ericdabbs

I believe Sprint paid 36 billion for Nextel. Keep in mind that the spectrum is done through auctions and if Sprint participated in them, they would not be able to buy up every license for both AWS and 700 Mhz. Im sure Verizon and AT&T would have loved to have done that and use their financial muscle to choke the competition of spectrum.

I would love to see MetroPCS and USCC scoop up the majority of the 700 MHz.

Well I guess time will tell. The only good thing out of this merger so far will be the access to the 800 MHz. If you think about it even the nationwide 1900 MHz 'G' block that was granted to Sprint was as a result of the 800 MHz rebanding because of Nextel PTT. Right now Sprint LTE is deployed entirely on "Nextel" spectrum because of the 1900 MHz 'G' block and the next planned 5x5 carrier is on the 800 MHz spectrum. I believe even Sprint's 2.5 GHz spectrum was originally owned by Nextel as well before the merger. So I guess you can say has played a key role in Sprint's 4G strategy and without the vast amount of Nextel spectrum it would be very hard for Sprint to deploy its own LTE network. On the other hand, I think a lot of people will argue that had they not merge with Nextel, that they would have had funds to participate in the AWS and 700 MHz spectrum auctions in 2006 and 2008.

Robert, not sure if this thread should be merged with the one below. Maybe close this thread and move the responses to the thread below. http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/786-verizon-to-sell-spectrum-if-cable-deal-approved/

Verizon will not sell the 700 MHz C block since they already have customers who are using the LTE service. Verizon can not just disrupt services like that without a nice transition plan. With all the first generation LTE phones in 2011 that only support the C block that won't happen. To be honest, the 700 MHz C block is not enough of a divestitures to get the deal done. What the smaller carriers need is divestitures from Verizon on all of their current AWS spectrum. Tmobile, Cricket, MetroPCS and US Cellular all use AWS spectrum for their LTE and voice service. Since the cable company deal will grant Verizon a 20 MHz block of AWS spectrum that is nationwide, there is no need for Verizon to hold onto its current AWS spectrum assets and could be used by the smaller carriers to bolster their coverage. Cricket and MetroPCS both have a coverage gap in the central to east coast regions which could really use the AWS divestitures.

Yeah putting a priority to smaller players for both the 700 MHz A&B and AWS spectrum would have to be the condition. If Verizon is serious about trying to get both the FCC and the RCA on approval with this deal they would need to do perform these divestitures at a minimum. I would also love to see Verizon have to divest some PCS for Sprint's sake but then it would then get into greedy territory. What Verizon is doing with its current proposal of selling just the 700 MHz A&B blocks doesn't help the smaller carriers one bit except for AT&T since smaller carriers mainly use AWS spectrum. The last thing I want to see is both AT&T and Verizon become stronger by dominating the AWS spectrum as well as the cable companies enforcing more dominance over the TV airwaves.

Posted similar story here. http://s4gru.com/ind...-in-cable-deal/ I would need more details on how much spectrum is given up first. But on first impression I am still not sold. There are not or if any small regional carriers that use 700 MHz for LTE. We know that MetroPCS, Cricket, Tmobile, US Cellular are the other major carriers that rely primarily on AWS spectrum that could really use the central to east coast coverage that Verizon currently holds. I would much rather have Verizon divest some its PCS and all of its current AWS spectrum holdings. Verizon can keep the A and B blocks of 700 MHz. I know that both MetroPCS and Cricket have a coverage gap in the central to east coast region that could really use the AWS spectrum from Verizon.

It appears that Verizon is trying to make some concessions by selling its A and B blocks of 700 MHz spectrum in order to try to persuade the FCC to grant the cable company deal for the AWS spectrum. What do you guys think? Personally I would like to see how much spectrum Verizon is willing to give up in exchange for the AWS spectrum. Unless its a lot more than what Verizon is gaining in the AWS deal then I say no deal. I don't really know of any carrier besides AT&T that really deploys LTE at 700 MHz anyways. http://www.slashgear...ctrum-18223439/ Hopefully AJ can chime in on this but if Verizon were to sell its A and B blocks of 700 MHz spectrum, what frequencies are we looking it becoming available to carriers and how much spectrum?

Yes Tmobile is planning to repurpose most of its PCS holdings for HSPA+

Differential Equation

I don't think we know what Sprint plans to do with the base tower equipment in the immediate future of these decommissioned Nextel sites. I would assume that they would have to remove the cabinets from the location at some point.

