Sprint Will Not Participate in H Block Auction

[Nickel]

I think Tmobile is better off focusing on trying to obtain at least 20 MHz of 600 MHz spectrum.

I think 600 MHz is going to be a huge mess.

[Fraydog]

The reverse auction won't yield that much, that is the first problem.

 

The second, is that the duopoly will try to poison the waters for the auction, that's the second.

 

T-Mobile has to go for 700 A IMO. Verizon's and USCC's chunks would give them a significant portion of the 700 A out there. Is it ideal, but I don't see them having much choice.

[maxsilver]

The reverse auction won't yield that much, that is the first problem.

 

The second, is that the duopoly will try to poison the waters for the auction, that's the second.

 

T-Mobile has to go for 700 A IMO. Verizon's and USCC's chunks would give them a significant portion of the 700 A out there. Is it ideal, but I don't see them having much choice.

 

 

I don't see why T-Mobile can't do both.

 

Go for 600 hard, but buy 700A too "on the cheap", as the fallback position. Sprint already has the old iDEN bands as a fallback position, T-Mobile needs a low-band fallback in case the 600mhz auction gets poisoned - but that shouldn't stop them from pushing for 600mhz.

 

T-Mobile's has said it plans to raise cash (http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/t-mobile-raise-18b-stock-sale-could-use-funds-buy-spectrum/2013-11-12) and given their new growth and, I'd suspect they'll have very little trouble getting the cash they want from investors.

 

Sprint's got SoftBank cash, so they've already raised a good chunk of the cash they need, and (while I think this is very unlikely) they could sell off some EBS/BRS for additional cash.

 

AT&T and Verizon are going to hit 600 hard, not because they need it, but because they don't want Sprint / T-Mobile to get it. Sprint and T-Mobile should be hoarding their spectrum cash for that auction. Put "most-to-all their wood behind one arrow."

 

Things like PCS-H are nice to have, but they won't fundamentally change much for Sprint or T-Mobile.

[centermedic]

Would it be possible for Sprint and T-Mobile to make a joint bid and then if they win they could split the spectrum?

[bigsnake49]

Would it be possible for Sprint and T-Mobile to make a joint bid and then if they win they could split the spectrum?

 

I think so. They could employ one of those third party companies that get small business discounts to do the bidding.

[WiWavelength]

T-Mobile has to go for 700 A IMO. Verizon's and USCC's chunks would give them a significant portion of the 700 A out there. Is it ideal, but I don't see them having much choice.

 

True, but there are some downsides to Lower 700 MHz A block -- and I do not mean just the DT channel 51 issue.

 

One, T-Mobile is already running out of rack space on its sites because it usually employs one legacy antenna in the middle and two modernized antennas on either side.  I have seen no evidence that the modernized antennas have low band ports, so if true, then new antennas would need to be squeezed in or mounted on a different rack.

 

Two, T-Mobile has decided to ride AT&T's coattails on device procurement.  In most/all cases, there is no T-Mobile variant any longer -- it is just the AT&T variant repurposed for T-Mobile.  And AT&T has its boutique band 17 that excludes the Lower 700 MHz A block.  So, AT&T would need to have a change of heart on band 12, or T-Mobile would need to break away for its own variants again.  Regardless, current devices would not support band 12.

 

AJ

[bigsnake49]

True, but there are some downsides to Lower 700 MHz A block -- and I do not mean just the DT channel 51 issue.

 

One, T-Mobile is already running out of rack space on its sites because it usually employs one legacy antenna in the middle and two modernized antennas on either side.  I have seen no evidence that the modernized antennas have low band ports, so if true, then new antennas would need to be squeezed in or mounted on a different rack.

 

Two, T-Mobile has decided to ride AT&T's coattails on device procurement.  In most/all cases, there is no T-Mobile variant any longer -- it is just the AT&T variant repurposed for T-Mobile.  And AT&T has its boutique band 17 that excludes the Lower 700 MHz A block.  So, AT&T would need to have a change of heart on band 12, or T-Mobile would need to break away for its own variants again.  Regardless, current devices would not support band 12.

 

AJ

 

I thought AT&T was working to have Band 17 include band 12. But you are right about current devices.

[WiWavelength]

I thought AT&T was working to have Band 17 include band 12. But you are right about current devices.

