Wireless Blog

The Bell operating company — formerly known as Southwestern Bell Corporation (SBC), now AT&T — knows a thing or two about political pressure. The San Antonio, Texas, corporation got the Bush administration to approve their purchase of the former AT&T Corporation, clear 90 MHz of AWS spectrum for their 3G service, and got approval for their purchase of rural operator Dobson Communications.

AT&T now wants to stop the merger of Sprint and Clearwire, complaining to the FCC that it is unfair.

“Clearly, a company that has the largest spectrum position of any mobile carrier, deploying a service that is ‘here now,’ with financial backing from Google, Intel, and three of the nation’s largest cable television companies is capable of substantially impacting competition in the mobile communications market.”

As Arstechnia paraphrases; “New Clearwire is beating us to market with 4G wireless broadband, it has large spectrum holdings, and a raft of deep-pocketed investors. Won’t you please take a closer look?”

The 17-page AT&T filing claims that Sprint and Clearwire have sought to avoid the FCC review process by minimizing the full extent of their current spectrum holdings and “have omitted any information relevant to the traditional public interest analysis applied by the FCC.” AT&T argued that the Sprint-Clearwire application was “fatally defective” and should be dismissed.

According to Unstrung, Sprint holds a nationwide footprint of 90 MHz of 2.5 GHz spectrum, covering 80 markets in the U.S. When the FCC approved the merger it said that the two operators were required to offer services using this spectrum to at least 15 million Americans within four years “of the effective date of the order consenting to the merger” — and an additional 15 million American subscribers within six years.

With the new Sprint/Clearwire/Cable venture, Clearwire will have 120Mhz to play with in major markets, compared to the 12Mhz available on 700 Mhz owned by AT&T and Verizon and 20 MH on the AWS band. AT&T and Verizon didn’t buy 2.5GH spectrum. Now it’s too late.

The “new” Clearwire venture is expected to close by the end of the year, with mobile WiMax expected to be available nationwide by 2010.

Related DailyWireless AWS stories include; T-Mobile AWS This Summer?, Cricket Launches AWS Service, Canadian AWS Auction: Encouraging Competition, Nortel & LG: LTE on AWS, AWS Auction: It’s Done!

Sprint Nextel today announced an agreement to sell approximately 3,300 towers to TowerCo for approximately $670 million in cash. Additionally, the two companies have entered into a long term leasing agreement where TowerCo will provide Sprint Nextel with wireless communications towers to support the company’s CDMA, iDEN and WiMAX networks.

“By leasing rather than owning these network facilities, we can better focus on our core business of providing communications services to consumers, businesses and government customers,” said Bob Azzi, senior vice president, Field Engineering and Operations, Sprint Nextel. TowerCo’s location maps are available in Google Earth.

• American Tower Corporation has the most diverse site portfolio in the industry, operating approximately 19,500 tower sites in the United States and 3,200 in Mexico and Brazil (site locator).
• SBA Communications has participated in the development of over 25,000 antenna sites in the United States. Their site locator also has a map mashup.
• Crown Castle owns, operates and manages over 22,000 sites in the U.S. and over 1,400 in Australia (tower locator).

CellCoverage.com lets every cell phone user submit specific areas in their communities, neighborhoods, and workplaces, as well as on the roads and highways they travel, where they would like improved cellular coverage. Radio-Locator has links to over 10,000 radio station tower data and website as well as 2500 audio streams.

Nextlink Wireless, which owns local multipoint distribution system spectrum in 75 metro markets. From the wireless hubs deployed in the Seattle metropolitan area, XO can provide these services to qualified line-of-sight locations within a range of up to 11 miles.

XO is one of the largest holders of fixed wireless licenses in the 28 GHz-31 GHz spectrum covering more than 70 U.S. major metropolitan markets. XO owns “the lion’s share” of A-band 28 GHz spectrum in the United States, as well as some B-band spectrum.

