mozamcrew

I resolve to ::1

Starting to see 1x800 on sites when I was in Fargo today!!

Ok, there are 4 racks on the tower, so that means 4 providers with Sprint clearly being the one on the bottom rack (you can tell because there are 2 RRUs attached to each antenna, PCS & ESMR). The antennas above look newer too. Might be a modern TMUS setup or ATT? You said the top one is new?

Im assuming in that case that the 10Mhz FDD falls entirely within band 17, and thus would be accessible to band 17 & band 12 devices, whereas the 5 and 3 Mhz FDD carriers would only be usable by band 12 devices.

Since ATT's band 17 devices won't be able to use any LTE carriers that include block A spectrum, I assume they won't co-mingle the A band for a number of years, until almost everyone moves to a band 12 device.

VoLTE requires at least AMR-NB, but AMR-WB (3GPP HD voice) is encouraged. There is a push to include AAC-ELB (Full HD Voice) as well. My hope is that Sprint will be able to hold back until Full HD is standardized so it will be supported on all Sprint VoLTE devices.

More likely a 10x10 and a 5x5, at least initially. ATT has lots of band 17 devices that only support the lower B & C blocks. They only recently agreed to move to using band 12 instead (which adds A block support). I was actually hoping that TMUS bought the 700Mhz A block. That would mean less chance of a bidding war between them in the 600 Mhz auction.

Verizon overpaid for the lower 700 Mhz spectrum that it owns. The licenses it ha were the ones were it outbid ATT in the original auction. Verizon already has the upper C block nationwide, which was relatively cheep due to the open access requirements. Verizon would love to sell this spectrum that it overpaid for at the auction with a nice markup. I think TMUS decided they didn't want to pay that much so they just agreed to AWS/PCS spectrum swaps. They give up spectrum in markets where they have more than 30-40Mhz of AWS, and they gain some in markets where they are short. Good deal for both sides since the markets one is short in is probably where the other one has excess.

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.

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

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?

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.

My understanding is all 3G completed sites should have working CSFB. Pretty much all of the Dakotas market is 3G complete now. There just aren't any LTE Sprint sites in GF yet ... to my knowledge.

You don't force them over, at least not right away. You just transition them over when they come in to buy a new phone. Only when it's time to relinquish the AWS spectrum, maybe 3 years down the road, will you need to put your foot down with your lagging customers. Most of them are probably cheep flip-phone users anyhow, so you just give them their choice of cheep/free phones and call it a day.

As someone who suggested that Sprint go after the 700Mhz A block instead of waiting on the 600 Mhz auction, I'd like a combined SprinT-mobile to keep that spectrum!

Once they begin rolling out VoLTE it will, certainly by the time the TMUS network is shut off this will be the case.

Sprint doesn't "own"most of it. IIRC they only own the BRS, about 55 Mhz of it. All the EBS spectrum is leased and varies greatly by market. The FCC doesn't count the EBS spectrum against Sprint's total in it's spectrum screen, so giving it up doesn't help much with getting the FCC to sign off on the deal, which is why Sprint is divesting the spectrum in the first place. You thin the T-Moblie LTE network because it only offers LTE on AWS and, in many places, is still stuck on GSM/EDGE with no HSPA or LTE at all. Sprint's network will do LTE seamlessly across 3 different bands. By the time Sprint/Softbank gets FCC approval for a TMUS merger, they will have far more extensive LTE coverage than TMUS. You thin it as more and more users move to Sprint devices that support LTE across all bands, not just AWS.

Precisely because Sprint has so much BRS/EBS, and will have significantly deployed in their network it before this merger ever closes. It's also already baked in to newer Sprint phones. Also, getting rid of leased EBS will be less helpful with FCC approval than agreeing to give up AWS. To make this work as a business proposition, they are going to have to thin their combined site count. I'm assuming the network gear and UE that does get scrapped or resold will be the TMUS stuff. They don't have to get rid of all TMUS sites, just eliminate ones with overlap and where Sprint has plenty of capacity, post NV. Once you decide that, then the AWS spectrum is the logical spectrum to divest, especially given its resale value. Lots of regionals would love to have some, as well as ATT and VZW.

