Hello! And welcome to our Friday column, Worst of the Week. There’s a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWireless.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We hope you enjoy it!
And without further ado:
The Federal Communications Commission this week released some of the rules it plans to use for the AWS-3 spectrum auction planned for later this year. And, judging from the negative response from many, I say those rules just about hit the spot.
To recap: The FCC plans to move forward with the AWS-3 auction, with plans for a total of 50 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.7/2.1 GHz band to be auctioned later this year for commercial purposes. The spectrum license will include three 5×5 megahertz options, leaving just a single 10×10 megahertz license covering the country. While the FCC release did not specify the size of geographic size of those licenses, comments indicated that the 5×5 megahertz licenses would include two sized to economic area dimensions and one sized to commercial market area dimensions.
Those rules seem reasonable enough, but are in fact silver stakes into the hearts of those on both sides of whatever-this-argument is about.
I guess on one side would be larger carriers like AT&T and Verizon Wireless, which in an ideal world would want the licenses to be carved into a least a pair of 10×10 megahertz channels, with those licenses geographically sliced into a big a piece of area as possible. This would allow them to throw large, 20-megahertz swaths of spectrum at their respective LTE services with the fewest amount of individual licenses making it easier to bid on them during the auction.
The other extreme side in this would be smaller carriers, who would like their to be as many 5×5 megahertz licenses as possible and each of those licenses carved into the smallest geographic regions as possible. This would allow for potentially lower overall prices on each of those licenses and a large enough selection of licenses that do not include larger markets where they have no interest in operating.
Just too make this even more complicated, we can also say there is a third side on this (triangle!) that would be in between the “bigs” and “smalls,” and would include T-Mobile US and Sprint. For the most part these guys have sided with the smaller carriers in terms of rules, but seem to also be okay with geographic license sizes bigger than what the small guys want and smaller than what the big guys want.
And, like all good two-and-a-half-sided arguments, no one is leaving this one happy. One side feels there are not enough big spectrum slices (big carriers), while the other feels that the license geographic sizes are too big (the small carriers). And those in the middle? Well they are unhappy because a) people keep forgetting they are separate companies (for now … ) and b) because they really want to be big guys, but don’t really want to grow up.
This quagmire is how we can all feel confident that the rules the FCC has so far put out in this case are nearly ideal.
We can now expect to see all three sides use the coming weeks leading up to release of the full rules for AWS-3 to bitch and moan about where they are being shafted and how if the final rules are not 100% to what they want, all of mankind will suffer. They will be compelling arguments, filled with wind both hot and cold; with arms both crossed and flailing; and with tears both crocodile and from a clown. It will be a real site to behold.
And for all of this, we can thank one Wheeler, Tom, for coming in and laying out ground rules that will make no one happy, and thus everyone happy. Well done, FCC.
OK, enough of that.
Thanks for checking out this week’s Worst of the Week column. And now for some extras:
–One of the little-talked-about benefits to claims that the “wearables” market is set to explode (figuratively) are the un-told billions of dollars the battery market is set to reap from having every man, woman and child on earth wearing at last 18 wireless gadgets to monitor all aspects of existence.
Looking to add a voice to this potential, IHS Technology recently reported that the “global market for batteries used in wearable electronics will grow more than ten-fold in just four short years.” That’s right, ten-fold in just four short years. (I am assuming these will be non-leap years, thus accounting for the short-ness.)
Now, the report only claims the market for wearable electronic batteries will reach $77 million by 2018, and not the “un-told billions of dollars” some blow-hard may have mentioned earlier. But, if this wearables market takes off like I fear it will take off, I say let’s start crowning the new battery billionaires.
–Finally, well done T-Mobile US for twice in the past week altering its employer discount plan. The first change was to do away with the plan all together in favor of $25 gift cards for customers when they upgrade a device. We all know how much people love gift cards.
This initial move was followed by a stink raising from those customers currently benefiting from a monthly service discount tied to their place of employment, who apparently are not fans of gift cards. Who would have thought that taking away something from people that they have become accustomed to having would get the masses up in arms so quickly in this day and age of social media?
Looking to tame the masses and keep its “good name” as the carrier of the people, T-Mobile US quickly went back on the plan by allowing customers that are currently enjoying a financial benefit thanks to their employer can keep that financial benefit. But, no new people! If you weren’t over the line before this mess became a mess, than no soup for you!
I welcome your comments. Please send me an e-mail at dmeyer@rcrwireless.com.
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