First Avenue Networks (above) bought out the radio spectrum assets of bankrupt of Advanced Radio Telecom (at 39GHz) and Teligent (at 24 GHz) and now has 24/39 GHz licenses throughout the United States with deep coverage in 77 metropolitan areas.

Tower operators Crown Castle and American Tower, which previously created a joint venture in FiberTower, have merged with First Avenue Networks in a deal valued at approximately $1.5 billion. First Avenue operates a “last mile” broadband wireless system in the 24/39 GHz bands.

FiberTower owns 51 percent of the combined entity and has an installed base in 12 markets with more than 1000 sites

Nokia Corp., Motorola Inc. and other handset makers rose along with the broader market Friday following Samsung Electronics' report that its mobile phone sales rose 22 percent in the second quarter.

A merger between Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio was approved with conditions by the FCC today, clearing the way for a deal that will leave just one U.S. satellite radio service.

The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 in favor of a proposal that would allow the deal to proceed as long as the companies meet a series of consumer protection conditions, including a three-year cap on prices, set-aside of channels for minority and non-commercial programming and payment of a $19.7 million penalty for past FCC rule violations.

Based on yesterday’s closing share prices, the deal is valued at $3.3 billion, not including debt. Three of the five FCC Commissioners agreed that the marketplace has changed since the two companies formed, with iPods, mobile radio/tv and cellular/WiMAX devices.

It ended a 16-month-long process when Sirius Satellite proposed a $3.6 billion buyout of rival XM Satellite Radio. It will mean 18 million-plus subscribers will be able to receive programming from both services. Executives say it will mean huge cost savings that will lead to a first-ever profit for the relatively nascent industry.

Related Satellite Radio articles on Dailywireless include; Adelstein: Swing Vote in Satellite Radio Merger, XM/Sirius Merger Soon?, Sat Radio Merger Provisions?, Satellite Radio Merger Goes to FCC, Battle Over 2 Dot 3.

Harbinger Capital today offered to front Skyterra $500 million to launch two satellites, says GigaOm’s Stacey Higginbotham. The private equity firm is also planning to push for a deal to acquire Inmarsat, according to Higginbotham. Harbinger already owns 28.8 percent of Inmarsat’s stock.

Harbinger is apparently confident that the FCC will look favorably on its attempt to provide a merged 4G satellite and terrestrial network. (see: Dailywireless Feb, 2008: Satphones: Merger Ahead?).

MSV and Inmarsat both own complimentary spectrum and satellites that work in the L band. According to the Skyterra press release, regulatory approvals for any deal would take between a year to 18 months to complete, which means the $500 million in cash is needed to keep the company — and its birds — afloat.

Harbinger could be eyeing other deals as well. The firm has a large ownership stake in TerreStar, which owns spectrum in the same band (1.4 GH) owned by EchoStar and Echostar also owns nationwide spectrum at 700 MHz.

SkyTerra and Inmarsat have reached a major pact to offer L-band hybrid mobile satellite services in North America, reports RCR News.

“We have worked long and hard with Inmarsat to develop this agreement, which sets operational parameters in the L-band for existing satellite operations and lays the groundwork for future cooperation to address consumers’ demand for next generation technology and services,” said Alexander Good, CEO of SkyTerra and vice chairman of MSV.

Other MSS licensees such as Globalstar, ICO and TerreStar Networks may need to offer similar competitive offerings, say analysts. They expect U.S. officials to sign off on the SkyTerra-MSV-Inmarsat agreement.

A variety of satellite phone providers are due to launch new platforms soon that will feature terrestrial repeaters for service that more closely approximates cellular, providing low-cost service with inexpensive handsets.

In the United States, six satellite phone providers may soon be competing:

1. The 2 GHz Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) Band:


ICO launched its huge spotbeam platform, ICO G1 this March. TerreStar Networks shares the 2.2 GHz (MSS) band with ICO and expects its hybrid mobile satellite, TerreStar-1, will launch during the December 2008 through February 2009 launch window. Terrestar recently announced $300 million in investor commitments.



