WSJ: Sprint looking at T-Mobile purchase

[WiWavelength]

If just axing a ton of EBS gets you nowhere with the FCC, what other divestment options do you have? Absolutely NO WAY they give up their tiny slice of 800 Mhz spectrum, or the BRS spectrum they own. TD-LTE and 800Mhz are too crucial to their long term goals. That leaves you with AWS from TMUS and the combined PCS spectrum.

 

Something that may have been lost in the fray the past few weeks is that we have documented two more TD-LTE EARFCNs, bringing the total to three.

 

The first is the one that Robert encountered via tri band hotspot in Denver last summer.  Additionally, I verified it by spectrum analyzer in Kansas City, and others have found it with tri band hotspots elsewhere, too.  EARFCN 40978 is located toward the lower end of the contiguous BRS spectrum blocks.

 

That initially seemed to be the national TD-LTE carrier, but recent reports have shown the existence of EARFCNs 39826 and 39991.  These have not been in the same locations, nor in the presence of EARFCN 40978.  So, do not mistake these for added capacity TD-LTE carriers already.  Instead, they appear to be alternate center frequencies for markets where Sprint may be constrained within BRS.  The big takeaway is that they are located in EBS, meaning that divesting EBS could have negative ramifications for TD-LTE in some markets.

 

See a snapshot from my spreadsheet:

 

AJ

[mozamcrew]

 

See a snapshot from my spreadsheet:

 

AJ

 

I any chance you will be updating the version of this you are hosting on the site? Or am I looking in the wrong place for it?

[WiWavelength]

I any chance you will be updating the version of this you are hosting on the site? Or am I looking in the wrong place for it?

 

Consider it done.

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/files/file/29-clearwire-wimaxtd-lte-carrier-band-plan/

 

AJ

[GinaDee]

I believe GinaDees ultimate goal for this forum is to convert it to Magenta everything, based on her negative post history towards everything Sprint and this forum.

 

Yes that is correct! lol 

 

Where do you want me to ship your T-Mobile magenta T-Shirt?

[lynyrd65]

Yes that is correct! lol

 

Where do you want me to ship your T-Mobile magenta T-Shirt?

If you're serious, please go back to fighting the VZW and AT&T trolls elsewhere.

 

If not, welcome to S4GRU

[GinaDee]

I do not get the impression that GinaDee is pro T-Mobile as much as "she" is anti Sprint.  If anything, "she" comes across as a shill/troll for AT&T.

 

AJ

 

I'm no more of a biased shill to AT&T as you are to Sprint and your anti incumbent brigade.  

 

The topic on hand here is not AT&T.  We're discussing the potential buyout of a vibrant competitor.  Sprint buying T-Mobile is not good for customers so much as it's good for Softbank's pockets. 

 

Let's not forget the facts.  Sprint's panacea is learning to execute and finish what they started not trying to squash their more successful and smaller competitor.  That's my opinion.  Sorry you don't agree.

[GinaDee]

If you're serious, please go back to fighting the VZW and AT&T trolls elsewhere.

 

If not, welcome to S4GRU

 

**scratches head*** 

 

Okay got ya. 

[WiWavelength]

I'm no more of a biased shill to AT&T as you are to Sprint and your anti incumbent brigade.

 

No, there is a difference.

 

I am contributing thousands of hours and thousands of dollars of my own money toward this non profit educational site.

 

So, what are you doing?  And who are you?  But you neglect to answer those questions...

 

AJ

[ericdabbs]

If Sprint bought Tmobile, they should both remain independent for at least another 2-3 years and not try to merge each other's 3G technology right away.  It would be a total waste of resources.  Both sides should be focused and shift as much spectrum into deploying as much LTE as possible until they cover their 3G footprint nationwide.  At that point Sprint should begin looking at how to migrate and integrate the two legacy networks together so that both Sprint and Tmobile customers will be using VoLTE primarily and LTE for data on the same network.  Of course this means that Sprint would have to start adding AWS LTE bands early in their phones to ensure adoption goes much quicker.

[Destroyallcubes]

I'm no more of a biased shill to AT&T as you are to Sprint and your anti incumbent brigade.   The topic on hand here is not AT&T.  We're discussing the potential buyout of a vibrant competitor.  Sprint buying T-Mobile is not good for customers so much as it's good for Softbank's pockets.  Let's not forget the facts.  Sprint's panacea is learning to execute and finish what they started not trying to squash their more successful and smaller competitor.  That's my opinion.  Sorry you don't agree.

