Potential impact of new administration on the telecom industry could see a green light for further M&A activity, changes to net neutrality legislation and expansion of zero-rated data.
Editor’s Note: With 2017 now upon us, RCR Wireless News has gathered predictions from across the mobile telecommunications space on what they expect to see in the new year.
The incoming Trump administration, which is expected to bring decreased regulatory scrutiny, could be a catalyst for change in the telecom industry in 2017 and beyond. AT&T’s pending acquisition of Time Warner, which will most likely pass antitrust concerns, could open the door for more large-scale merger and acquisition activity. Meanwhile, net neutrality and the broadcast TV spectrum auction are likely to be reconsidered and renegotiated.
Expect more mega-mergers
Who will be next? Is the door reopened for Sprint to acquire T-Mobile US? Combining these two challenger brands would create the second largest U.S. carrier and reduce the competitive landscape to three major players. Combined spectrum assets and network infrastructure would create a formidable coverage footprint although it would likely take a couple years for these synergies to be fully realized.
The question of net neutrality
The overturning of net neutrality regulation would play directly into AT&T’s strategy to drive subscriber and revenue growth by expanding its offering to include content. By providing its newly acquired DirectTV and Time Warner content on a zero-rated basis, usage won’t count against customers’ AT&T data plan. It’s easy to see the value proposition of AT&T’s offering, however it’s now on AT&T to execute on its strategy now that the core pieces are in place.
Zero-rated data for the enterprise?
Given the impact of AT&T’s content strategy is having on the U.S. mobile industry, many expect to see zero-rated data as a major play in the enterprise. Consider the value to enterprises if Amazon.com or Microsoft align with a carrier so enterprise data used for Amazon or Microsoft services is zero-rated?
Keeping up with data demand
Can President-elect Donald Trump’s prowess as a master negotiator break the current logjam of the broadcast TV spectrum auction? The auction has been floundering for months as bidders are only offering about half the price broadcasters are asking. This repurposed spectrum will allow carriers to build out the network capacity required to keep pace with growing data demand. AT&T’s aggressive mobile video content strategy will only drive data consumption higher.
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