USCellular 700, AWS Spectrum, PCS Spectrum

[S4GRU]

Sprint is not targeting Cellular 850 spectrum, because they cannot get enough of it to make it particularly useful. But I would have to imagine that if Sprint buys out a regional and gets some 850, they will put it to use.

 

The hardest part of integrating new bands is the device ecosystem. And Sprint devices have supported 850 for a long while now.

 

I would guess Sprint will deploy CDMA (1x and EVDO) in places where they pick up Cellular licenses through acquisition. They'd be crazy not to.

 

Robert from Note 2 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

 

[maximus1987/lou99]

Sprint is not targeting Cellular 850 spectrum, because they cannot get enough of it to make it particularly useful. But I would have to imagine that if Sprint buys out a regional and gets some 850, they will put it to use.

 

The hardest part of integrating new bands is the device ecosystem. And Sprint devices have supported 850 for a long while now.

 

I would guess Sprint will deploy CDMA (1x and EVDO) in places where they pick up Cellular licenses through acquisition. They'd be crazy not to.

 

Robert from Note 2 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Do you think Sprint buying USM is a done deal? What about VZW and ATT snapping it up?

[bigsnake49]

Do you think Sprint buying USM is a done deal? What about VZW and ATT snapping it up?

Done deal? Of course not? Highly desirable? Yes!!

[maximus1987/lou99]

Done deal? Of course not? Highly desirable? Yes!!

I hope if ATT or VZW attempted to buy it, FCC would say no. But I'd guess it'd be allowed since USM is a flea compared to duopoly, same as Leap.

[WiWavelength]

I hope if ATT or VZW attempted to buy it, FCC would say no. But I'd guess it'd be allowed since USM is a flea compared to duopoly, same as Leap.

 

AT&T might be able to pull it off.  VZW likely would not -- far too much rural Cellular 850 MHz overlap.

 

AJ

[bigsnake49]

AT&T might be able to pull it off.  VZW likely would not -- far too much rural Cellular 850 MHz overlap.

 

AJ

Yeah, AT&T coverage is kind of weak in New Hampshire and Vermont since Verizon and USCC have the 850Mhz allocations. The weakness wil be become irrelevant once they cover the area with 700Mhz and implement VOLTE. USCC will lose it's attractiveness at that time because then it will have to compete with Verizon and AT&T. We also have no idea whether Sprint might deploy some SMR in those areas. So for USCC, the time to sell is now. Sprint should grab them.

Edited July 20, 2013 by bigsnake49

[maximus1987/lou99]

Yeah, AT&T coverage is kind of weak in New Hampshire and Vermont since Verizon and USCC have the 850Mhz allocations. The weakness wil be become irrelevant once they cover the area with 700Mhz and implement VOLTE. USCC will lose it's attractiveness at that time because then it will have to compete with Verizon and AT&T. We also have no idea whether Sprint might deploy some SMR in those areas. So for USCC, the time to sell is now. Sprint should grab them.

Softy just spent $21.5 bil on Sprint. They're not gonna buy USM for some time.

[bigsnake49]

Softy just spent $21.5 bil on Sprint. They're not gonna buy USM for some time.

 

 

You'd be surprised. I know they want to acquire/merge with T-Mobile. So USCC is small fry.

[maximus1987/lou99]

You'd be surprised. I know they want to acquire/merge with T-Mobile. So USCC is small fry.

The FCC is not gonna let that happen. TMUS was losing customers and Feds said no to att. How much more likely are Feds gonna allow TMUS to be acquired now when they're gaining customers.

Canadian Feds are desperate for a viable 4th competitor - they're gonna have to settle for Verizon - but FCC is gonna throw away a very viable 4th competitor already improving?

 

No. 4 competitors is what is necessary for consumers to win. Look at 3 UK's prices and what happened when Free in France entered as a 4th competitor.

 

If TMUS is eliminated as a competitor, what makes you think Sprint would lower prices? TMUS is a pro-consumer force in the telecom industry. Give them nationwide 5x5 600 MHz and we'll finally have pricing like in UK.

