Swiftel must go!

So it's still the case that MFBI would have to be activated for Sprint to use nTelos LTE? I thought band 25 scanned the G block and then the rest of the PCS band (that makes up band 2) and would connect as long as the device were authorized. 

So it's still the case that MFBI would have to be activated for Sprint to use nTelos LTE? I thought band 25 scanned the G block and then the rest of the PCS band (that makes up band 2) and would connect as long as the device were authorized. 

Band 25 devices do scan Band 2 spectrum.  But cannot authenticate with a network that is broadcasting Band 2 only.  nTelos devices are Band 2, so nTelos LTE broadcasts in Band 2 only.  But if nTelos LTE were to broadcast Band 2 with MFBI, then Band 25 devices would be capable to authenticate and use the network.

Can Sprint have Shentel manage the nationwide network?  They may have macro sites first!

This is going to be great for my area. I'm actually going into ntelos area tomorrow and it's a pain since where I'm going is right on the line between Shentel and ntelos. My phone keeps going between Sprint 1x800 and ntelos 1x1900 and on occasion I'll connect to EVDO. I can't wait to see how this plays out over time. My guess is Shentel will sell off the AWS spectrum to help fund the upgrades. I'm sure one of the other big 3 would buy it. One question I have though is if this acquisition will slow down B41 deployment in Shentel's current area if they are trying to do quick NV 1.0 upgrades in the newly acquired area. Hopefully it won't but some areas truly need the increased capacity.

This is going to be great for my area. I'm actually going into ntelos area tomorrow and it's a pain since where I'm going is right on the line between Shentel and ntelos. My phone keeps going between Sprint 1x800 and ntelos 1x1900 and on occasion I'll connect to EVDO. I can't wait to see how this plays out over time. My guess is Shentel will sell off the AWS spectrum to help fund the upgrades. I'm sure one of the other big 3 would buy it. One question I have though is if this acquisition will slow down B41 deployment in Shentel's current area if they are trying to do quick NV 1.0 upgrades in the newly acquired area. Hopefully it won't but some areas truly need the increased capacity.

The way I read all the releases yesterday is that Sprint gets all nTelos spectrum in the deal, not Shentel. So Shentel would not be able to sell AWS, if that's accurate. But Sprint might sell or trade AWS. Or they may use it. As you state, I'm sure there is demand out there for it.

It's quite possible that Shentel's own B41 deployment could get slowed down with the nTelos distraction. And I guess it would be naive of me to say it won't. But I do believe Shentel will make the best decisions possible given their limited resources. I fully expect them to keep trucking on in their existing footprint as best as they can. They will manage to work in their existing areas and new areas to the extent possible. They may have to bring in some more people to manage the plan.

The way I read all the releases yesterday is that Sprint gets all nTelos spectrum in the deal, not Shentel. So Shentel would not be able to sell AWS, if that's accurate. But Sprint might sell or trade AWS. Or they may use it. As you state, I'm sure there is demand out there for it. It's quite possible that Shentel's own B41 deployment could get slowed down with the nTelos distraction. And I guess it would be naive of me to say it won't. But I do believe Shentel will make the best decisions possible given their limited resources. I fully expect them to keep trucking on in their existing footprint as best as they can. They will manage to work in their existing areas and new areas to the extent possible. They may have to bring in some more people to manage the plan.

I imagine T-Mobile can swap PCS where it has a lot for more AWS...

So sprint get some nationwide aws? How much spectrum are getting? Since phones are now coming unlocked why not add some aws if the slice is big enough??

So sprint get some nationwide aws? How much spectrum are getting? Since phones are now coming unlocked why not add some aws if the slice is big enough??

No, definitely not nationwide.  Sprint will pick up AWS A-Block, which is 10x10 in most of Western Virginia.  This includes the Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Roanoke, Lynchburg, Blacksburg, Lexington and Martnsville/Collinsville CMA's.  But no AWS in West Virginia.

 But Sprint might sell or trade AWS.

For the PCS  "C" block in Omaha

The way I read all the releases yesterday is that Sprint gets all nTelos spectrum in the deal, not Shentel. So Shentel would not be able to sell AWS, if that's accurate. But Sprint might sell or trade AWS. Or they may use it. As you state, I'm sure there is demand out there for it. It's quite possible that Shentel's own B41 deployment could get slowed down with the nTelos distraction. And I guess it would be naive of me to say it won't. But I do believe Shentel will make the best decisions possible given their limited resources. I fully expect them to keep trucking on in their existing footprint as best as they can. They will manage to work in their existing areas and new areas to the extent possible. They may have to bring in some more people to manage the plan.

I do not believe Shentel has the necessary licenses to actually own spectrum. What Shentel gets is 225 million over five to six years, which could be viewed as compensation for the spectrum.

I could not image this acquisition will slow down Shentel's B41 deployment. If anything it will have the opposite effect. nTelos owned the BRS 2.5 spectrum from around Winchester south to Harrisonburg among other areas, and now that Shentel will be handing it over to Sprint, Shentel should be able to deploy multiple 20 MHz B41 carriers in those areas, plus all others where Sprint controls the BRS spectrum.

