bigsnake49

Yeah i was rocking that kyocera way back when!

The part that's close to PCS can be very valuable to Sprint down the road, so they could take that as a downpayment to hosting the rest of Dish's spectrum for OTT services. Then together they can sell fixed broadband to their customers.

I can see Dish being a player in the AWS-3 auction. but not for the paired spectrum but for the unpaired spectrum. I can see them acquiring the 1695-1710 MHz uplink and pairing it with the 2180-2200 MHz downlink. I also seeing them apply to the FCC to change 2000-2020MHz into a downlink and pairing it with the Block H downlink. If Sprint and Dish come to some kind of agreement, I see Block G, Block H and the 2000-2020 block being paired up for a 30x10 block of spectrum. The question is what does Sprint have to trade to Dish? Now the 1695-1710 will have to be shared with NOAA, but since it is an uplink, I see it being easier then sharing a downlink. If Dish can pull purchasing the 1695-1710Mhz block they would have a really decent spectrum position. Now what are they going to do with it?

I am all for them ending broadcasters' free use of the airwaves. If they are going to charge for restransmission rights we need to charge them for use of the airwaves. We also need to end the Big Two's free use of the 850MHz airwaves.

Ahhhh....Yes. They should then acquire more BRS.

They can't, at least I don't think so. They lease EBS from educational institutions and the Catholic Church. I don't know what will happen at the end of the leases .

A merger? Unlikely! A partnership? More than likely! Dish and Direct TV will keep losing subscribers because old people will keep on dying and the millenials will not watch content on TV's but on tablets and phones. So, the satellite companies will need an OTT and VOD play. Sprint has plenty of spectrum and can put it to use to serve those purposes.

Yeah this one is from June 12, 2012

Also, there is no doubt who is driving this train and it aint Hesse!

Yes, they are killing two birds with one stone: Roam on rural partners and get ready for the merger...

Nothing of the sort: In 2008, he said that AT&T and Verizon controlled 56 percent of the wireless market in terms of subscribers. In 2013, he said the two carriers had 73 percent of the subscribers. He also noted that five years ago the AT&T and Verizon "duopoly" had 67 percent of the wireless industry's profits. In 2013, the two companies took home 84 percent of the profits. He added that more than 100 wireless competitors are splitting only 16 percent of the profits in the US wireless market today. "There are 100 competitors out there, but they're all being squeezed by the big two," he said. http://www.cnet.com/news/sprint-chairman-us-market-needs-real-price-war/

I don't know the right place for this, but it is interesting nevertheless: Addressing reporters after his keynote address to the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) crowd here on Thursday morning, SoftBank Corp. CEO Masayoshi Son said that Dish Network LLC (Nasdaq: DISH) could be Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S)'s biggest ally in the carrier's fight against the duopoly of AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and Verizon Wireless . "I'd like to partner with Dish in many possible ways," he told reporters. "We are specifically discussing all kinds of alliances and starting a test of technology. They can be our great ally." http://www.lightreading.com/mobile/4g-lte/son-dish-could-be-sprints-great-ally-/d/d-id/708408? I don't for a moment believe that the two are not cooking something having to do with the EBS spectrum and OTT video. With the millenials watching video on tablets, not on TVs, it changes the whole dynamic. Could Sprint basestation serve as satellite terminals that further distribute OTT video basically serving as Dish's CDN? All kinds of possibilities open themselves up. All I know is that Masa is taking the initiative and Hesse is pushed to the side.

I hate repeating myself, but Sprint is preparing for both aligning its handsets with T-Mobile's and CCA's. Way to go Masa!

