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Several companies and nonprofit organizations filed their opposition to Verizon’s planned $4 billion buy of spectrum owned by the cable companies on Wednesday. But this isn’t an industry fight. This is a fight that should involve everyone from consumers to Internet companies. Read More »

My resolution: be the consumer-focused innovator

Sprint’s CEO Dan Hesse talks about how AT&T’s attempted acquisition of T-Mobile set off all sorts of alarms, and made him realize just how tenuous the competitive situation in the U.S. wireless industry is. Read More »

 
 

Clearwire plans to issue new common stock worth $300 million, which would give it half the capital it needs for the first phase of its new LTE network. As for the other half, Clearwire is looking to primary owner and investor Sprint to chip in. Read More »

Carrier IQ is feeding Sprint generalized data about how its customers’ smartphones perform on its network, Sprint has confirmed, but it said it does not snoop into the private contents of those phones. Sprint claims its using that information primarily to optimize its network. Read More »

AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile seems all but dead. If the deal falls through mobile operators stand to gain or lose depending on which of side of the battle lines the stand. The biggest losers, however, aren’t necessarily AT&T and T-Mobile. Read More »

Verizon dodged a bullet on Tuesday when the FCC denounced AT&T-Mo. No conditional approval means no new regulations to haunt Verizon’s own consolidation plans in the future. Now Verizon needs its archival AT&T to throw in the towel before it can do any more damage. Read More »

The usual third-quarter subscriber boom failed to happen as operators had no new iPhone to lure in new customers. But UBS predicts that the fourth quarter will more than make up for any slumps, as it combines the traditional holiday surge with a delayed new-iPhone bump. Read More »

China Telecom is moving ahead with plans to pursue an MVNO service in the U.S. starting next year. A China Telecom executive said the branded cellular service will start early next year and will target tourists and travelers who fly between China and the U.S. frequently. … Read More »

Republic Wireless, the division of Bandwidth.com that offers customers an Android phone with unlimited voice data and texts for $19 a month launches Tuesday. Here’s how it will work (there’s a $199 “membership” fee) and what it means for the wireless industry. Read More »

Sprint may be poised to rescue partner 4G wholesale partner Clearwire. The third-place U.S. carrier said it was planning to offer debt in the form of 7- and 10-year notes that it will use for general purposes, including potentially funding 4G provider Clearwire. Read More »

How much impact does Android’s data thirst have on carriers? Sprint said it expects to get 50 percent more lifetime value from iPhone users over other smartphone users because of the network efficiency of iPhones. That suggests that Androids are putting significant strain on mobile networks. Read More »

After laying out an aggressive LTE 4G deployment plan that didn’t include existing partner Clearwire, Sprint is now saying it is working with the 4G wholesaler toward a commercial agreement that will allow it to offload some of its LTE needs onto Clearwire’s future LTE network. Read More »

More Must Reads

Sprint is moving ahead with its LTE 4G plans and said it expects to upgrade to LTE-Advanced in the first half of 2013. The third-place carrier will deploy LTE-Advanced Release 10 in a 10×10 configuration, achieving downloads speeds of 12-15 Mbps. Read More »

One of Sprint’s only marketing advantages was its promise of unlimited 4G broadband. But that distinction is fading fast. Today, the carrier announced it was doing away with unlimited 4G mobile broadband for hotspots and devices and was instead instituting three new tiered data plans. … Read More »

4G provider Clearwire’s stock fell 32 percent to $1.39 Friday following an announcement by Sprint Friday that it was launching an LTE network without the help of Clearwire, throwing into doubt its role in Sprint’s 4G future. The news raises more concerns about Clearwire’s future. Read More »

Sprint is launching an aggressive campaign to rollout a 4G network based on LTE that will cover more than 250 million people by the end of 2013. The third-place carrier said it will move quickly to reuse its 1900 MHz and 800 MHz spectrum for LTE. Read More »

Sprint is said to betting the farm on the iPhone. On paper its decision to commit almost $20 billion for the chance to sell iPhone 5 makes no sense. However, it is not such a crazy move for a company bleeding customers to rivals. Read More »

As the third place carrier in the U.S., Sprint — trailing AT&T and Verizon — can’t really compete on scale. Instead it’s got to embrace new technology, it’s so-called “dumb pipe” status (as Stacey Higginbotham described it), and partnerships, explained Sprint CTO Stephen Bye at GigaOM’s … Read More »

For fancy, new-fangled 4G mobile apps to really take off in a world with very few unlimited data plans, service providers need advanced yield management and the ability to bundle requisite bandwidth up with the applications themselves. Read More »

The attorneys general of seven states joined the Justice Department’s suit today to block AT&T’s proposed buy of T-Mobile, citing worries about competition. Together these state represent a third of the American population. So what does that mean for the deal? Read More »

AT&T’s $39 billion bid isn’t over with the Department of Justice’s decision to file suit agains the merger. But it raises a lot of uncertainty around the deal and the possibility that it might not go through. Here are some thoughts on possible outcomes for T-Mobile. Read More »

Sprint reported record low churn rates and its highest average revenue per user yet, but lost $847 million. Why? Although 1.1 million new subscribers were added, all were from wholesale and pre-paid customers. Postpaid subscriber numbers may turn around in the future though, thanks to LTE. Read More »

