Hedgehogging: hedge*hog*ging v. Interrupting conversations in an office environment

This must have slid under the radar, but AT&T last month announced that Fredericks of Hollywood had awarded the company its networking and voice services business covering 135 locations. (Not familiar with Fredericks of Hollywood? Just think of a Victoria Secret’s store, but featuring more Velcro and rubber. Don’t ask how I know.) AT&T said the improvements would allow Fredericks of Hollywood to “control inventory more efficiently and better serve its clients through quicker transaction-processing time.” And if you have any idea of the people shopping at Fredericks of Hollywood, they know that time is money.
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Perhaps Sprint Nextel has bitten off more than it can chew. With the release of CEO Gary Forsee last week it looks like the industry’s No. 3 carrier has pinned its troubles on the former leader. Sure Forsee was in charge when Sprint Corp. made the daring move to acquire rival Nextel Communications Inc. for $35 billion, a deal that added 17 million customers . wait for it . running on a separate network incompatible with Sprint’s CDMA-based network and one that looks to have no future. Forsee also oversaw Sprint Nextel’s plans to launch a $5 billion WiMAX network using its extensive 2.5 GHz spectrum that will provide the carrier with a third separate network to run. In the meantime, Sprint Nextel has been hemorrhaging customers, mostly from its iDEN network, and consistently pulls up the rear in customer-service surveys. We guess that just like in sports it’s much easier to fire the coach than the whole team, but whoever takes on the challenge of righting Sprint Nextel’s ship will be taking on a monumental task. Early reports had Andrew Sukawaty (now in charge at Inmarsat) and Dan Hesse (leading Embarq) as contenders to replace Foresee. Interesting notes on that: Sukawaty was Sprint’s CEO in the 1990s and Hesse (of AT&T Digital One Rate fame) now leads Sprint’s spunoff wireline business. We’re are throwing former Nextel CEO Tim Donahue’s name into the ring because he was always fun-and Sprint Nextel employees deserve a little fun these days.
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While Sprint Nextel drifts aimlessly, AT&T Mobility last week found $2.5 billion in its sofa cushions to pick up Aloha Partners’ vast 700 MHz spectrum holdings. AT&T was a bit scarce on details about what it planned to do with the spectrum, which averages around 12 megahertz and covers 196 million pops, but Aloha was using it to run a mobile TV trial in Las Vegas with T-Mobile USA using DVB-H technology. AT&T Mobility has already committed to offering mobile TV services using MediaFLO’s network before the end of the year, which adds a little more heat to the spectrum deal. Of course, the move does pre-empt the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction that is sure to draw deep-pocketed bidders looking for a piece of the highly coveted airwaves. Also, the deal fattens AT&T Mobility’s already substantial spectrum portfolio in an industry where spectrum is king.