There is a ton of growth potential in Central PA for Shentel and they know this. They also know they are behind the eight ball with LTE spectrum having only three 5 MHz carriers in all markets, granted their hands are a bit tied by Sprint. B41 deployments will proceed full steam ahead - they have to. Otherwise the LTE network will practically collapse in on itself. Goals are set at around 10% of the network by the end of 2015.

Also, Shentel's HQ is in Edinburg, not Harrisonburg. Not that I am complaining, this site is fantastic.

Also, Shentel's HQ is in Edinburg, not Harrisonburg. Not that I am complaining, this site is fantastic.

I can't believe after all this time I incorrectly thought Shentel was headquartered in Harrisonburg.  I would have bet money on it.  Thanks for the gracious correction.  Much appreciated.

Also, today Shentel said they are only building 125 Band 41 sites in their Legacy Shentel areas and committing to another 125 additional Band 41 sites in nTelos areas.  See Page 4.  I hope they expand their commitment to Band 41 Spark and Carrier Aggregation further than that.  I think they need more than 250 B41 sites in their combined coverage areas.

Thanks for your insight.  It adds a lot to the discussion.  

 See Page 4. 

Thanks for that. I was unable to listen to the call this morning.

That 125 number for the legacy network is likely a result of current market penetration and data demand. As those metrics increase I would be unsurprised to see that number of sites increase as well. Central PA is a very under penetrated market for Shentel, compared to their penetration in the Shenandoah Valley (something like 4x less penetrated in CPA). Also I expect them to equip almost all new sites built for capacity with B41.

Another thing to remember is there are a lot of cows and corn in areas Shentel covers, so picking and choosing which sites get B41 instead of carte blanche deploying TDD makes a lot of sense.

I am just excited to see 50 sites. It will make a huge difference in network performance. You can do a lot with three well balanced 5MHz carriers, but it is still only 15 MHz. I almost can't fathom what 40 or 60 additional MHz will be like on top of what Shentel already has.

It is an exciting time to live in Shentel land.

Thanks for that. I was unable to listen to the call this morning.

 

That 125 number for the legacy network is likely a result of current market penetration and data demand. As those metrics increase I would be unsurprised to see that number of sites increase as well. Central PA is a very under penetrated market for Shentel, compared to their penetration in the Shenandoah Valley (something like 4x less penetrated in CPA). Also I expect them to equip almost all new sites built for capacity with B41.

 

Another thing to remember is there are a lot of cows and corn in areas Shentel covers, so picking and choosing which sites get B41 instead of carte blanche deploying TDD makes a lot of sense.

 

I am just excited to see 50 sites. It will make a huge difference in network performance. You can do a lot with three well balanced 5MHz carriers, but it is still only 15 MHz. I almost can't fathom what 40 or 60 additional MHz will be like on top of what Shentel already has.

 

It is an exciting time to live in Shentel land.

I agree with you 100%. I currently work in New Oxford, PA and Sprint LTE  on band 25 here is pulling 24 mbps DL and almost 7 mbps UL (outside the building of course). Meanwhile at home in York, PA, I'm hard pressed trying to pull anything over 1.5 mbps at home so I'm hoping at least 7 those 125 B41 Sites are in York. 

The areas in between York and New Oxford/Hanover are very lightly populated and I'm sure capacity in those areas are far from being strained. Two B25 carriers and a B26 carrier should more than sufficient in supplying enough demand for those areas for a while.

Although I am on the side that is wondering if Shentel having to expand their focus, would now slow down upgrades in their existing coverage areas. Especially since they focus their efforts on places with the biggest needs first and nTelos territory is far worse than Shentel areas. 

Whenever I go to Smith Mountain Lake, I basically just put my phone away for a few days, as me trying to use my phone on nTelos is an exercise in frustration, so I'm glad to see that will improve in the future!

Meanwhile at home in York, PA, I'm hard pressed trying to pull anything over 1.5 mbps at home so I'm hoping at least 7 those 125 B41 Sites are in York.

Before the nTelos acquisition, I believe Harrisburg and York were the biggest markets in terms of POPs in the Shentel network. Unfortunately, Sprint did a really poor job in areas like York, Lebanon and Carlisle and when Shentel took over the network they had an uphill battle.

Even with Morgantown and Roanoke, I doubt Shentel will let CPA slide because of the growth potential there. Expect not only 2 carriers of B41 on most of the existing sites in York city, expect new sites as well with the three existing 5 MHz LTE carriers plus at least 2 B41 carriers.

I don't think Shentel is trying to be anything less than the best carrier in the areas they serve.

I think Shentel has demonstrated their ability and desire to make Sprint's network the best in the areas for which they are the affiliate provider.  Look at their capital spending for the past few years as part of the NV deployment, and it is quite evident that they are committed.  Looking even further to how much of their overall revenue is derived from their wireless operations vs their cable and wireline and it is very apparent that they need their wireless business to thrive to keep the company going.  