No offense but all of it being good or bad for consumers is speculation. You will never know until it's done or not done. Yes we do show a bias to sprint, but as a bias is shown to android, and apple base sites. You are acting like an android fan in an apple forum, or vice versa. This site is welcome to productive arguments. No offense but you have yet to show good evidence as why it would be bad other than bailing about something that isn't the case at the time

[Destroyallcubes]

I'm no more of a biased shill to AT&T as you are to Sprint and your anti incumbent brigade.   The topic on hand here is not AT&T.  We're discussing the potential buyout of a vibrant competitor.  Sprint buying T-Mobile is not good for customers so much as it's good for Softbank's pockets.  Let's not forget the facts.  Sprint's panacea is learning to execute and finish what they started not trying to squash their more successful and smaller competitor.  That's my opinion.  Sorry you don't agree.

You forget all carriers do this. Everyone does this. I could say the same about T-Mobile executing expansion, yet all they focus on is LTE. Why are they not focusing on one thing at a time. You can not do one thing at a time and survive. But every company does not focus on one thing and complete that before starting something new

[WiWavelength]

If Sprint bought Tmobile, they should both remain independent for at least another 2-3 years and not try to merge each other's 3G technology right away.  It would be a total waste of resources.  Both sides should be focused and shift as much spectrum into deploying as much LTE as possible until they cover their 3G footprint nationwide.

 

Exactly right.

 

Since some people in this thread need this explained to them, this is not an endorsement of Sprint-T-Mobile.  But if it were to happen, the networks should remain separate for a time -- à la Cingular "orange" and "blue" almost a decade ago.  During the transition period, subs could choose between CDMA1X voice and GSM/W-CDMA voice.  That should cause relatively little discord because voice has become such a secondary function by now.  Only LTE should be consolidated as soon as possible, opening PCS, SMR, BRS/EBS, and AWS LTE to all subs with compatible devices, and running all LTE traffic through Sprint's 4G cores, since T-Mobile does not have a fiber backbone.

 

AJ

[Destroyallcubes]

Exactly right.

 

Since some people in this thread need this explained to them, this is not an endorsement of Sprint-T-Mobile.  But if it were to happen, the networks should remain separate for a time -- à la Cingular "orange" and "blue" almost a decade ago.  During the transition period, subs could choose between CDMA1X voice and GSM/W-CDMA voice.  That should cause relatively little discord because voice has become such a secondary function by now.  Only LTE should be consolidated as soon as possible, opening PCS, SMR, BRS/EBS, and AWS LTE to all subs with compatible devices, and running all LTE traffic through Sprint's 4G cores, since T-Mobile does not have a fiber backbone.

 

AJ

Couldn't the Smartphones that have W-CDMA radios in them be able to work too? And a software update enable them for use in Tmobile HSPA areas?

[milan03]

I agree that the EBS spectrum would ideal for divestment if all you needed to do was get below some arbitrary amount of Mhz owned/leased. It's leased instead of owned (higher ongoing costs), it's not all contiguous (less useful), it's a huge swath of spectrum (so you could reduce your Mhz held by just canceling a bunch of leases), and not as many carriers will support LTE on it compared with PCS or AWS (less useful asset in roaming deals). I don't think divesting EBS spectrum will help them with the FCC though, which is the reason WHY they need to divest this stuff in the first place. IIRC, EBS doesn't count against the spectrum screen, just the 55 or so Mhz of BRS they own, thus "divesting" that leased EBS doesn't help you with the FCC. (someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about this). 

 

If just axing a ton of EBS gets you nowhere with the FCC, what other divestment options do you have? Absolutely NO WAY they give up their tiny slice of 800 Mhz spectrum, or the BRS spectrum they own. TD-LTE and 800Mhz are too crucial to their long term goals. That leaves you with AWS from TMUS and the combined PCS spectrum.

 

I'm guessing Sprint would prefer to divest the AWS before PCS. Only because they can integrate the PCS spectrum into NV for less than AWS. They have very similar propagation and international roaming support. 

