pdvWireless Petition/900 MHz Band

[bspectrumg]

pdvWireless said that they now believe the FCC will issue an NOI instead of an NPRM. I know that when S sold their spectrum to pdv, some thought it was undervalued. I'm kind of surprised an NPRM doesn't look like it'll happen anytime soon. 

 

What do you think about the future of the band and pdv's spectrum?

[greenbastard]

pdvWireless said that they now believe the FCC will issue an NOI instead of an NPRM. I know that when S sold their spectrum to pdv, some thought it was undervalued. I'm kind of surprised an NPRM doesn't look like it'll happen anytime soon.

 

What do you think about the future of the band and pdv's spectrum?

They've deployed in a few markets and have started to buy advertising for their services in those markets. How successful they've been is still yet to be seen. I'm sure they are itching to expand their services to things such as mobile payment solutions and Video calling. Based on their coverage map, they've deployed with coverage in mind instead of capacity, so they got a long road ahead, especially now with the FCC stalling them.

[dnwk]

And what is NOI and NPRM?

 

edit: Wait. Are they rebuilding an iDen network?

[Trip]

NPRM = Notice of Proposed Rule-Making

 

NOI = Notice of Inquiry

 

FCC/government agency terms.

 

- Trip

[red_dog007]

Wonder what it would have taken to get 896-940MHz for WiFi use. Expand it 17MHz.

 

Wonder how much business this company actually gets. Especially in places like Atlanta where SoLinc is a direct competitor.

[bigsnake49]

I thought that Sprint should have done something with this band instead of selling it. As in move some of the Public safety to 900MHz and expand the 800MHz band by the same amount. Of course they had no money to do it with, so it was a pipe dream.

[dnwk]

What kind of network are they building? iDEN?

[danlodish345]

What kind of network are they building? iDEN?

iden is dead ....they are building out their LTE plus network and finishing up the CDMA upgrades iden was terminated a few years ago in June

[RAvirani]

iden is dead ....they are building out their LTE plus network and finishing up the CDMA upgrades iden was terminated a few years ago in June

I think he was referring to pdvWireless...

[bspectrumg]

What kind of network are they building? iDEN?

They're trying to build a 3x3 LTE network. 

[dnwk]

They're trying to build a 3x3 LTE network. 

 

I don't see what kind of advantage they have to run Push to talk on LTE.

[bspectrumg]

I don't see what kind of advantage they have to run Push to talk on LTE.

 

They are looking to deploy a build to suit network for critical infrastructure with the LTE. I think PTT is a short-term plan for them until they can get it done through an NPRM. 

[dnwk]

They are looking to deploy a build to suit network for critical infrastructure with the LTE. I think PTT is a short-term plan for them until they can get it done through an NPRM. 

 

I don't quite understand. So, they basically building a LTE network similar to FirstNet.

[RAvirani]

I don't quite understand. So, they basically building a LTE network similar to FirstNet.

Yes but 3x3.

[dnwk]

I don't see how they could succeed

[RAvirani]

I don't see how they could success

Me neither but they're going to try...

[bspectrumg]

I don't see how they could succeed

Why don't you think they'll succeed? 

[bigsnake49]

Why don't you think they'll succeed? 

 

Unless they can either piggyback off somebody else's infrastructure (i.e., Sprint's) or can reduce the number of towers required per covered area by turning up signal strength/and or beam forming) They will be swallowed by deployment costs. The utilities do not want to be paying a lot of money per meter for meter reading. Utilities can piggy back on FirstNet and basically help defray operating costs. The feds are underwriting deployment costs.

[bspectrumg]

Unless they can either piggyback off somebody else's infrastructure (i.e., Sprint's) or can reduce the number of towers required per covered area by turning up signal strength/and or beam forming) They will be swallowed by deployment costs. The utilities do not want to be paying a lot of money per meter for meter reading. Utilities can piggy back on FirstNet and basically help defray operating costs. The feds are underwriting deployment costs.

 

Thanks. I think eventually the idea is to eventually use the spectrum for IoT type applications. Utilities would just be part of the equation. 

[bigsnake49]

Thanks. I think eventually the idea is to eventually use the spectrum for IoT type applications. Utilities would just be part of the equation. 

 

 

First they need to actually reband the spectrum so that it's contiguous. Then we will see. Again deployment costs are going to eat them up unless they deploy an innovative architecture to minimize them. A company called Spark already offers a cellular plan for $3/month for 1MB which is enough for 20,000 messages of 50 bytes or less. Each additional MB costs $1:

http://www.techhive.com/article/2889923/spark-electron-brings-cheap-cellular-connectivity-to-the-internet-of-things.html

For meter reading/control, that's plenty of data. I still think that already existing carriers have a built in advantage, since the deployment costs are already sunk. Same thing with FirstNet. Now if Sprint had their shit together they would have come to some agreement withe the other spectrum holders in that band and added the band to its supported bands and used it for M2M/IoT.

Edited August 19, 2016 by bigsnake49

[red_dog007]

It'll be interesting to see what they can do. 

 

Seems like it would be better off maybe if they leased the spectrum out.  900MHz unlicensed is used by many, but has interference issues. 

[bspectrumg]

First they need to actually reband the spectrum so that it's contiguous. Then we will see. Again deployment costs are going to eat them up unless they deploy an innovative architecture to minimize them. A company called Spark already offers a cellular plan for $3/month for 1MB which is enough for 20,000 messages of 50 bytes or less. Each additional MB costs $1:

http://www.techhive.com/article/2889923/spark-electron-brings-cheap-cellular-connectivity-to-the-internet-of-things.html

For meter reading/control, that's plenty of data. I still think that already existing carriers have a built in advantage, since the deployment costs are already sunk. Same thing with FirstNet. Now if Sprint had their shit together they would have come to some agreement withe the other spectrum holders in that band and added the band to its supported bands and used it for M2M/IoT.

Thank you. I suspect the long-term plan is a sale of the contiguous spectrum in order to have a larger carrier gain advantage of economies of scale. I appreciate your thoughtful responses.