 

AT&T has spoken words to that effect, but I would not be surprised if that band 12 olive branch is just an attempt to curry favor with the FCC and competitors in the face of AT&T's many pending acquisitions.  We may not see any actual AT&T movement on band 12 until UHF channel 51 is shut down, and that would mean little lead time for Lower 700 MHz A block prior to the 600 MHz auction, thereby defeating one of the A block's advantages.

 

AJ

[ericdabbs]

Do you guys think Sprint may make a bid on 700 MHz A block spectrum or just hope for a decent amount of 600 MHz spectrum to free up for auction? In the Fiercewireless article the Sprint CFO made it clear that Sprint was focusing on obtaining more low band spectrum so the only options right now are the 600 MHz auction and pieces of the 700 MHz A block from Verizon.

 

Sprint definitely could make use of that 700 MHz A block spectrum licenses from Verizon in the OC/south LA and San Diego areas due to the ongoing Mexico IBEZ issue which will cripple the amount of 800 MHz that can be deployed later on.  Also Detroit could make use of the 700 MHz A block spectrum licenses from Verizon due to the Canada IBEZ restrictions. Verizon also have 700 MHz A block licenses in some other large markets in the US.

[Fraydog]

AT&T has spoken words to that effect, but I would not be surprised if that band 12 olive branch is just an attempt to curry favor with the FCC and competitors in the face of AT&T's many pending acquisitions.  We may not see any actual AT&T movement on band 12 until UHF channel 51 is shut down, and that would mean little lead time for Lower 700 MHz A block prior to the 600 MHz auction, thereby defeating one of the A block's advantages.

 

Then what's the best strategic move for Sprint here?

[mozamcrew]

Do you guys think Sprint may make a bid on 700 MHz A block spectrum or just hope for a decent amount of 600 MHz spectrum to free up for auction? In the Fiercewireless article the Sprint CFO made it clear that Sprint was focusing on obtaining more low band spectrum so the only options right now are the 600 MHz auction and pieces of the 700 MHz A block from Verizon.

 

Sprint definitely could make use of that 700 MHz A block spectrum licenses from Verizon in the OC/south LA and San Diego areas due to the ongoing Mexico IBEZ issue which will cripple the amount of 800 MHz that can be deployed later on.  Also Detroit could make use of the 700 MHz A block spectrum licenses from Verizon due to the Canada IBEZ restrictions. Verizon also have 700 MHz A block licenses in some other large markets in the US.

 

I'd be in favor of Sprint skipping the 600 Mhz auction, buying Verizon's 700Mhz A block spectrum, and then signing LTE roaming agreements/deployment agreements with the small regional carriers that own the rest of it. Who knows how much spectrum will actually be available for the 600Mhz auction.

[lynyrd65]

True, but there are some downsides to Lower 700 MHz A block -- and I do not mean just the DT channel 51 issue.

 

One, T-Mobile is already running out of rack space on its sites because it usually employs one legacy antenna in the middle and two modernized antennas on either side. I have seen no evidence that the modernized antennas have low band ports, so if true, then new antennas would need to be squeezed in or mounted on a different rack.

 

Two, T-Mobile has decided to ride AT&T's coattails on device procurement. In most/all cases, there is no T-Mobile variant any longer -- it is just the AT&T variant repurposed for T-Mobile. And AT&T has its boutique band 17 that excludes the Lower 700 MHz A block. So, AT&T would need to have a change of heart on band 12, or T-Mobile would need to break away for its own variants again. Regardless, current devices would not support band 12.

 

AJ

Supposedly AT&T has agreed to support spectrum interoperability in the 700mhz band which seemed to signal the addition of band 12 to their devices in the future.

 

I'll try to find a source for you after I get back from this football game (it may not be long, we're losing badly).

[ericdabbs]

I'd be in favor of Sprint skipping the 600 Mhz auction, buying Verizon's 700Mhz A block spectrum, and then signing LTE roaming agreements/deployment agreements with the small regional carriers that own the rest of it. Who knows how much spectrum will actually be available for the 600Mhz auction.

 

Agreed.  I wouldn't mind if Sprint made a run at the 700 MHz A block spectrum.  They would have to buy all the remaining pieces 700 MHz A block spectrum from Verizon, negotiate a buy off of Massachusetts and NH from Tmobile and a buy off of Chicago from Leap/AT&T.

 

The 700 MHz A block would be a nice low band 5x5 LTE spectrum band to complement the 800 MHz band especially in markets around the US where Sprint doesn't have the full 14 MHz of 800 MHz that can only deploy a 3x3 LTE carrier and markets who will have zero 800 MHz LTE due to Canada/Mexico IBEZ rebanding issues.