Both ICO and TerreStar have 20 MHz each in the MSS band (2.0/2.1 GHz). They’ll deliver spotbeam satphone services from geosynchronous space, but will suppliment the space connection with terrestrial repeaters which allow small, inexpensive handsets to be used.


2. The “L Band” at 1.6 GHz:


Satphone providers Inmarsat and MSV are also launching satphone services from GEO orbit in the “L” band. The “L” band is centered around 1.6 GHz.

Inmarsat is set to launch its final I-4, F3 on August 14 and position it over the Pacific. That makes it handy for tiny BGAN terminals on the West Coast, that can plug into regular landline phones or laptops for 400Kbps service.

MSV-1 and MSV-2 are also sharing the 1.6ghz “L” band over the United States and Canada. They will provide a spotbeam satphone platform in GEO space, planned for 2010. MSV, like Terrestar and ICO in the 2GHz MSS band, will use terrestrial repeaters.


3. Low Earth Orbit Satellite Phones:


Meanwhile, in the Low Earth Orbit, Iridium and GlobalStar are battling it out for traditional LEO satphone service.

Some observers believe six satphone competitors would be untenable.

Instead of six providers, they envision three or four. Economics and logistics, they say, will force “MSS band” providers ICO and Terrestar to merge. Likewise “L Band” providers Inmarsat and MSV could merge and LEO providers Iridium and GlobalStar could merge.

Related space and satellite news on DailyWireless includes; MSS: Battle Space, ICO Deploys 40 Foot Antenna, ICO G-1 In Space, Sprint’s Walkie Talkie: 40 Cities, ICO Wants Its Mobile TV - via DVB-SH, Dish Network Testing DVB-SH, HughesNet’s Spaceway 3 Now Available, AMC-14: Killed by Lawyers?, Satellite Radio Merger Goes to FCC, Spot Beam Sats Multiply, Satphones: Merger Ahead?, Inmarsat + SkyTerra = Spectrum Sharing, AT&T Goes with FLO, What’s Dish Network Planning?, WiMAX TV from NextWave, Italy Testing DVB-SH Mobile TV, Mobile/Handheld TV: Killer App? and Mobile TV War at NAB 2007.

Neptune Technology Group Inc. and Tropos Networks Inc. have entered into a Joint Marketing Agreement to work collaboratively to promote the benefits of using Neptune's Wi-Fi enabled water meter reading solution ...

When Apple released its iPhone 2.0 software earlier this month, CEO Steve Jobs said it would provide the best user experience and the most advanced software platform for a mobile device. However, glitches in the software are leaving users frustrated, with a laundry list of complaints.

Apple launched its App Store just before it released the iPhone 3G, which uses the 2.0 software. Users of both the iPhone 3G and the first-generation iPhone upgraded with the 2.0 software can buy and download apps created by third-party developers.

Strong Expectations

The 2.0 software was also supposed to allow subscribers to Apple's $99-a-year MobileMe service (formerly called .Mac) to seamlessly share e-mail, calendars and contacts between iPhones, PCs and Macs. It was billed as compatible with Microsoft Exchange e-mail servers.

Instead, users are reporting crashes, slow synchronizations, and unexpected reboots with both the iPhone software and downloaded applications. Some users have reported sync times of 30 minutes, plus problems with GPS and Bluetooth. Other problems have been screen freezes, long iTunes backup times, and dropped applications.

Users have found some relief in deleting and then again downloading applications, but this is a temporary fix because the deleted apps return on the next sync. A more reliable fix has been to update the iPhone directly through the App Store or from iTunes instead of through the iPhone.

Update on the Way

Relief could be on the way as Apple distributes an iPhone 2.1 software update to developers. That version may include fixes for the reported bugs, though some observers are speculating there could be a special 2.01 update.

The update is also expected to include an improvement to the GPS feature, which currently reports a user's location. Reportedly, the new version will add velocity and direction, which could be the start of turn-by-turn guidance.