Third-place U.S. cellular carrier Sprint filed a petition with the FCC today formally requesting a block of the AT&T-T-Mobile merger saying it would harm consumers, competition and the broadband economy and would produce little to no tangible public interest benefits. How will AT&T respond? Read More »

Google launched its big push into mobile payments with the introduction of a new payment platform called Google Wallet based NFC technology. The company said it will pair contactless payments with Google Offers to help retailers and merchants strengthen their ties to consumers. Read More »

Despite the introduction of the iPhone on Verizon, Sprint Nextel managed to hold its own and actually improved in almost every way, adding 1.1 million net wireless subscribers, reducing its churn to record levels and improving average revenue per user. Read More »

Clearwire has resolved its wholesale agreement dispute with Sprint, signing a deal that calls for Sprint to pay Clearwire about $1 billion over the next two years. The deal removes some uncertainty for struggling Clearwire and helps forge a stronger bond with Sprint, its majority owner. Read More »

As we’ve noted, the rise of LTE opens up the potential for wireless carriers to court wireline broadband subscribers. Well, even with the limitations of wireless, the comparison is valid, at least for now, according to Deutsche Bank, which studied the latest 4G offerings. Read More »

AT&T justified its $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile this morning with three main points, spectrum, synergies and the public good. Against a background of incredible data growth, AT&T is ready to recreate a wireless duopoly that mirrors the wireline duopoly we have today. Read More »

AT&T’s announcement that it would buy T-Mobile for $39 billion in cash and stock is by no means a forgone conclusion, despite the assurances in the press release that it would close within the next 12 months. Sources are divided on the likelihood of regulatory interference. … Read More »

AT&T said it will buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom AG, in deal valued at $39 billion. The deal points to the game of spectrum accumulation as operators prepare for the demand for mobile data and also will place Sprint between a rock and hard place. Read More »

When does this story get better? Clearwire, the early 4G WiMAX pioneer announced its CEO Bill Morrow is stepping down for personal reasons, part of a larger executive shake-up. This follows not long after the December departure of company founder and chairman Craig McCaw. Read More »

Sprint and T-Mobile are reportedly talking up a possible deal. But if the story wasn’t T-Mobile in talks with Sprint, it would involve one or the other in talks with LightSquared, the startup network backed by Harbinger Capital Partners, Clearwire or even MetroPCS. Here’s why. Read More »

A year ago, few people in the U.S. had ever heard of BilltoMobile, a direct carrier billing company. But the San Jose company is fast emerging as a leader in the mobile payments space with direct billing arrangements with Verizon and AT&T and now Sprint. Read More »

Apple’s plans for a universal SIM card and allowing consumers to pay for mobile access from multiple carriers via iTunes would turn Apple into a mobile virtual network operator and puts Apple, not the carrier, in control of the customer. It changes everything. Here’s how. Read More »

The negative news surrounding Clearwire has taken a drumbeat-like quality making many worry about its fate. Today, word is that chairman Craig McCaw is leaving. What does this mean for the company? Is Sprint, Clearwire’s largest shareholder looking to make some future changing moves? Read More »

Not a week goes by when we don’t hear about some new device with built-in mobile connectivity. It seems we’re all heading towards an Internet of things at a rapid speed. Clues to this connected device future comes from data collected by Berg Insight. Read More »

Sprint is rolling out a $4-5 billion plan to modernize and converge its network in a wide-ranging effort that will mean the end of its iDEN network and a possible embrace of LTE down the road. The plan will take 3-5 years to complete. Read More »

Now that Verizon Wireless’ 4G data network has a launch date of Dec. 5 and pricing attached, let’s take a look at how it stacks up to the competition. Verizon Wireless joins Sprint and T-Mobile, who are also touting high-performance 4G networks. Read More »

Cox Communications, the third largest cable provider in the U.S., today entered the wireless market after more than two years of planning. Incumbent carriers should take note: Cox Wireless customers get refunds for unused minutes, plan pricing is competitive and ETF charges are pro-rated properly. Read More »

Apple’s iconic tablet, the iPad is going to start seeing some competition. Four major U.S. carriers are launching Samsung Galaxy Tab, a 7-inch tablet powered by Google’s Android OS. Here is a short unboxing video of the Sprint variant of the tablet. Read More »

The U.S. wireless data market grew 25 percent in the third quarter of 2010 versus the third quarter of 2009. The market gained 7 percent over the second quarter of 2010 to hit about $14 billion. Data will bring in over $54B in revenues for 2010. Read More »

The third quarter pretty much explains why we’ll see a Verizon Wireless iPhone in the coming months. AT&T had a robust quarter, adding 2.6 million new connections in the quarter while Verizon added 997,000 subscribers. Here’s a look at how the carriers fared in the last … Read More »

In this third part of a three-part interview series, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse talks about the opportunity in machine-to-machine communications, how the wireless carrier will need to evolve as it supports the open Internet model and how the competitive landscape may shift over time. Read More »

Many companies are riding the wave of Android’s popularity; Sprint as much as any. The company’s popular Android smartphones have netted it a record number of subscribers. Barnes & Noble is riding the wave too, as its new NOOKColor is essentially an Android tablet. Read More »

In this second part of a three-part interview series, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse addresses Sprint’s next generation wireless broadband options, the future of Clearwire and what Sprint plans to do with the spectrum that will free up when it eventually shuts down Nextel’s iDen network. Read More »

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