AT&T is also rolling out a 10x10 configuration in markets that they can thanks to the acquisition of the Qualcomm 700 MHz spectrum. Everywhere else AT&T plans to launch a 5x5 configuration at 700 MHz. Tmobile is planning to rollout LTE in 2013 and they are planning on a 10x10 configuration on their AWS spectrum in their top 25-50 markets. I would assume for the rest of the markets it would use a 5x5 configuration.

Hurt Locker

Has anyone swung by a Sprint store to confirm if they have yanked the iDEN products from their shelves? According to the article this should have happened this past sunday, 4/15.

Yeah but this is in theory. Until people start to try out the HTC Evo 4G LTE phone in real world settings, I am going to give HTC a pass. Samsung however has been proven to have a bad track record so far consistently.

Until Samsung starts improving their radios and GPS chips, I will stay away from Samsung and their phones. Also I am not a fan of the Exynos processor and would much rather have a TI OMAP or Qualcomm Snapdragon SOC chip anyday. The GSII and Nexus have reception issues.

I try to follow any thread that is Network Vision related as well as any thread that are concerning Sprint or Clearwire.

Hahaha...I knew I would get some response flak for my theory. In all seriousness, I don't think the delay was focused on being eco-friendly but rather that Sprint just wanted to delay it as long as it could even for 1 more week so that it gives all 3 vendors 1 extra week to build out as many NV towers as it can. Right now as we know that the LTE build out is very very small and the hope is that by the time Sprint decides to launch some markets hopefully by end of June that there are at least a thousand or 2 NV sites.

Call me lame but I think part of the reason Sprint pushed the launch of the GNex and Viper to 4/22 to coincide with Earth Day. It makes total sense that Sprint would be launching an eco-friendly phone in the Viper on Earth Day. But I also believe that production issues could have contributed to the 1 week launch delay for both the Viper and GNex.

This video is super old. At first blogs were somewhat giving credit to this guy but later revoked it. In one of the videos, he mentioned he was using a Huawei hotspot device which we know is not the hotspot device that will be released in May. I would take this guy's youtube video with a grain of salt and wouldn't put too much credence on his claims.

I don't see Clearwire maxing out their spectrum holdings initially for LTE-Advanced. I can see them deploying at launch next year at least two ...maybe three 20 MHz carriers for its LTE network. Until Clearwire can claim those Lightsquared customers, there is just no need to deploy four to five 20 MHz carriers when there is not enough demand for it. Its better for Clearwire to have some reserve spectrum to use for future expansion as oppose to going all out initially. Keep in mind that the speeds don't need to go dramatically higher to satisfy customers. I am sure most of us would be happy with a consistent 10-15 Mbps LTE connection in most places we go to.

Im thinking its gonna come out on apr 22nd or the 29th. I think Sprint is trying to push out the Gnex launch as long as possible without making it irrelevant so that it gives all the 3 vendors as much time as they can to deploy as many NV towers as possible before people start expecting to use LTE on it despite warnings that LTE coverage is very scarce.

I actually don't mind that Sprint would have to sell off part of the EBS/BRS spectrum holdings. Sprint doesn't need 150 MHz of 2.5 GHz spectrum. Sprint could sell off 50 MHz of 2.5 GHz and could use the funding to purchase more favorable spectrum. I think 100 GHz of 2.5 GHz would be plenty enough. Sprint shouldn't want the full 150 MHz of 2.5 GHz spectrum anyways due to the fact that it would preclude them form future spectrum auctions.

If Sprint gets FCC approval for 800 MHz LTE before the end of this year, I doubt it will be very long until handsets contain the necessary antennas to support band class 26. I think we could start seeing LTE phones with 800/1900/2500 MHz by mid year 2013 if that happened. I agree with AJ, I don't think running EVDO in ESMR will make any sense since by the time Sprint has enough ESMR spectrum freed up it could deploy LTE directly.

I don't think you understood what I meant. What I was suggesting was if Sprint were to buy out SouthernLinc and whoever else uses that spectrum in the 810-817 MHz so that Sprint could expand its current 800 MHz holdings. It never was meant to be something that Sprint would be able to do now but thank you. I understand that the current spectrum Sprint owns is the ESMR band which is from 817-824 MHz.