talks with Leap Wireless. Yeah. AT&T needs to acquire more spectrum. How about you and all the rest of you just deploy the spectrum you already have? How about you have to give it back if it isn't lit in a year?

I like this comparison by the NYT: Sprint as a downer and AT&T Mobility as techno-Pollyanna. Sprint might be right about mobile payments, since I don't trust the cellcos enough to be my wallet. I have a wallet. A leather one. I trust AMEX. I understand the rules of using VISA. I have Paypal. What more do I need? Do I really need to spend my money faster?

The Big 4 Cellco execs riffed at CTIA. Yawn.

AT&T ripped into FCC Chair again and threatened price increases: "In the case of wireless, without additional capacity, which would have been created by our transaction, prices rise," said AT&T Senior Vice President Jim Cicconi." So you mismanage your network, can't buy your competition, whine about the FCC and then raise rates. Awesome! We have names for people like you.

You know I have a problem with Sprint and its CEO, but this headline takes the cake: A Better Network is Coming! Really? Could be get a worse network?

,p>T-Mobile thinks that VZ's deal with SpectrumCo (the cable alliance) is bad for everyone. "T-Mobile USA would like to have a chance to bid on the spectrum Verizon Wireless is looking to buy." Well, make a bid then. Sheesh.

The Union is against the VZW-Cable deal, "could mean the end of a competitive telecommunications landscape, saddling consumers with higher prices and diminished choice." Well, that and the Union doesn't get a piece of the deal. I do agree that this will end all competition, since the competition is a Duopoly. Now they would be working together.

Some Stuff Happened While I Was on Daycation

2012-04-23T18:23:04Z

I was taking today and tomorrow off to visit with some pals but the news won't quit.

In the I-can't-stand-it zone, the University of Florida decides that TD's are more important than IT and cuts the Computer Science Department. Just when Florida is playing host to the Rupublican Convention and is looking to make a name for itself, that name becomes DUM or MUD. In a time when we need more science and computer nerds, the state U decides to go a different way.

In Tampa, the former CEO of Savvis has closed his e-commerce company, Savtira, after a flurry of promises to hire 200 people and a number of odg and pony shows about the hot future. Apparently, he has done this before.

Cbeyond has decided that traditional agents are not its future. The Cloud has different demands and demands different partners.

Coresite bought Comfluent to enter the Denver market. "Comfluent plays a vital role in the interconnection community in the western U.S., serving more than 75 customers and managing the Rocky Mountain Internet eXchange (RMIX), the region's largest Internet exchange with access to more than 25 networks. Comfluent currently leases two sites that total approximately 9,300 NRSF," according to the SunHerald

Verizon Wireless wants its deal with the cablecos / SpectrumCo to go through, so it promised to sell off some spectrum. T-Mobile and others think that is just smoke and the deal should still be axed. [see here and there]

Tucows, a domain registrar and fellow ISPCON standard, runs an MVNO called TING.

Vodafone is bidding $1.7B USD to buy Cable & Wireless, according to Rueters

Linux talent will be important in 2013, especially in data centers, reports the Channel Insider

Alex Doyle left Broadsoft for Polycom. Good luck at the new position, Alex!

from Tony: An Insider's Guide to Technology Analysts

Dean Parker, CEO of Callis in Mobile, AL, has been selected in the top 12 finalists for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for the Alabama/Tennessee/ Georgia region.

What a Crazy Monday

2012-03-19T18:02:05Z

So Zayo is buying AboveNet for $2.2B.

Avaya bought RADVision for $230M. Conferencing is making a lot of noise. As David Byrd points out, "It is clear that video conferencing is growing in importance in the market.... is the market big enough to support them and others attempting to stake out market share. Vidyo, ooVoo, Skype, Polycom, ShoreTel and others are all battling it out to deliver video conferencing either as a desktop offering or major telepresence in conference rooms." Byrd forgot Google, who has made video chat with G+ Hangouts stupid easy. Easier than Skype, since there isn't any software to download.

AT&T quietly settles the iPhone data cap case. Quietly because they don't want a rash of these lawsuits, even if it only costs $900 to settle. Will there be a rush to the small claims courts?

This headline killed it this morning: "Bernstein Downgrades Sprint, Notes Bankruptcy Risk". It being Sprint's stock, which dropped. Is Sprint in risk of BK? Not in the near term (2012 or 2013). Maybe in 2014 if it has to pay Apple for unused iPhones. See Bernstein thinks that the iPhone 5 which will utilize the 4G network will hurt Sprint who doesn't yet have a nationwide 4G network. Why not? Sprint just opted out of the LightSquared deal that the federal government all but kaboshed. Clearwire can't get it's act together. (Even with a deal with NetZero for free 4G data!) Bernstein stated that Sprint didn't have spectrum for 4G, which isn't true, since Clearwire has Sprint's spectrum combined with others to have a big chunk in most markets. Also, with roaming agreements in place, Sprint can use AT&T or other 4G carriers, although that will be costly. Sprint has a Brand isuue. Not to mention an under-utilized fiber network. BTW, CNET has a story about the 4G spectrum issues.