 

[maximus1987/lou99]

You'd be surprised. I know they want to acquire/merge with T-Mobile. So USCC is small fry.

USM's stock value is $3.35 bil. Sprint would have to add a premium to that. USM is not small fry compared to Softy's $21.5 bil Sprint acquisition.

 

How much did NV cost? $5-7 bil. $3.35 bil plus a premium is not small fry. Sprint could do a lot to its current network with that $3.35 bil+ like extending contiguous TD-LTE to most dense markets and getting 100mil+ coverage. Not sure some extra rural coverage is worth $3.35bil. If anything, USM can be stripped by Sprint et al: PCS spectrum to Sprint, AWS to TMUS and everything else to duopoly; duopoly could let S, TMUS have whatever they can afford so they don't complain to FCC. Sprint could take however many customers it can needs to sustain the costs of expanding NV to areas where USM has coverage but Sprint doesn't.

 

Rinse and repeat same process on Cspire. Cspire would be huge for TMUS cause it's using AWS for LTE but it's CDMA so it would have the same transition period like Metropcs.

Edited July 20, 2013 by asdf190

[lynyrd65]

Why not just leave USCC to continue competing?

 

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[maximus1987/lou99]

Why not just leave USCC to continue competing?

 

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk 2

That's good from our perspective but not what the four carriers are thinking.

USM is not using AWS so it's being wasted. TMUS could put it to use immediately.

[lynyrd65]

That's good from our perspective but not what the four carriers are thinking.

USM is not using AWS so it's being wasted. TMUS could put it to use immediately.

All of their devices support it. They have been deploying low band lte for coverage and haven't needed to add aws for capacity yet. They likely will once their 850 and 700 lte carriers get loaded.

 

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk 2

[maximus1987/lou99]

All of their devices support it. They have been deploying low band lte for coverage and haven't needed to add aws for capacity yet. They likely will once their 850 and 700 lte carriers get loaded.

 

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk 2

Their PCS sale to Sprint and recent AWS sale to TMUS makes me think USM would rather sell itself off than compete. Otherwise, they'd be more aggressive in pricing so that they would NEED as much AWS as possible.

They don't "need" capacity? What kind of telco doesn't need capacity? Only the ones who are waiting to be bought up.

 

Proof they don't want to compete:

 

The company's previously announced transaction to sell its Chicago, St. Louis, central Illinois and three other markets (the "Divestiture Transaction") to Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S) has closed and the company has received $480 million.

 

Read more: U.S. Cellular Declares Special Cash Dividend Of $5.75 Per Share - FierceWireless http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/us-cellular-declares-special-cash-dividend-575-share#ixzz2ZcAMzKtc

Subscribe at FierceWireless

 

 

Why didn't they take that $480mil and use it to build out 850, AWS? Cause they don't want to compete.

 

TMUS could take that AWS and put it to good work. It's wasted on USM.

Edited July 20, 2013 by asdf190

[lynyrd65]

Their PCS sale to Sprint and recent AWS sale to TMUS makes me think USM would rather sell itself off than compete. Otherwise, they'd be more aggressive in pricing so that they would NEED as much AWS as possible.

They don't "need" capacity? What kind of telco doesn't need capacity? Only the ones who are waiting to be bought up.

 

Proof they don't want to compete:

 

The company's previously announced transaction to sell its Chicago, St. Louis, central Illinois and three other markets (the "Divestiture Transaction") to Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S) has closed and the company has received $480 million.

 

Read more: U.S. Cellular Declares Special Cash Dividend Of $5.75 Per Share - FierceWireless http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/us-cellular-declares-special-cash-dividend-575-share#ixzz2ZcAMzKtc

Subscribe at FierceWireless

 

 

Why didn't they take that $480mil and use it to build out 850, AWS? Cause they don't want to compete.

 

TMUS could take that AWS and put it to good work. It's wasted on USM.

They don't need additional capacity yet

 

Does Verizon have a 750 only LTE network? Yes

 

Are they preparing to sell themselves out, no.

