Editor’s Note: RCR Wireless News goes all in for “Throwback Thursdays,” tapping into our archives to resuscitate the top headlines from the past. Fire up the time machine, put on those sepia-tinted shades, set the date for #TBT and enjoy the memories!
AT&T lays out Time Warner acquisition plans
“The future of video is mobile and the future of mobile is video,” AT&T told investors this weekend as it announced an ambitious plan to buy Time Warner for $107.50 per share. Time Warner stock opened lower this morning, trading around $87 per share, as investors digested multiple reports of antitrust concerns surrounding the merger. This morning AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson described the merger as “vertical integration,” with “no competitors taken out of the marketplace.” Stephenson is clearly hoping this merger will not suffer the same fate that befell AT&T’s last major merger plan, a $39 billion deal to buy T-Mobile US from Deutsche Telekom that was ultimately blocked by the U.S. Department of Justice. The purchase of Time Warner would give AT&T a number of valuable media properties including CNN, HBO, Warner Bros. and TNT. Early this morning AT&T released a statement saying CNN will maintain complete editorial independence if the deal goes through. Stephenson also said AT&T has no plans to restrict access to any Time Warner content. From a financial perspective, AT&T said the merger would be accretive within the first year, would increase its dividend coverage and would improve its growth profile while lowering capital intensity. Wireless and wireline networks periodically require high levels of investment and AT&T wants to complement those businesses with the less capital-intensive media businesses. … Read more
CBRS gains industry support
The Citizens Broadband Radio Service Alliance, which promotes the use of LTE-based technology in the CBRS unlicensed band at 3.5 GHz, got a boost in big-name members this week as a dozen companies joined. The new members included AT&T, American Tower, CableLabs, Ericsson, ExteNet Systems and ZTE USA, among others. AT&T is the first tier-one carrier to join the group. Those companies join the six original members which launched the CBRS Alliance in August: Access Technologies (part of Alphabet), Federated Wireless, Intel, Nokia, Qualcomm and Ruckus Wireless (which is now part of Brocade). Those companies “believe that access to LTE-based solutions in the U.S. 3.5 GHz frequency band will be a critical tool to meet rapidly expanding wireless data demands,” according to the CBRS Alliance. The group said it was formed with the intent to develop “an ecosystem of industry participants and make LTE-based solutions in the CBRS band widely available.” In 2015, the Federal Communications Commission opened 150 megahertz of spectrum between 3550 and 3700 MHz for commercial use for spectrum sharing so long as incumbent users – mostly naval radar – were protected. Companies like Federated Wireless and Google have been working on developing Spectrum Access Systems that will dynamically allocate the shared spectrum in a three-tiered system that allows varied levels of prioritization. … Read more
Sprint’s results weighed by price war
Sprint fleshed out its second fiscal quarter results highlighted by the continued shift in consumer spending tied to device payment plans and reiterating its plans to cap network capital expenses at below $3 billion for fiscal 2016. In terms of new data, customer spending mirrored the mixed results shown by rivals, with Sprint’s postpaid average revenue per user falling from $53.99 during the same quarter last year to $50.54 this year, while the prepaid ARPU dropped a more modest 35 cents from $27.66 to $27.31. But, when taking into account device billing that has become common with postpaid monthly installment plans, average billing per user surged $1.02 year-over-year to $71.69. Sprint during the quarter matched T-Mobile US in rolling out “unlimited” service plans at price points of basically $40 per line if customers sign up four lines of service. The carrier also continues to offer its “50% off” promotion targeting select rate plans of its larger rivals, though has said it plans to de-emphasize that offer. … Read more
Verizon shows confidence in IoT
The “internet of things” is set to greatly impact the telecommunications space due to the predicted billions of new devices forecast to tap into wired and wireless networks. In gearing up for that opportunity, telecom operators are beginning to bolster their networks and internal operations in order to take advantage of the potential rewards. One of those carriers is Verizon Communications, which over the past year has announced a number of internal initiatives like its ThingSpace program, as well as a number of partnerships and key acquisitions in the IoT space. During the recent CTIA Super Mobility event, John Stratton, EVP and president of operations at Verizon, noted that while the challenges to implementing and supporting all things set to be part of IoT are daunting, the reward looks worthy of the risk. “It’s clear there is a multibillion-dollar opportunity for our industry right in front of us,” Stratton said. “The risk is that we are paralyzed and don’t scale this to the massive level needed. … We have the opportunity to power these game-changing platforms that power IoT.” In terms of the challenges, Stratton cited three significant hurdles in public policy, expanding the ecosystem and the need to relate with communities set to benefit from IoT. … Read more
AT&T talks 5G mmWave architecture
AUSTIN, Texas – AT&T outlined a vision for “5G” networks using millimeter wave technology at this year’s Texas Wireless Summit. The carrier also demonstrated its 5G network technology with Ericsson. Arunabha Ghosh, director of wireless communications at AT&T Labs, said mm wave spectrum is plentiful but can be difficult to use. He said that due to noise limitations, power amplifiers are less efficient in mm wave networks than they are in lower bands. The solution, he said, is to place cell sites very close together. “If you want to use 500 megahertz of spectrum and deliver 100 megabits per second, you have to have the sites like 200 meters apart maximum, 100 meters for autonomous vehicles,” he said. “A city block in Austin is 200-250 meters. You are talking about several small cells deployed every block to support this 100 megabits per second that we need.” A dense network of small cells will require more fiber, Ghosh said, adding that in some desirable small cell locations fiber might be just a few feet away, but still be very hard to access. He also noted that highways will need to support connected cars, and fiber is often unavailable alongside highways. … Read more
600 MHz auction progresses
Well, that was quick. The Federal Communications Commission needed just one round of bidding in the second stage of forward auction activity for its ongoing 600 MHz incentive auction proceedings to realize telecom operators are not interested in meeting the financial demands of television broadcasters. The latest action kicked off this morning with the first round of forward auction bidding and ended just under two-and-one-half hours later with the FCC calling a halt to stage two. Total potential winning bids topped out at $21.5 billion, which was enough to meet the first component of the auction’s final stage rules, but did not meet the requirements to continue bidding action nor obviously the $56.5 billion requested by television broadcasters. “Bidding in the forward auction has concluded for [stage two] without meeting the final stage rule and without meeting the conditions to trigger an extended round,” the FCC noted. “The incentive auction will continue with [stage three] at a lower clearing target.” Stage two included a total of 114 megahertz of spectrum offered up by broadcasters as part of the reverse auction process that finished up last week after about a month of activity. Those spectrum resources were repackaged into 90 megahertz of clean spectrum for which telecom operators were then bidding. … Read more
Check out the RCR Wireless News Archives for more stories from the past.