Guess who went public? T-Mobile completes MetroPCS deal
T-Mobile’s deal to join with MetroPCs closed and on Wednesday morning, the newly combined company started trading on the NYSE under the ticker TMUS. Read more »
Sprint buys up the rest of Clearwire for $2.2B
Sprint has bought up the half of Clearwire it doesn’t own, paying $2.2 billion for the 4G provider. The deal gives Sprint some much needed spectrum as it competes against Verizon and AT&T. Read more »
Here’s why Sprint offered $2.1B to buy the rest of Clearwire
photo: ShutterStock / Susan Cain.
Sprint needs spectrum and Clearwire has it. Here’s what’s behind Spint’s $2.1 billion offer for the remainder of the shares it doesn’t own in Clearwire. The deal, which values Clearwire at $4 billion, would close out a year of spectrum-related acquisitions in the mobile space. Read more »
Sprint reports wider loss on network upgrade expenses
photo: ShutterStock / Susan Cain.
Sprint’s narrowly missed analysts expectations for its third-quarter sales, but announced a wider loss thanks to costs associated with shutting down its Nextel business and building out its 4G network. Maybe Japan’s Softbank will help save the nation’s third-largest carrier. Read more »
Sprint LTE goes live in Baltimore, WiMAX’s birthplace
Sprint has come full circle on 4G. Four years ago, the country’s first 4G service, Xohm, went live in Baltimore using the technology Sprint championed at the time WiAMX. On Wednesday, Sprint turned up a new 4G network, using WiMAX’s competitor LTE, in the same city. Read more »
iPod touch as a phone sounds great, unless you need 911
Thinking of dumping your phone for an iPod touch with the FreedomPop WiMAX sleeve? Sounds like a good plan unless you happen to encounter something unplanned: An emergency. The device doesn’t support 911 calling and the company hasn’t yet figured out an alternative solution. Read more »
Clearwire starts shrinking as Sprint makes the leap to LTE
Clearwire lost subscribers for the first time in the second quarter as a result of Sprint discontinuing new contract WiMAX device sales. Sprint has tied its star to LTE, and Clearwire would like to follow, but if the 4G carrier may have already reached its apex. Read more »
Zippy! NSN shows off 1 Gbps wireless speeds
Nokia Siemens Networks plans to show off gigabit wireless speeds using the variant of of LTE-Advanced network that Clearwire plans to deploy. But don’t get too excited, too soon. These aren’t real world speeds and they’re not for handsets. Read more »
FreedomPop’s plan to become the anti-carrier
FreedomPop is even more ambitious than we had imagined. It’s not just giving away gobs of free data; it plans to create the carrier equivalent of Web startup and in the process turn 4G capacity into a currency that can be earned and traded. Read more »
Sprint Galaxy Nexus LTE tipped to launch April 15
Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus is a Verizon Wireless exclusive in the U.S. but Sprint customers may be able to get the device next month. Although Sprint’s 4G LTE network isn’t available yet, the phone will keep the LTE radio for future activation and likely support Google Wallet. Read more »
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The big theme of MWC: How to live in a connected world
The industry has moved beyond starry-eyed soothsaying about a world of 50 billion connected devices to start talking about how these mammoth networks of objects and appliances would actually work and how they would be managed. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Clearwire: Just give us one more year on LTE
We’ll have to wait another year for the LTE network Clearwire has long been promising. At its quarterly earnings call on Wednesday, Clearwire CEO Erik Prusch said the WiMAX carrier’s first batch of 5,000 LTE cell sites will be switched by June of 2013. Read more »
FreedomPop extends the Web’s freemium model to mobile data
FreedomPop plans to give away mobile data access to most of its customers for free, charging only premium users a monthly fee. If can it can make the math work, it could potentially shake up the wireless market, extending mobile data to broad swathes of the population. Read more »
If Comcast can’t make it in the wireless biz, who can?