You do realize that for merger to go through divesture would have to be solidified at the time of the approval or shortly after, which would mean unused spectrum. I get that you'd like AWS to be that sacrificed divesture, but it's surprising to me that you find ok instantly rendering 40Million AWS subs and their UE completely obsolete... 

 

To me that's even worse strategy than Nextel failure, and would only strengthen AT&T's customer base and drive Sprint to the ground...

[bigsnake49]

You do realize that for merger to go through divesture would have to be solidified at the time of the approval or shortly after, which would mean unused spectrum. I get that you'd like AWS to be that sacrificed divesture, but it's surprising to me that you find ok instantly rendering 40Million AWS subs and their UE completely obsolete... 

 

To me that's even worse strategy than Nextel failure, and would only strengthen AT&T's customer base and drive Sprint to the ground...

 

 

It would be like divesting PCS H only phones right now without giving them an alternative.

[mozamcrew]

Couldn't the Smartphones that have W-CDMA radios in them be able to work too? And a software update enable them for use in Tmobile HSPA areas?

 

 

Exactly right.

 

Since some people in this thread need this explained to them, this is not an endorsement of Sprint-T-Mobile.  But if it were to happen, the networks should remain separate for a time -- à la Cingular "orange" and "blue" almost a decade ago.  During the transition period, subs could choose between CDMA1X voice and GSM/W-CDMA voice.  That should cause relatively little discord because voice has become such a secondary function by now.  Only LTE should be consolidated as soon as possible, opening PCS, SMR, BRS/EBS, and AWS LTE to all subs with compatible devices, and running all LTE traffic through Sprint's 4G cores, since T-Mobile does not have a fiber backbone.

 

AJ

 

Agreed! Don't some/many of Sprint's newer phones already support PCS W-CDMA and AWS LTE in the hardware? 

[WiWavelength]

Don't some/many of Sprint's newer phones already support PCS W-CDMA and AWS LTE in the hardware?

 

Per FCC OET authorizations, yes, just one does: the Nexus 5.

 

AJ

[mozamcrew]

You do realize that for merger to go through divesture would have to be solidified at the time of the approval or shortly after, which would mean unused spectrum. I get that you'd like AWS to be that sacrificed divesture, but it's surprising to me that you find ok instantly rendering 40Million AWS subs and their UE completely obsolete...

 

We aren't on the same page. I agree that would be a terrible idea. 

 

I think you'd have something more like a consent decree. Sprint would agree to sell certain AWS/PCS licenses within 4 years. Any licenses not sold by then revert back to FCC ownership and can be resold at auction. The FCC knows that none of this spectrum is "greenfield", it will take time to reorganize their spectrum assets, merge their networks, and for UE to get caught up.  I'm sure they will be willing to give them time, just like they do with the spectrum buildout requirements.

[Nickel]

I'm starting to wonder if this thread has run it's course. While I've enjoyed it, everyone is arguing/discussing something some dude on Wall Street probably made up to boost Sprint and T-Mobile stock.

[Destroyallcubes]

I do think it has run its course. Maybe close it until new info comes out? I personally think most people's opinions have been stated?

[GinaDee]

No, there is a difference.

 

I am contributing thousands of hours and thousands of dollars of my own money toward this non profit educational site.

 

So, what are you doing?  And who are you?  But you neglect to answer those questions...

 

AJ

 

Perhaps you don't like women who engage you in debate but I'd like to think any public internet discussion board grows stale when posters are only allowed to post comments through rose colored glasses. I get it.  I used to work for an MVNO of Sprint and the Sprint fanboys on my team thought Sprint could do no wrong.  

 

You'd be right here with me if I was 2011 and I was arguing against the AT&T buyout of T-Mobile.  At first I was for it but then after discovering the PR lie machine was in full effect my opinion of AT&T buying T-Mobile evolved.  

 

Yes I do have an issue with a Japanese billionaire owning such a large stake in an American iconic wireless telecom unit.  I believe Sprint was so mismanaged it dug itself into the hell hole it fell into and an American household brand got outsourced.  I much rather a US based and majority owned company buy T-Mobile from the hands of DT than Softbank. 

[lilotimz]

And that's enough for this thread since nothing came of it. 

[IamMrFamous07]

I really enjoyed this article. Please read it if you have time.

 

http://m.seekingalpha.com/article/1912041