AT&T Wireless purchases Leap Wireless (Cricket Wireless)

[4GHoward]

With Sprint allowing Cricket to use its CDMA network since 2010 (for a 5 year agreement ending 2015), i wonder if that would have any implications in this AT&T deal or if the FCC would even allow it.

Just when you think you are out of one telecom drama, here comes another one.

 

TS

What about the deal they originally made with Clearwire?

[hxnk134]

I wanted sprint to acquire them but oh well. I feel sprint and softbank has so much on their plate right now, the last thing they should worry about is another acquisition. Lets get through the remainder of this year first before we acquire someone else. I want them to focus on the rest of network vision 1.0 and 2.0.

 

Maybe middle next year when LTE is covered nationwide then we can focus on acquisitions. I would like for Softbank/sprint go after US cell, Ntelos, Cspire, Southernlinc etc.

I disagree. Leap integration would be a breeze: push out new PRLs to transfer CDMA traffic to Sprint network and then shutdown Leap's CDMA network. Poof! OPEX reduced while still having the revenue from new subs.

 

The hard part will be Leap's LTE network. Leap uses AWS (Band 4) so Sprint would need to maintain that network until all subs upgrade to a Sprint LTE phone.

 

Then, Sprint would turn around and sell the AWS or trade it for more PCS. Verizon would love more AWS and it could definitely afford it. TMO is not spectrum constrained but they MAY buy SOME. ATT is a wildcard: it has AWS but it has deployed it - cause it lost so much on TMO breakup - but all its phones support AWS so it could decide to buy.

 

It's like the TMO-Metro merger but mirrored: Sprint's 3G spectrum is compatible with Leap's while its LTE is not.

 

I don't think Sprint is gonna buy Cspire. Cspire is well on the way to deploying AWS LTE but it may be much farther along than Leap.

Edited July 13, 2013 by hxnk134

[ChadBroChillz]

I disagree. Leap integration would be a breeze: push out new PRLs to transfer CDMA traffic to Sprint network and then shutdown Leap's CDMA network. Poof! OPEX reduced while still having the revenue from new subs.

 

The hard part will be Leap's LTE network. Leap uses AWS (Band 4) so Sprint would need to maintain that network until all subs upgrade to a Sprint LTE phone.

 

Then, Sprint would turn around and sell the AWS or trade it for more PCS. Verizon would love more AWS and it could definitely afford it. TMO is not spectrum constrained but they MAY buy SOME. ATT is a wildcard: it has AWS but it has deployed it - cause it lost so much on TMO breakup - but all its phones support AWS so it could decide to buy.

 

It's like the TMO-Metro merger but mirrored: Sprint's 3G spectrum is compatible with Leap's while its LTE is not.

 

I don't think Sprint is gonna buy Cspire. Cspire is well on the way to deploying AWS LTE but it may be much farther along than Leap.

 

Cspire has partnered with Sprint for LTE roaming on 1900 i believe. I think Cspire and USCC are likely acquisitions for Sprint. If Masayoshi Son is going to keep his goal of Verizon Coverage by end of 2015, then  he is going to have to acquire some coverage. 

[IamMrFamous07]

Cspire has partnered with Sprint for LTE roaming on 1900 i believe. I think Cspire and USCC are likely acquisitions for Sprint. If Masayoshi Son is going to keep his goal of Verizon Coverage by end of 2015, then he is going to have to acquire some coverage.

I'm sure they are. Just have to wait and see. I just don't know which carrier they will try and pursue, uscc will be a good choice but who knows

[Fuber]

Think Sprint would buy Ntelos seeing how there was talk about it in 2010?

[IamMrFamous07]

Think Sprint would buy Ntelos seeing how there was talk about it in 2010?

Possibly. We shall see. Softbank CEO is very adamant to get sprint coverage on the same level as AT&T and vzws

[hxnk134]

Possibly. We shall see. Softbank CEO is very adamant to get sprint coverage on the same level as AT&T and vzws

Do you have a quote/link for this assertion?

[IamMrFamous07]

Do you have a quote/link for this assertion?