LightSquared has chosen to yell at the FCC and demand replacement spectrum. LightSquared said that the FCC action violates its constitutional property rights. What a bunch of BS!! The DOD said you can't use the spectrum. Period. You don't OWN the spectrum. You have a license to USE the spectrum - as it was deemed in said license. The LightSquared spectrum was licensed for satellite usage, not terrestrial broadband usage. "LightSquared's spectrum holdings (between 1525MHz and 1660.5 MHz) are close to the GPS satellite signals," reported ARS. And even more about the challenge that LightSquared faces from the Laws of Physics. LightSquared has offered to swap spectrum with the Dept. of Defense.. Corporate welfare clowns annoy me.

Creditors Want Zenith Infotech to Liquidate

Where Will the Revenue Come From?

2012-03-02T16:00:45Z

The screaming you hear is coming from execs at the global cellcos. For years we have been hearing how voice will be free. (Hasn't happened yet, but it has flat rated.) Now it seems the text messaging revenue arm is decreasing - 9% from last year globally.

According to this article, "Pinger and an explosion of smartphone messaging services -- like iMessage, BlackBerry Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber Media, Facebook Messenger and KakaoTalk -- have managed in just a few years to slash away at the important revenue that cell phone companies get from text messaging. Analysts say there's no end in sight to the financial blood letting."

This explains all the metering and bandwidth caps. Revenue is flat for cellular so they need to make it up in data revenue. When you are spending $7-9 Billion per year on the network, plus paying for roaming and having to buy spectrum, you want ARPU and revenue to go up.

There is also all this envy to Apple, Google and other cloud companies that are making money from apps, shopping and usage that the cellcos are not getting a piece of.

I think it is also why a good many cell phones do not have wi-fi. That tends to work two ways though: wi-fi is capacity offload while the customer is still paying you a monthly rate. Wi-fi upload may be how they save some money on capacity upgrades. Wi-fi capability in teh handset would also be a way to appease the folks who get throttled or capped. However, that doesn't help the carrier revenues. They just don't want to be a dump pipe, but every move they make seems dumb.

T-Mobile's Next Move

2012-02-24T15:49:41Z

T-Mobile to Pump $4 Billion Into Network, 4G LTE Buildout. This is T-Mobile's next move on the heels of getting fiber and billions in cash from AT&T after the merger was nixed by the government agencies.

I have to laugh at this because Clearwire has clearly (heh) spent more than $4B to only partially build out a nationwide 4G network. How will T-Mobile do it for $4B?

Google is cutting its losses and selling its stake in Clearwire for $47 million, a tenth of the price it originally paid. What does that say?

AT&T's CEO had his pay cut over the debacle of the merger. Across the board - and it pains me immensely to say this - only VZW seems to have a clear cut strategy that they are executing on. Sprint and AT&T need new management. I have said it before and I will state it again: Hesse is not helping Sprint at all. He has had ample time to fix Sprint -- yet he has not. Like IBM bring in Lou, Sprint needs an outsider to come in and shake it up to make it competitive.

Rumors this morning are that Sprint was in talks to acquire MetroPCS. Bloomberg, Reuters and others reported that the Board vetoed the deal as a sign that they have lost faith in Hesse. Uh, hello! That's what I have been saying.

I'm shopping for a new cell phone (to replace my Blackberry) and friends pointed out that Sprint hasn't had a new phone since the iPhone. And subsidizing the iPhone is hurting all 3 carriers in the wallet. Devices are what drive cellular sales. Smartphones, tablets, netbooks, data cards, Mi-Fi hotspots -- all contribute to sales and ARPU increases. When you have a tired inventory, retention and acquisition of customers is challenged.

What else?

There's still DISH out there with its spectrum and desire to build out a 4G network. One has to wonder if DISH will hire Nokia Siemens Networks or Ericcson to build and manage its 4G network.

Don't forget LightSquared. LSQD is cutting staff - all but the lawyers, those they are doubling down on to sue the FCC and the DOD.

A scandal surrounds the Obama Administration for perhaps helping LightSquared to the detriment of OpenRange - at least that's what HotAir is saying. I don't think another extension would have helped OpenRange get out of its massive debt.

Peak and MetroPCS are still in play. Who will play with them? As I mentioned above about the devices driving sales, Peak, MetroPCS and US Cellular have been to the FCC to complain about the big 3 locking them out of the hottest devices. While there has been talk about Peak and MetroPCS being bought, US Cellular is 81% owned by TDS, so they aren't in play.

VZW will be fighting to the cable spectrum, since T-Mobile and others think that the deal is too good for VZW+cable, bad for everyone esle. For one thing, the deal creates a joint venture corporation that allows the 4 companies - BHN, TWC, VZW, Comcast - to spend a lot of time together (and that can't be good for competition - what little there is).

Why the FCC will likely say yes anyway: Because they have to.

All this activity doesn't make it easy to sell these carriers. It makes the bankers happy though -- and that's not usually a good thing.

One final cell story: AT&T lost a small claims court case against an iPhone user for throttling. AT&T is appealling. Apparently, it can't afford any losses for this network management strategy. I think it is a case of false advertising across the board. Like everything else about broadband, it's never what is advertised and you are always stuck in a box due to ridiculous contract terms.