Industry News
Below are resources and articles to help users understand the direction of the wireless industry.
Will LightSquared's troubles push Leap into the arms of Clearwire? - As the major carriers continue to grow by stealing customers from the smaller carriers, The smaller carriers must look outside traditional models for ways to remain relevant.
Microcells, DAS, and picocells: Small-cell architecture to stem wireless data deluge - Discusses how new technology is helping the carriers more effectively use their existing spectrum, and fill in current holes in their network coverage.
Listening In to the AT&T Investor Call On T-Mobile - T-Mobile's unofficial blog followed the AT&T Senior management call closely and broke it down here in layman's terms. They specifically address decommissioning of towers.
Alcatel-Lucent Puts a Cell Tower in the Palm of Your Hand - Alcatel-Lucent has introduced a potential 'game-changing' technology reducing the size required for a tower and antennas. This new technology can be placed almost anywhere.
Sprint: Network upgrade will help migrate iDEN customers to CDMA - SVP of Networks for Sprint, Bob Azzi, talks about modernizing Sprint's network. As part of the reconfiguration, they plan on reducing the total number of towers from 66,000 to 46,000.
Wireless Winners in Network Sharing - wireless carriers have learned from experience overseas that network sharing makes all the sense in the world. Fewer towers and antenna sites to maintain, lower cost of operation, and it is now being openly discussed in the U.S.
FCC Wireless Telecommunications Overview - January 2009 - explains the growth and changes in the wireless industry since 2000.
TechRepublic has a great article on how the old Analog TV band may change the cell phone industry.
James Provost has a great diagram on how the analog TV band affects the industry.
Network sharing has become practical now that computers have advanced in speed. T-Mobile and other wireless companies in Europe are already sharing networks which reduces the number of towers needed.
- In December 2007, T-Mobile and 3 announced they would begin sharing networks.
- In March 2009Vodafone and O2 announced they would pool networks, Orange announced they would ask T-Mobile and 3 to join their network sharing venture. The move was estimated to save the companies billions, and reduce the number of towers (masts as they are called in Europe) needed.
- The Times published an article in October 2009 detailing how farmers face the decommissioning of more than 13,000 towers in the near future from the streamlining of the wireless business.
Sprint Nextel continues to gain attention to the flood of customers leaving the company. Quarterly and Annual Earnings Statements continue to stress the need to improve customer service to stem the flow of customers out the doors. The financial situation has become dire enough to capture the attention in the media, notably in a recent article "10 Big Companies That Are Veering Towards Bankruptcy"
Recently T-Mobile's Europe brand announced they they would merge with Orange to gain certain economies of scale to compete with other wireless companies. T-Mobiles main share holders are now putting pressure on the U.S. division to get their profitability in line.
Europe doesn't have the corner on mergers, In the last few years alone, Cingular and AT&T Wireless merged, Sprint and Nextel merged, Verizon purchased Alltel, AT&T is purchasing Centennial Wireless, and the list goes on.
Recently Sprint announced that they would begin merging their wireless operations with Clearwire. (Sprint already owns 51% of Clearwire)
The CTIA (The Wireless Association) has petitioned the FCC to help them have easier access to the existing infrastructure to co-locate their antennas on the power line towers and utility poles. This gives the cell phone companies easy access to thousands of locations across the country!