Long before this 900 plan comes into fruition, Sprint will add band 12 capabilities to its phones and will let rural operators use its 800Mhz and 1900Mhz spectrum: SAN ANTONIO, Texas--Sprint (NYSE:S) announced new partnerships with the Competitive Carriers Association and the NetAmerica Alliance that the carrier hopes will encourage rural wireless carriers to build LTE networks that Sprint's customers will be able to roam onto. Importantly, Sprint said it will add 700 MHz Band 12 capabilities to some of its devices starting next year--spectrum that the carrier itself doesn't own. ........................................... With the NetAmerica Alliance, Sprint will launch a Smart Market Alliance for Rural Transformation program that Sprint said will give NetAmerica members the ability to access Sprint's network and to build new networks in partnership with Sprint. Interestingly, Sprint said it will license its unused 800 MHz and 1900 MHz spectrum to NetAmerica members that wish to build LTE networks on the spectrum. Smaller carriers that agree to build LTE networks through the program can make use of Sprint's core and its Network Vision architecture. Read more: Sprint to add 700 MHz Band 12 capabilities to some new devices starting next year - FierceWireless http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-add-700-mhz-band-12-capabilities-some-new-devices-starting-next-year/2014-03-26#ixzz2xAEcWjXg It seems that Sprint is preparing itself for both possibilities: Go it alone without T-Mobile and preparing for a possible merger. Finally making some moves that make sense. I have long believed that Sprint and T-Mobile should share network infrastructure, if not outright merge.

I was waiting to hear that announcement for a year. I wonder what took them so long. As long as they monitor the deployment and don't let it fall by the wayside, this is a good program. Part of that announcement is the fact that Sprint will add band 12 to some but not all of its handsets. SAN ANTONIO, Texas--Sprint (NYSE:S) announced new partnerships with the Competitive Carriers Association and the NetAmerica Alliance that the carrier hopes will encourage rural wireless carriers to build LTE networks that Sprint's customers will be able to roam onto. Importantly, Sprint said it will add 700 MHz Band 12 capabilities to some of its devices starting next year--spectrum that the carrier itself doesn't own. Read more: Sprint to add 700 MHz Band 12 capabilities to some new devices starting next year - FierceWireless http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-add-700-mhz-band-12-capabilities-some-new-devices-starting-next-year/2014-03-26#ixzz2xAEcWjXg

I did not mean to imply band they will reband to band 8, but a brand new band.

They have plenty of time. They have to reband first. And we know how long that takes .

But EWA want to use it for LTE, not CDMA. So the question should be if it became a subclass of Band 8 or not. I don't for a moment belive there are 2MHz of LMR users on that band. Per Morgan O'Brien (of Nextel fame), narrowband users should move to broadband. I foresee that to be true. I don't think that the LMR industry can be sustained any longer. There is not enough money in it to sustain a business. Eventually even public safety will have to move to VoLTE. It might take them a little while, but it will happen. The faster they start planning, the better. The more they get involved in the standards process, the better. The days of custom networks are numbered.

Very true! I wonder whether chip makers can get creative with that

Yes but it does fall within the GSM 900MHz band. Sprint should still lease the rest of the spectrum out from the spectrum holders and provide service at advantageous rates to holders of the spectrum. While they're at it, they might want to talk to Solinc about swapping spectrum for service.

The merger has to happen before, or Sprint and T-Mobile need to bid on 600MHz together.

Sprint's sub 1GHz spectrum holdings are a mess. Between the IBEZ restrictions, the Solinc carve out and the 900MHz they cannot muster a solid 5x5 chunk. Imagine if they had saved their money and bid on 700MHz instead....

Let me just say that I am severely disappointed in both Sprint's and FCC's inability to resolve the IBEZ exclusionary zone problem. I would think by now they would be able to use the band unimpeded. Between the interminable rebanding, IBEZ exclusionary zones and the the Solink sharing, that band has been nothing but problems. Maybe they should have chosen the 900Mhz band to base their sub 1Ghz deployment. What a total cluster that merger was....At the time I advocated they merge with Alltel/USCC/Metro and Leap/other rural cos. Boy that would have gone so much smoother...

Yep, I agree with you, so if you were bidding, you would first have to have the FCC allow you to reverse some other spectrum from uplink to downlink and that would mean massive disruption if it is spectrum that is already used. Now if it lies fallow, then no problem.

Unless the FCC also auctions some downlink spectrum, this will be useless spectrum. If it can be used as TDD that will be fine, but strictly for uplink, no. If it can be used as downlink, then Dish might be interested.