[IamMrFamous07]

Agreed. I wouldn't mind if Sprint made a run at the 700 MHz A block spectrum. They would have to buy all the remaining pieces 700 MHz A block spectrum from Verizon, negotiate a buy off of Massachusetts and NH from Tmobile and a buy off of Chicago from Leap/AT&T.

 

The 700 MHz A block would be a nice low band 5x5 LTE spectrum band to complement the 800 MHz band especially in markets around the US where Sprint doesn't have the full 14 MHz of 800 MHz that can only deploy a 3x3 LTE carrier and markets who will have zero 800 MHz LTE due to Canada/Mexico IBEZ rebanding issues.

Never thought of that. I like this idea

[centermedic]

Agreed.  I wouldn't mind if Sprint made a run at the 700 MHz A block spectrum.  They would have to buy all the remaining pieces 700 MHz A block spectrum from Verizon, negotiate a buy off of Massachusetts and NH from Tmobile and a buy off of Chicago from Leap/AT&T.

 

The 700 MHz A block would be a nice low band 5x5 LTE spectrum band to complement the 800 MHz band especially in markets around the US where Sprint doesn't have the full 14 MHz of 800 MHz that can only deploy a 3x3 LTE carrier and markets who will have zero 800 MHz LTE due to Canada/Mexico IBEZ rebanding issues.

Thats a lot of moving parts. They would have to pull this off prior to the 600 mhz auction.

[ChadBroChillz]

I think we are getting ahead of ourselves. Even with Verizon, Tmobile, and Att's 700Mhz A, it would not be anywhere close to nationwide.  It would not completely solve the IBEZ problem at either border. 

 

[mozamcrew]

 

I think we are getting ahead of ourselves. Even with Verizon, Tmobile, and Att's 700Mhz A, it would not be anywhere close to nationwide.  It would not completely solve the IBEZ problem at either border. 

 

 

 

Here's another map that might be helpful, but I like yours too. http://specmap.sequence-omega.net/

 

 

Here's what I think are the advantages of buying up the 700Mhz A block from VZW/ATT/TMUS vs the 600 Mhz auction.

- The 600Mhz is unstandardized for LTE by 3GPP (The IBEZ for 800 will be fixed long before 600Mhz is ready to deploy)

- No guarantee that the broadcasters will move, thus in some markets you might have very little spectrum to bid on and will be in a bidding war with TMUS (who is more desperate for the spectrum than you are). Thus you wind up paying WAY too much or risk not getting any spectrum in some markets. The broadcasters already HAVE to move off of the 700 lower A block. (A bird in hand is worth 2 in the bush)

- You don't have to deploy equipment or buy licenses (lower initial spend) for the areas controlled by USCC and Cspire. You already have LTE and CDMA roaming deals with these carriers that are better than what you have from VZW. 

- VZW wants to get rid of their lower 700 A licenses because of their AWS purchase agreements, TMUS because they only hold a single license and probably could use the cash in the 600 Mhz auction, ATT/LEAP because they only have two licenses and they have so much other spectrum (Cell, 700 Lower BCDE, AWS, PCS, and WCS). Given that these sellers are motivated, you'd hope that Sprint can get these licenses for a lot less that what it was planning to spend in the 600 Mhz auction. Especially if they know that is will help keep Sprint out of the 600 Mhz auction and maybe free up some cap space for the AWS3 1755-1780/2155-2180 auction. 

- Sprint has already committed to devices that allow band 12 roaming in the future. http://www.rcrwireless.com/article/20130418/carriers/cca-spring-2013-sprint-nextel-moves-enable-lte-roaming/

If you can avoid 600Mhz, that's one less band to pack into your phones.

[Nickel]

Here's another map that might be helpful, but I like yours too. http://specmap.sequence-omega.net/

 

 

Here's what I think are the advantages of buying up the 700Mhz A block from VZW/ATT/TMUS vs the 600 Mhz auction.

- The 600Mhz is unstandardized for LTE by 3GPP (The IBEZ for 800 will be fixed long before 600Mhz is ready to deploy)

- No guarantee that the broadcasters will move, thus in some markets you might have very little spectrum to bid on and will be in a bidding war with TMUS (who is more desperate for the spectrum than you are). Thus you wind up paying WAY too much or risk not getting any spectrum in some markets. The broadcasters already HAVE to move off of the 700 lower A block. (A bird in hand is worth 2 in the bush)

- You don't have to deploy equipment or buy licenses (lower initial spend) for the areas controlled by USCC and Cspire. You already have LTE and CDMA roaming deals with these carriers that are better than what you have from VZW. 

