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 »
Tech
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 »
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 »