That being said they are a public company and have shareholders who sometimes prefer the short term return vs the long term capital spending and delayed revenues associated with that.  I hope that the financial costs associated with acquiring nTelos does not adversely affect their continued capital spending.  They are acquiring a significant debt load with the transaction even after the fee concessions from Sprint.  

From a network perspective it sounds like in other forms on this site that the spectrum assets from nTelos should allow some immediate, non-capital intensive, improvement to many of the congested areas in B25 and B26.  

Ultimately I think Shentel will pull off this acquisition and transition successfully given their extensive prior track record and commitment to deploying and managing their network successfully.  

Can Sprint have Shentel manage the nationwide network?  They may have macro sites first!

Yes I was thinking the same thing, that Shentel should be given more markets,...maybe not Nationwide but at least the Northeast. Shentel seem to do an excellent job.Shentel seems to be committed to Sprint.For example a few years back they created an initiative to completely cover I-83 with 3G from York to Baltimore. It is an amazing stretch of excellent Sprint Coverage. I used to run out to the Loucks Road Sprint Store in York, PA as well, because it was a very nice store and had great customer Service.I would be happy if Shentel would come east a bit of Harisburg and take over the Lancaster,Ephrata, Reading area, but that is probably wishful thinking as we will probably remain in the Philadelphia Market.

Taking on nTelos is a more than doubling of Shentel's wireless network.  Let's see how they do with that before having them take over the world.  I'm very optimistic though.

I would be happy if Shentel would come east a bit of Harisburg and take over the Lancaster,Ephrata, Reading area, but that is probably wishful thinking as we will probably remain in the Philadelphia Market.

I just said almost the same thing in another thread yesterday - Reading not so much in my opinion, but it would make a ton of sense if they could somehow takeover the greater Lancaster area and not only give travel coverage symmetry along 283 and 30 to current Shentel coverage borders into Harrisburg and York respectively, but flesh out/fill in the triangle created by such, since the 3 cities are so interconnected from just a business perspective alone.

This is great news for Sprint, great news for Virginia.

NTelos has kept Sprint service to early 2000's technology for too long. Shentel has proven themselves to be ahead of the game in terms of Sprint LTE deployment.

It's a match made in heaven.

I'll give Shentel a lot of patience. Who knows what mess\dysfunction they are walking into.

I just said almost the same thing in another thread yesterday - Reading not so much in my opinion, but it would make a ton of sense if they could somehow takeover the greater Lancaster area and not only give travel coverage symmetry along 283 and 30 to current Shentel coverage borders into Harrisburg and York respectively, but flesh out/fill in the triangle created by such, since the 3 cities are so interconnected from just a business perspective alo

 

Yes I was thinking the same thing, that Shentel should be given more markets,...maybe not Nationwide but at least the Northeast. Shentel seem to do an excellent job.Shentel seems to be committed to Sprint.For example a few years back they created an initiative to completely cover I-83 with 3G from York to Baltimore. It is an amazing stretch of excellent Sprint Coverage. I used to run out to the Loucks Road Sprint Store in York, PA as well, because it was a very nice store and had great customer Service.I would be happy if Shentel would come east a bit of Harisburg and take over the Lancaster,Ephrata, Reading area, but that is probably wishful thinking as we will probably remain in the Philadelphia Market.

 

I just said almost the same thing in another thread yesterday - Reading not so much in my opinion, but it would make a ton of sense if they could somehow takeover the greater Lancaster area and not only give travel coverage symmetry along 283 and 30 to current Shentel coverage borders into Harrisburg and York respectively, but flesh out/fill in the triangle created by such, since the 3 cities are so interconnected from just a business perspective alone.

 

really? Lancaster is already covered in LTE and even has some good b41 in the majority of places I've been in from city to rural and decent b25 and 26 to follow up, whenever I head back over to shentel land (york) it makes me miss being up here, shentel was first, I'll give them that and I was surprised, but I really saw the difference after leaving that market, it was night and day. Do I think shentel can make a huge difference, of course, but I think lancaster is fine in the speed of the deployment, though I can't speak for the other areas.

nTelos transaction has hit the FCC with a detailed coverage map below:

really? Lancaster is already covered in LTE and even has some good b41 in the majority of places I've been in from city to rural and decent b25 and 26 to follow up, whenever I head back over to shentel land (york) it makes me miss being up here, shentel was first, I'll give them that and I was surprised, but I really saw the difference after leaving that market, it was night and day. Do I think shentel can make a huge difference, of course, but I think lancaster is fine in the speed of the deployment, though I can't speak for the other areas.

Lancaster is alright certainly, but you're missing my point;  it's not so much Lancaster proper, but the overall triangular region between all three points.  The areas between where Shentel cuts off along 283 and 30 into Lancaster and all points in between could really use the boost and symmetry that the Shentel areas in particular enjoy.

UPDATE!!!

The updated Sprint coverage map indicates LTE coverage around Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Roanoke, VA, as well as LTE roaming with newer phones, presumably on US Cellular. 

A service representative at the Sprint store (run by inPhase) told me they're installing tri-band equipment.  The NTELOS days are gone, long live the Shentel/Sprint Alliance! 

Also this would be a good time to lock in unlimited data on one of those framily plans.