- VZW wants to get rid of their lower 700 A licenses because of their AWS purchase agreements, TMUS because they only hold a single license and probably could use the cash in the 600 Mhz auction, ATT/LEAP because they only have two licenses and they have so much other spectrum (Cell, 700 Lower BCDE, AWS, PCS, and WCS). Given that these sellers are motivated, you'd hope that Sprint can get these licenses for a lot less that what it was planning to spend in the 600 Mhz auction. Especially if they know that is will help keep Sprint out of the 600 Mhz auction and maybe free up some cap space for the AWS3 1755-1780/2155-2180 auction. 

- Sprint has already committed to devices that allow band 12 roaming in the future. http://www.rcrwireless.com/article/20130418/carriers/cca-spring-2013-sprint-nextel-moves-enable-lte-roaming/

If you can avoid 600Mhz, that's one less band to pack into your phones.

I'm nitpicking here but they don't own ANY E block IIRC (it's locked in Ergen's dungeon) and their B and C blocks, while quite extensive, has some huge holes in it.

[lilotimz]

Let's just say there's very complex alliances being formed behind the scenes for the 600 mhz spectrum auction. 700 A-B (B12) is of no use to anyone now especially since USCC is moving to Band 5 LTE (CLR850) with over 90% of their network refarmed and broadcasting that spectrum. 

[mhammett]

I think 600 MHz is going to be a huge mess.

 

The bigger of a mess it is, the happier I am. Our organization has made some pretty good advances in keeping 600 MHz for mobile wireless as limited as possible.

 

The reverse auction won't yield that much, that is the first problem.

 

There are companies that are rolling up a bunch of nothing TV stations. The consensus is that they're doing so to be able to sell the license later and close out.

 

One, T-Mobile is already running out of rack space on its sites because it usually employs one legacy antenna in the middle and two modernized antennas on either side.  I have seen no evidence that the modernized antennas have low band ports, so if true, then new antennas would need to be squeezed in or mounted on a different rack.

 

Most of the ones I've worked on\near have 4 positions. That's not to say that T-Mobile didn't choose to implement theirs in another fashion.

 

 

A lot of what we do isn't public-able until its in the FCC record, but here's some information. http://www.wispa.org/category/tags/tvws

 

http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7022112027

http://www.fcc.gov/events/learn-workshop-discuss-unlicensed-spectrum-issues

[bigsnake49]

Let's just say there's very complex alliances being formed behind the scenes for the 600 mhz spectrum auction. 700 A-B (B12) is of no use to anyone now especially since USCC is moving to Band 5 LTE (CLR850) with over 90% of their network refarmed and broadcasting that spectrum. 

 

Band 12 will become usable the moment channel 51 is cleared. and Channel 51 wil be cleared 1st. So if Sprint can buy both A and B then they could have a very usable spectrum band. Sprint/Softbank needs to start thinking strategically for once.

[WiWavelength]

The 700 MHz A block would be a nice low band 5x5 LTE spectrum band to complement the 800 MHz band especially in markets around the US where Sprint doesn't have the full 14 MHz of 800 MHz that can only deploy a 3x3 LTE carrier and markets who will have zero 800 MHz LTE due to Canada/Mexico IBEZ rebanding issues.

 

Keep in mind that 600 MHz does not get a free pass on the Canada/Mexico issue.  Depending upon how much spectrum is cleared in the US, that may unmask foreign UHF TV stations near the border.  Basically, 600 MHz may face its own channel 51 type issue.

 

AJ

[mhammett]

The leading situation is to do the following:

 

1) Reverse auction with proceeds going to FirstNet and the repack process

2) Repack what's left

3) Auction some licenses down to channel 37, except in markets where there simply isn't enough room. The rest is unlicensed.

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

 

 

[digiblur]

It will be interesting to see how much they can pack down to in some markets as some already jammed packed like in the northeast due to the density of people.

 

I use OTA daily for TV viewing and hope it doesn't have any negative impact on it. Please, no more VHF stations as DTV should have never allowed those to be used.

[mozamcrew]

I'm nitpicking here but they don't own ANY E block IIRC (it's locked in Ergen's dungeon) and their B and C blocks, while quite extensive, has some huge holes in it.

According to the spectrum map, ATT has the E block in the NY/Boston area and the LA/SF area. I take your meaning though, the vast majority is Echostar.