John Legere and his executive team talk to Gigaom about mobile competition in the U.S. and why mobile data is no longer the rare commodity it used to be.…
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What spectrum crisis? First airwave auction in 6 years kicks off with little fanfare
The U.S. mobile industry claims it's desperate for new spectrum. But when the FCC today opened its first mobile broadband airwave auction in a half a decade, not a single major carrier participated.…
Read MoreAT&T shoots for 2015 launch of new LTE network
AT&T aims in three years to have a new LTE network up in the airwaves the FCC just approved for 4G use. In the rather plodding world of telecom, three years is a quick timeline. But AT&T has political and strategic reasons for moving soon.…
Read MoreFCC Chairman questions AT&T’s merger math
Performing a few mental calculations during his keynote at CTIA Wireless on Tuesday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski quickly concluded that the same amount of mobile spectrum existed today as existed before the government slapped down AT&T-Mo. So where did this capacity crisis suddenly come from?…
Read MoreAT&T’s blame game: We didn’t raise prices; the FCC did
AT&T is heating up its retaliatory campaign against the Federal Communications Commission for denying its $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson claimed once again that the merger’s death directly resulted in AT&T's raising mobile data prices 30 percent. We don't buy it.…
Read MoreWho’s eating up AT&T’s data capacity? It’s not new customers
What does a mobile network hosting 41.2 million smartphones look like? It’s a network where growth in data traffic far exceeds data revenue growth. AT&T is selling a lot of smartphones, but even millions of new iPhones don’t fully account for its huge spikes in traffic.…
Read MoreVerizon unloading LTE spectrum; AT&T, open your wallet
Verizon Wireless is hosting a fire sale on LTE spectrum, revealing it will “rationalize” its spectrum holdings by discarding extra 700 MHz licenses. The sale would basically make Verizon’s LTE rollout a lot easier, but it would also sound the death knell for interoperable LTE devices.…
Read MoreAsia’s StarHub latest to harvest 2G spectrum for LTE
Singapore’s StarHub has taken its 4G fate into its own hands, revealing today it will shut down part of its 2G network to make room for LTE, rather than wait around for new 4G spectrum to materialize. Its LTE network goes live this year.…
Read MoreVerizon: In the game of 4G, spectrum trumps technology
Verizon has seen the future of cellular networking -- and it doesn’t look much different from today. In an FCC filing, Verizon dismissed a bevy of new wireless technologies and claimed the only way it can grow capacity is to layer more airwaves onto its current networks.…
Read MoreT-Mobile pounds the first nail in 2G’s coffin
T-Mobile isn’t just launching a sizable LTE network in 2013, it’s becoming the Grim Reaper for 2G technology as we know it. T-Mobile has unveiled a plan to radically reshape its networks, shutting down the majority of its GSM capacity to focus almost entirely on 4G.…
Read MoreAT&T’s data traffic is actually doubling annually
AT&T is now claiming that its mobile data traffic is doubling every year, rather than increasing at a more modest 40 percent annual rate. The distinction is important because the faster AT&T’s networks become overloaded the more pressure it faces to find more spectrum.…
Read MoreDespite critics, Cisco stands by its data deluge
Cisco Systems’ oft-cited Visual Networking Index of the world’s projected mobile data consumption fell under some criticism this year as some operators' rapid growth seemed to peter off, but Cisco isn’t changing its forecasts. Rather, it is revising them upward, predicting even greater traffic growth.…
Read MoreAT&T: We did fine at the Super Bowl, but give us more spectrum
At the Super Bowl AT&T’s networks carried 215 GB of traffic, placed 74,204 phone calls and transmitted 722,296 SMS messages. AT&T reported no problems in handling the traffic and had, but in what is now becoming a common refrain, it used the event to lobby for more spectrum.…
Read MoreAT&T & Dish fight over spectrum, but will either build a network?
Report after report points to AT&T marrying Dish Network after Ma Bell’s forced break up with T-Mobile, but given the companies’ increasing belligerence, you wouldn’t think that was the case. What we’re witnessing here is some very cynical pre-nuptial gamesmanship.…
Read MoreIs the spectrum crisis a myth?
Mobile operators insist we are fast approaching a mobile datapocalypse where their networks will no longer be able to meet mobile broadband demands. But are these claims of a spectrum crisis red herrings? A couple of telecom industry commentators think so, and they're calling the carriers out.…
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