Softbank CEO has been saying since the beginning of this journey (oct 2012) that he wants to build a strong competitive network with sprint against AT&T and vzw. To be competitive you have to make a product or service thats comparable or better than your competition right?

 

Do I know if softbank CEO said "I want to build a network on the same level as vzw and AT&T" verbatim, I do not, but he has been preaching about making sprint better and more competitive than its rivals

[hxnk134]

Softbank CEO has been saying since the beginning of this journey (oct 2012) that he wants to build a strong competitive network with sprint against AT&T and vzw. To be competitive you have to make a product or service thats comparable or better than your competition right?

 

Do I know if softbank CEO said "I want to build a network on the same level as vzw and AT&T" verbatim, I do not, but he has been preaching about making sprint better and more competitive than its rivals

You're assuming he meant coverage when everything I've read has to do with Softbank improving the SPEED compared to duopoly.

[jamesinclair]

This came out of nowhere.

 

And I hope it goes nowhere.

 

Shut it down Obama.

[mozamcrew]

I think the fantasy is that there can be 4 viable competitors, the reality is that there can be only 3. Verizon and AT&T had the 850 Mhz spectrum as well as the landline business to subsidize their wireless expansion in the beginning. I would not be surprised if the feds actually let it go through. Maybe with Sprint having to divest the EBS spectrum.

 

Both T-Mobile and Sprint are deploying LTE. There's your convergence point. 

Well, technically Spring is leasing the EBS spectrum, it doesn't actually own it. It only owns the BRS spectrum which is about 55.5Mhz in size. And the FCC doesn't count the EBS against them in the spectrum screen either.

I'm actually fine with ATT buying up Leap, with 2 conditions

1. Divesting PCS spectrum in any market so that the combined company doesn't hold over 20 or 30Mhz of PCS in any area. (This should NOT be a problem given their enormous holdings in celluar, WCS (future), AWS (after getting some back through this merger) and 700 Mhz spectrum). They have lots of spectrum in a motley assortment of bands.

2. Divesting cellular spectrum in any market so that the combined company doesn't own more than half of the celluar (850mhz) spectrum. (This should be a condition of ANY merger involving VZ and ATT) I'd like to see it as standing FCC policy for approval of any wireless mergers. There is no reason for any carrier accumulate over half of the cell 850 spectrum in a market. I don't care if they decide to sell it, or swap  some PCS or AWS for it as compensation, but we shouldn't be letting any companies monopolize low frequency spectrum in a given market.

[ericdabbs]

Well, technically Spring is leasing the EBS spectrum, it doesn't actually own it. It only owns the BRS spectrum which is about 55.5Mhz in size. And the FCC doesn't count the EBS against them in the spectrum screen either.

I'm actually fine with ATT buying up Leap, with 2 conditions

1. Divesting PCS spectrum in any market so that the combined company doesn't hold over 20 or 30Mhz of PCS in any area. (This should NOT be a problem given their enormous holdings in celluar, WCS (future), AWS (after getting some back through this merger) and 700 Mhz spectrum). They have lots of spectrum in a motley assortment of bands.

2. Divesting cellular spectrum in any market so that the combined company doesn't own more than half of the celluar (850mhz) spectrum. (This should be a condition of ANY merger involving VZ and ATT) I'd like to see it as standing FCC policy for approval of any wireless mergers. There is no reason for any carrier accumulate over half of the cell 850 spectrum in a market. I don't care if they decide to sell it, or swap some PCS or AWS for it as compensation, but we shouldn't be letting any companies monopolize low frequency spectrum in a given market.

Hopefully divestitures for PCS spectrum are required. Sprint could really bolster some of their 20 MHz markets with more PCS spectrum.

 

Sent from my HP Touchpad using Tapatalk 2

 

[Epic4G25]

Anyone know how many former Sprint affiliates and roaming partners have been either bought by other companies, or have cut their ties with Sprint at this point?

[bigsnake49]

Hopefully required divestitures for PCS spectrum are required. Sprint could really bolster some of their 20 MHz markets with more PCS spectrum.