 

The AWS licenses that uscc sold were in non-cellular markets or markets where USCC has no existing presence (or very little)

 

The sale of that AWS makes sense because it is outside of its core cellular markets where meeting build out requirements deploying AWS only would bankrupt them. The money is being used to deploy cellular 850 LTE as a matter of fact.

 

They need LTE 850 for the iPhone.

 

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk 2

[maximus1987/lou99]

Don't need capacity, Yet

 

Does Verizon have a 750 only LTE network? Yes

 

Are they preparing to sell themselves out, no.

 

The AWS licenses that uscc sold were in non-cellular markets or markets where USCC has no existing presence (or very little)

 

The sale of that AWS makes sense because it is outside of its core cellular markets where meeting build out requirements deploying AWS only would bankrupt them. The money is being used to deploy cellular 850 LTE as a matter of fact.

 

They need LTE 850 for the iPhone.

 

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk 2

Verizon is not selling spectrum.

Also, why didn't they use the $480 mil for faster rollout? Or rolling out AWS faster and then use that extra capacity to attract customers with lower prices?

The iphone also supports AWS LTE.

Edited July 20, 2013 by asdf190

[WiWavelength]

Their PCS sale to Sprint and recent AWS sale to TMUS makes me think USM would rather sell itself off than compete. Otherwise, they'd be more aggressive in pricing so that they would NEED as much AWS as possible.

They don't "need" capacity? What kind of telco doesn't need capacity? Only the ones who are waiting to be bought up.

 

Not so fast.  Proof is far more conclusive than that.

 

USCC sold off Chicago and St. Louis because they were underperforming markets.  Additionally, USCC had no spectrum in which to launch LTE in Chicago.

 

As for the Mississippi Valley REA AWS E block 10 MHz license sale, I called that almost immediately nine months ago:

 

 

In the other five of the six markets detailed above, USCC likely could roll out LTE, as it holds additional AWS 2100+1700 MHz and/or Lower 700 MHz licenses in those markets.  It should be noted, however, that those non PCS licenses are not being transferred to Sprint in this deal.  But as it exits those markets, USCC will almost surely look to sell the other licenses, too, with VZW and T-Mobile being likely buyers for the AWS spectrum, AT&T a strong possibility for some of the 700 MHz spectrum.

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-334-updated-sprint-uscc-spectrum-deal-sprint-gets-20-mhz-broader-in-the-city-of-broad-shoulders/

 

St. Louis was the only really major market native to USCC that was included within that AWS license.  But in your proclamation about USCC selling itself off, you overlook that USCC retained a partition of the AWS license around Knoxville -- one of USCC's largest Cellular 850 MHz markets.

 

AJ

[lynyrd65]

Verizon is not selling spectrum. Also, why didn't they use the $480 mil for faster rollout? Or rolling out AWS faster and then use that extra capacity to attract customers with lower prices?The iphone also supports AWS LTE.

Vzw is selling spectrum, they sold a couple lower 700 licenses to US Cellular this year in Oklahoma covering most of the state.

 

Their pricing is higher than Sprint but its still not bad. I think my $90 unlimited plan is worth the price and has great value for the additional lte coverage I can use in my area.

 

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[maximus1987/lou99]

Vzw is selling spectrum, they sold a couple lower 700 licenses to US Cellular this year in Oklahoma covering most of the state.

 

Their pricing is higher than Sprint but its still not bad. I think my $90 unlimited plan is worth the price and has great value for the additional lte coverage I can use in my area.

 

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk 2

Let me clarify: Verizon is not selling useful spectrum unless required by regulators. Was it A block that was sold? Then it was useless. Was it B,C block it sold? That was a condition of the SpectrumCo AWS purchase. AWS is prime because it's gonna be supported by both ATT and Verizon so device ecosystem is huge.

 

Sprint doesn't have any but its strategy is TDD-LTE: more expensive to buildout but longterm huge payback.