Comcast claims it tried but failed to build a wireless business multiple times before it sold out to Verizon. Assuming Comcast is being honest, its failure has big implications for U.S. mobile competition. If Comcast can’t make wireless work, what hope is there for a newcomer? Read more »
Will Google buy T-Mobile? Not a chance
SNL reports that Google is bidding on T-Mobile. If the rumor were somehow true, then Google is suffering from hubris. Selling software, services and handsets is fundamentally a different business than selling connectivity. Google buying T-Mobile would be a bigger disaster than AOL-Time Warner. Read more »
Sprint details first LTE launch cities, expansion plans
Sprint will launch LTE in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and six other smaller markets by mid-2011, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse revealed Thursday. He also went into more detail about how it planned to grow its initial low-bandwidth LTE network into a big fat one. Read more »
Meet the spectrum bosses
If AT&T-Mo’s failure taught us anything it’s that big U.S. operators can no longer grow by acquiring each other. Instead they’re going to have to buy up what unused spectrum is left on the market to stockpile fuel for their future mobile broadband networks. 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 »
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AT&T sans T-Mobile USA: Making lemons from lemonade
In the wake of its failed acquisition of T-Mobile USA, analysts are speculating where AT&T can find enough spectrum to keep pace with Verizon Wireless. But instead AT&T should be scrambling to ensure that it makes the most of the spectrum it does ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The next broadband battle: AT&T/Dish and Verizon/Cable
The business model for standalone wholesale wireless network operators is broken. But in the coming year a new and ultimately more successful model is poised to emerge, transforming the entire communications landscape as we know it Tim Farrar of Telecom, Media, and Finance Associates, Inc. explains. Read more »
Merger aftermath: Everywhere AT&T loses, Verizon wins
Verizon Wireless couldn’t have asked for a better outcome to the AT&T-Mo saga. Not only did its archival take a beating but Verizon managed to lock down its spectrum position while AT&T was distracted. But most importantly to Verizon, AT&T backed off before it went over the brink. Read more »
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Confused about the wireless markets? Here’s a breakdown
Between the collapse of AT&T’s proposed $39 billion merger with T-Mobile and the death throes of a proposed wholesale 4G network created by a satellite company and now-broke hedge fund, the wireless industry has generated a lot of stories but no real change in the past ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Clearwire green-lights LTE build by raising $734 million
One day after announcing the final details to its public offering, Clearwire has closed on the stock deal, raising $734 million in equity investment from new investors and principle shareholder Sprint. The next step? Build a big fat LTE network, of course. Read more »
Clearwire closing in on the magic LTE investment number
Clearwire is raising another $52.5 million in its public offering. That’s hardly big money in the world of telecom finance, but it happens to be the exact amount Clearwire needs to reach its $400 million target, triggering an investment by Sprint and kickstarting its LTE rollout. Read more »
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The time is finally right for MVNOs in the U.S.
The U.S. MVNO market is now largely a niche where a handful of companies provide phones and services on the cheap. But several notable new players are joining the space next year and will provide a different, more-specialized kind of service; network operators could benefit in ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Will Clearwire, Sprint build a 4G monster or a mouse?
Even with a new cash infusion from Sprint, Clearwire’s LTE plans remain conservative. Given their combined spectrum resources, the two operators could build the biggest, baddest 4G network in the industry. The question is do they have the ambition — and the cash — to do it? Read more »
Clearwire hinges its LTE rollout on raising new public funds
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 »
Sprint Steps Up Yet Again To Support Clearwire With Up To $1.6 Billion
Clearwire (NSDQ: CLWR) will live to fight on thanks to a cash infusion from its good buddy (or frustrated spouse, depending on how you see t… Read more at paidContent »
Sprint swoops in with $1.6B deal to save Clearwire
We can stop wondering if Clearwire will default on its loan payment. Sprint has stepped up with a plan to spend $1.6 billion over the next four years that will help Clearwire stay solvent, and Clearwire said it would make its $237 million debt payment. Read more »
Thursday is D-Day for Clearwire (and Sprint)
Clearwire has to decide if it will make a $237 million interest payment on Thursday, a decision with big repercussions for the rest of the industry. If it skips the payment, it can build its LTE network, but if it defaults, it threatens its benefactor Sprint. Read more »
Clearwire’s growing financial problems threaten Sprint’s 4G plans
Clearwire is hinting it may default on loans to save cash, which could be the first step toward bankruptcy. If that happens, Sprint stands to lose the most. Not only is it Clearwire’s largest shareholder, but Sprint’s 4G strategy is tied up in Clearwire’s spectrum hoard. Read more »
Sprint raising debt, may fund ailing Clearwire
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 »
Clearwire’s new pricing and the attempted coup in wireless broadband
Clearwire wants to simplify its pricing and remake itself as a neutral provider of excess mobile broadband capacity, but its success hinges on Sprint making a new role for itself as the mobile market consolidates. Read more »
Sprint looks to Clearwire to firm up LTE plans
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 plans LTE-Advanced deployment for 2013
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 »
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The mobile backhaul market, 2011-2012: more innovation, greater competition
Massive growth in data traffic driven by smartphone adoption and usage, coupled with more spectrally efficient air interfaces such as HSPA+ or LTE, have added increased pressure on backhaul requirements, turning a once boring business into an exciting space. More exacting requirements and greater competition will ultimately enable more growth prospects over the next few years. We also expect to see increased adoption of wireless backhaul worldwide, with PMP and E-band technologies delivering increasingly attractive and cost-effective solutions for the new LTE networks. Companies mentioned in this report include BLiNQ, Cambridge Broadband Networks and Siklu. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Sprint Details LTE Plans As Clearwire’s Decline Accelerates
Sprint (NYSE: S) added a little color to its previously announced plans to embrace LTE as a next-generation wireless standard, telling finan… Read more at paidContent »
Clearwire reeling as Sprint forges its own LTE plans
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 dials up LTE for its 4G future but leaves Clearwire hanging
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 »
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The future of mobile: a segment analysis by GigaOM Pro
As our demand for data increases, so too do the number of mobile devices and services. Add to that the infrastructure needed to support such connectivity, and a wide, complex picture of the mobile industry emerges. This report examines the various sectors of the mobile landscape and what the future holds for each. Hardware, cloud services, mobile search, advertising, location-based services and the growing ubiquity of the Internet of Things will all play an important role in the concept of mobility as it shifts and evolves over the next several years. With the help of more than a dozen contributors, GigaOM Pro presents a comprehensive analysis of the companies and trends that will lead us into the next era of mobile. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