 

Sent from my HP Touchpad using Tapatalk 2

 

Or Sprint could trade all their WCS spectrum for some PCS spectrum. I definitely would like for Sprint to acquire USCC and some regionals but I was hoping that they had also acquired Leap. As far as USCC is concerned they could transfer all their 800Mhz rural spectrum and have them host it. USCC has a good reputation among the rural folk and would be worthwhile to maintain the brand.

[SWMich4G]

http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/21/wheres-the-spectrum-this-map-will-show-you/

You should link to the actual map, not an article on the map that makes you hunt for the actual map:

 

http://specmap.sequence-omega.net/

[twospirits]

Softbank CEO has been saying since the beginning of this journey (oct 2012) that he wants to build a strong competitive network with sprint against AT&T and vzw. To be competitive you have to make a product or service thats comparable or better than your competition right?

 

Do I know if softbank CEO said "I want to build a network on the same level as vzw and AT&T" verbatim, I do not, but he has been preaching about making sprint better and more competitive than its rivals

I thought I read that somewhere also although I can't for the life of me find the article that mentioned it.

 

This came out of nowhere.

 

And I hope it goes nowhere.

 

Shut it down Obama.

What does Obama have to do with this? Please don't bring politics into the discussion, it just won't turn well.

 

You should link to the actual map, not an article on the map that makes you hunt for the actual map:

 

http://specmap.sequence-omega.net/

Thanks, I too was looking around for it and the article just showed an image only.

 

TS

[bigsnake49]

Consolidation is all around us, Sprint needs to participate to beef up its subscriber count, its coverage as well as total revenue.

[iansltx]

Let's go over some facts:

 

1. I'm opposed to this acquisition. Mostly. But...

2. AT&T on the LTE side synergizes with CricKet, because CricKet has a fair amount of AWS spectrum. AT&T needs that AWS spectrum to make putting LTE in AWS worthwhile. AT&T needs LTE in AWS because their 700MHz holdings are, unlike Verizon, not nationwide.

3. CricKet LTE phones support PCS and AWS bands. Probably PCS A-F though. So you don't necessarily need to keep CricKet's AWS network running if you're Sprint and you buy them. Though you would need to add an LTE carrier below PCS G (not too difficult) to shut things down.

 

The CricKet purchase by AT&T goes to the almost exact same tune as T-Metro. Except AT&T doesn't need a way to make its stock public, and network synergies aren't nearly as much there. The 2G/3G tech is incompatible, but all AT&T has to do is rebrand its AiO service (or push people to AiO) and people will leave CDMA for WCDMA phones pretty quickly. The 4G tech is compatible...all AT&T LTE phones support band 4, but no CricKet phones support 700MHz of any kind. And AT&T doesn't have much AWS LTE at this point. Which means that CricKet LTE will stick around, unchanged, for awhile.

 

So...maybe there's less network synergy than I thought. We aren't talking Nextel here, but at this point on AT&T's side it's not too far away. And, no matter what, CricKet LTE phones will have less coverage than AT&T LTE phones on the merged network.

 

If I were AT&T, despite all of the above, I'd deploy AWS LTE on every site I could within the CricKet market in advance of the transaction being approved. Or PCS LTE, since some of my phones support that. And then bite the bullet and pay MVNO rates to Sprint or Verizon in exchange for shutting down the CDMA network earlier, because I need the spectrum worse than T-Mobile does.

 

All that said, I hope that, at least, the transaction gets slapped with a requirement that AT&T sell off much/most/all of CricKet's PCS spectrum. CricKet has enough AWS to still make the transaction worth AT&T's while, and AT&T can sell the PCS on the condition that the buyer continue to operate a CDMA network in the band (though maybe not that block) to they can get legacy CricKet roaming for free (again, so they can shut down CricKet's network sooner). One thing's for sure: this transaction, even if it's relatively small, shouldn't be allowed to just pass through because it's just strengthening the trending-toward-duopoly in US wireless.