I think there is some confusion. When I say that Sprint would divest the AWS spectrum, they won't have to do it immediately. They will be given maybe 2-3 years to reach agreements to sell it (Just like Verizon was given to sell its lower 700Mhz spectrum as a condition of getting CableCo's AWS spectrum). Here is how I would handle integrating TMUS if I were managing Sprint. Almost immediately: Sprint stops selling new TMUS phones. All new UE will be Sprint gear. Sprint makes TMUS LTE (AWS) "native" for UE that supports it. I imagine the iPhone 5S or the Nexus 5 could take advantage of this with a simple software update? (AWS is being used as a "bridge" while the merger and the TD-LTE rollout are completed. As more TMUS subscribers move to Sprint handsets/UE: Sprint gradually repurposes TMUS PCS spectrum for Sprint LTE. Sprint strategically 'thins" TMUS sites, converting selected TMUS sites to NV sites. Announce a firm shutdown date for the TMUS network. Reach agreements with buyers for AWS spectrum (maybe they get some immediately the remainder when the TMUS network is shut off) At the end (about three years from the date of the merger): All remaining TMUS sites are shut down Remaining AWS spectrum is transferred to whomever purchased it.

What spectrum would you have them divest? If they are going to buy TMUS, they are going to have to give up some spectrum. I think that divesting AWS would be the least painful of all the choices. I'm assuming that the eventual plan is to shut down most of TMUS cell sites.

I think they are hoping to build a program the caliber of a KSU, OSU, or OU. I think that's how they got Bohl, that and the payday. I don't think he'd have taken the job to stay in the Mountain West though, even with the pay bump, unless he was given at least a shot to build that kind of program. NDSU would probably be one of the better teams in the mountain west already.

I'm assuming they will be shutting down the TMUS network (maybe converting a small number of TMUS sites where TMUS has coverage and Sprint doesn't) and moving the customers to Sprint. Since Sprint doesn't use AWS, that's what I see them divesting for the reasons I listed above. They probably keep the 700Mhz (that TMUS is buying from VZW) and the PCS. If they do that, they'd have 700,800,1900, and 2.5/2.6.

I get that the EBS is leased and thus has ongoing costs, but it uses the same antennas and RRUs that they are using for their BRS spectrum. So they are better off keeping it as long as the lease holders don't get too greedy. It's also very valuable in urban areas since it is perfect for small cells to add capacity. Also, who else is going to want the EBS spectrum?? Since they will be forced to divest spectrum, why not agree to sell the spectrum that will earn you some $$$.

If I'm Sprint, I'd much rather divest the the AWS spectrum (after Sprint gets the old TMUS network shutdown after the merger). I'm sure ATT and VZW would be eager purchasers of more AWS in three years time. (As they have existing AWS LTE networks) Sprint can easily refarm TMUS PCS spectrum for use on their own network. Adding AWS to their network will require new RRUs and antennas. (And since the NV Sprint network is newer and covers more territory, I assume Sprint is planning to keep their gear and sell/scrap the TMUS stuff) They are already rolling out TD-LTE in BRS/EBS spectrum, I don't think Sprint wants to give that up since they have already invested so much in it.

CSFB is what eliminated the need for SV-DO/SV-LTE and thus simplified things for the carriers and handset makers. VoLTE (really just VoIP) isn't nearly as important as CSFB in that regard. You might get some very marginal cost reductions by eliminating the CDMA/WCDMA from the modem circuitry, but not as big as from going from multiple radios to a single radio, which is what CSFB does. I guess it would be nice to be able to fall back to 1x800 in very marginal coverage areas to make a call or send a text. I don't seem Sprint eliminating 1xA for another decade, given their investment and its superior coverage, which they need.