[WiWavelength]

Let me clarify: Verizon is not selling useful spectrum unless required by regulators. Was it A block that was sold? Then it was useless. Was it B,C block it sold? That was a condition of the SpectrumCo AWS purchase.

 

Neither.  VZW made the non binding announcement to sell off its Lower 700 MHz A/B block spectrum well before the SpectrumCo-Cox-Big Cable deal was approved.

 

AJ

[maximus1987/lou99]

Neither. VZW made the non binding announcement to sell off its Lower 700 MHz A/B block spectrum well before the SpectrumCo-Cox-Big Cable deal was approved.

 

AJ

Importantly, Verizon has said the sale of its Lower A and B Block spectrum is contingent on the carrier getting regulatory approval to buy more attractive nationwide AWS spectrum from cable companies. The FCC had asked Verizon to explain what steps it has taken to build out the 700 MHz spectrum, what difficulties exist in deploying that spectrum, why the 700 MHz sale is relevant to a review of the AWS spectrum purchases and what Verizon would do if the entirety of the AWS purchases were not approved

 

Read more: Verizon: 36 buyers interested in our 700 MHz spectrum - FierceWireless http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/verizon-36-buyers-interested-our-700-mhz-spectrum/2012-05-24#ixzz2ZcMxmu68

Subscribe at FierceWireless

[Nickel]

Importantly, Verizon has said the sale of its Lower A and B Block spectrum is contingent on the carrier getting regulatory approval to buy more attractive nationwide AWS spectrum from cable companies. The FCC had asked Verizon to explain what steps it has taken to build out the 700 MHz spectrum, what difficulties exist in deploying that spectrum, why the 700 MHz sale is relevant to a review of the AWS spectrum purchases and what Verizon would do if the entirety of the AWS purchases were not approved

 

Read more: Verizon: 36 buyers interested in our 700 MHz spectrum - FierceWireless http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/verizon-36-buyers-interested-our-700-mhz-spectrum/2012-05-24#ixzz2ZcMxmu68

Subscribe at FierceWireless

Verizon didn't sell it so it would be approved, they sold it because they weren't going to use those blocks and they might as well sell them and make some cash.

[maximus1987/lou99]

Verizon didn't sell it so it would be approved, they sold it because they weren't going to use those blocks and they might as well sell them and make some cash.

Did you read the quote or the entire article? You directly contradicted the article. It specifically states that's EXACTLY why they sold the spectrum. I understand being too lazy to do a google search but at least when an article is quoted and cited, please take 2 mins to read it before you reply.

 

"Verizon has said the sale of its Lower A and B Block spectrum is contingent on the carrier getting regulatory approval to buy more attractive nationwide AWS spectrum from cable companies."

 

Read more: Verizon: 36 buyers interested in our 700 MHz spectrum - FierceWireless http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/verizon-36-buyers-interested-our-700-mhz-spectrum/2012-05-24#ixzz2Ze0skldm

Subscribe at FierceWireless

Edited July 21, 2013 by asdf190

[Nickel]

Did you read the quote or the entire article? You directly contradicted the article. It specifically states that's EXACTLY why they sold the spectrum. I understand being too lazy to do a google search but at least when an article is quoted and cited, please take 2 mins to read it before you reply.

 

"Verizon has said the sale of its Lower A and B Block spectrum is contingent on the carrier getting regulatory approval to buy more attractive nationwide AWS spectrum from cable companies."

 

Read more: Verizon: 36 buyers interested in our 700 MHz spectrum - FierceWireless http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/verizon-36-buyers-interested-our-700-mhz-spectrum/2012-05-24#ixzz2Ze0skldm

Subscribe at FierceWireless

Yes, I read the article and I don't believe them. I believe they got those blocks to control who has them and how much they spend for them. Yes, I know that they can't set the price too high otherwise someone would complain to the FCC but at the end the day, since they own it, they decide what happens to it. 

 

Another point is that AT&T wants those B and C blocks and so Verizon can make sure they get the pieces that they really want.

[supert0nes]

That was just a pretty face on selling useless spectrum to them.