 

So let's say the deal doesn't go through. CricKet will immediately look for Sprint, T-Mobile or Verizon to pick it up. Verizon doesn't really want CricKet, so they're out...probably. T-Mobile wants CricKet, but probably can't afford the price at this point, though they've certainly got the ability to migrate customers (they're doing it already with MetroPCS). But the concentration of spectrum at that point might cause some FCC consternation...maybe a PCS selloff to Sprint would be in order. Sprint, as I've mentioned before, could buy CricKet, spin off its AWS spectrum to T-Mobile, add an LTE carrier in PCS A-F in CricKet markets, then take CricKet's network offline market by market in favor of Sprint native with a PRL change or two. They might have to wait a year or two before there's 5x5 available for LTE in PCS A-F in some markets if CricKet is AWS-only in those markets (e.g. Las Vegas and Chicago), and they may also need to wait until their network is broadcasting more LTE than CricKet's, but even with those caveats Sprint could probably shut down CricKet's own network and sell off the AWS in a shorter time frame than T-Mobile will take to digest MetroPCS.

 

Also, the point about AT&T trading Sprint's WCS for PCS is quite valid. Sprint doesn't have enough scale to realistically deploy something there, but AT&T does. Sprint needs all the PCS it can get, and AT&T doesn't quite as much. So maybe that's how a forced PCS divestiture goes if AT&T goes through with the transaction.

 

Lastly, mark my words, Sprint and T-Mobile will be one company three to five years from now. Probably including C-Spire, probably not including Ntelos (to Verizon), probably including part but not all of US Cellular (the rest will go to Verizon or maybe AT&T). Adding one LTE band to a phone (and that's all that would need to be done to gain network compatibility) isn't a big deal.

 

Though at that point...God forbid...all three big carriers would have LTE on PCS and AWS, meaning that they'd look downright silly if they didn't allow roaming on each other's LTE networks.

[WiWavelength]

AT&T-Leap AWS-1 synergies in the top 100 markets:

 

Andrew J Shepherd (@WiWavelength) tweeted at 11:04 AM on Sat, Jul 13, 2013:

Acquiring Leap is a way for AT&T to restore its lost AWS in the top 100 mkts, going from 24 back up to 68 mkts. http://t.co/acvpvhy4Ih

(https://twitter.com/WiWavelength/status/356081629753655296)

 

AJ

[hxnk134]

AT&T-Leap AWS-1 synergies in the top 100 markets:

 

Andrew J Shepherd (@WiWavelength) tweeted at 11:04 AM on Sat, Jul 13, 2013:

Acquiring Leap is a way for AT&T to restore its lost AWS in the top 100 mkts, going from 24 back up to 68 mkts. http://t.co/acvpvhy4Ih

(https://twitter.com/WiWavelength/status/356081629753655296)

 

AJ

Maybe Sprint should take a page from Dish's play book and overbid ATT by 10-15% just to force ATT to spend more money lol.

[jamesinclair]

 

What does Obama have to do with this? Please don't bring politics into the discussion, it just won't turn well.

 

 

The feds have to approve it. You cant pretend thats not a political issue. I want the feds to say no.

 

 

Maybe Sprint should take a page from Dish's play book and overbid ATT by 10-15% just to force ATT to spend more money lol.

 

I like it.

[bigsnake49]

AT&T-Leap AWS-1 synergies in the top 100 markets:

 

Andrew J Shepherd (@WiWavelength) tweeted at 11:04 AM on Sat, Jul 13, 2013:

Acquiring Leap is a way for AT&T to restore its lost AWS in the top 100 mkts, going from 24 back up to 68 mkts. http://t.co/acvpvhy4Ih

(https://twitter.com/WiWavelength/status/356081629753655296)

 

AJ

 

 

AJ, do you have a graph like that for the PCS side?

[WiWavelength]

AJ, do you have a graph like that for the PCS side?

For Leap PCS or AT&T-Leap PCS?

 

AJ

[mozamcrew]

For Leap PCS or AT&T-Leap PCS?

 

AJ

Maybe you could do a stacked chart of them (with ATT one color and Leap another) for an assortment of markets.

[bigsnake49]

For Leap PCS or AT&T-Leap PCS?

 

AJ

AT&T-Leap.