Apple said 10 million apps were downloaded in...

Venture Beat says Loopt, the location-based social network, has reached deals with both Qualcomm and SiRF to give it unlimited dips of GPS data for one flat fee. It was announced at MobileBeat 2008 today.

Using GPS technology, Loopt figures out where you are, and by reference, where your friends or nearby interests are located. But the cost of accessing this location data, called a “dip”, has been prohibitive. It’s been a problem in selling location aware applications like Loopt to carriers, says Venture Beat.

Loopt has reached deals with both Qualcomm and SiRF to give it unlimited dips of GPS data for one flat fee.

The carriers and handset makers still have to buy into this new plan, but it’s more likely to happen now that Loopt has this deal.

Loopt has received lots of praise for their iPhone 3G apps that utilize the iPhone’s built-in GPS.

Other Location-Aware Apps for the iPhone (and other platforms) include:

• Loopt - free: A Virtual Earth map allows you to see both friends and Yelp search results together.
• AdMob: Mobile advertising that targets the audience and device you want
• Funambol: Open platform design to push location aware ads and sync contacts with other phones, webmail systems & email clients.
• Platial - free: Search or browse millions of Platial geobits - from food to arts and culture to activism to history to recreation and beyond.
• ShoZu - Free: One-click uploading of camera phone videos and pictures to over 30 online social networks, blogs and photo sites. Can geo-tag your photos and videos.
• Kyte Mobile Producer for iPhone: Instantly broadcast pictures as you take them, create slideshows from your iPhone’s picture gallery and chat with your audience real-time.
• Ontela: Brings together a user’s mobile device, PC, and favorite online image services.
• Where - free: Released by Ulocate on Sprint last year, it makes it easy for developers to build location-aware widgets.
• Omnifocus - $19.99: It will use your location to help you create location-based to-do list.
• Urban Spoon - free: A restaurant picker
• Twitteriffic, Twinkle and Twittelator - free: Post Twitters and follow people. Twittelator lets you send a link to a map of your location and has a “Twitter 911″ feature.
• NearPics - free: A location-aware photo browser. It uses your location to select local photos from Google’s Panoramio service.
• Whrrl - free: Like Loopt, is shows friends and businesses on the same map but adds more browser functionality (showing places reviewed by friends).

Apple’s next significant release of the iPhone software will activate background push notifications, as well as enhanced GPS functionality, says BetaNews. Tweaks to the iPhone GPS code, may allow for truer navigation and allow developers to get around the restrictions blocking applications from running in the background on the device. The rumored 2.1 software release is expected around September.

Check out Mobile Beat’s Top Ten companies that were culled from the Mobile Beat’s Top 30.

BELMONT, Calif. - Sezmi Corporation today announced the appointment of two industry veterans to its executive team Kevin Grundy and Michael Youssefmir.

They don’t advertise for killers in the newspaper. That was my profession. Ex-cop. Ex-blade runner. — Blade Runner

Nokia’s Symbian OS for cell phones and Google’s Android are destined to be combined to provide a single open source operating system for smartphones, opines analyst firm J. Gold Associates in a research note.

The merger of the two operating systems will begin within three to six months, driven mostly by the fact that Nokia and Google are pursuing similar open source strategies with their respective technology, says Gold. “Many of the same sponsors are involved in both initiatives.”

Nokia recently acquired 100% ownership of Symbian and announced plans to turn it over to a new Symbian Foundation to create an open source OS, which would be offered to foundation members sometime in the first half of 2009.

In pursuing the same open source strategy, Google and supporters have formed the Open Handset Alliance for Android. Members include Motorola and Japan-based DoCoMo, which are also participants in the Symbian Foundation.

“A combination of the Android and Symbian efforts would be good for the industry, good for Google and good for Symbian,” J. Gold said. “It would also help spur a growth in the availability of applications and services. The downside is minimal. Everyone wins.”

Portland is Open Source City, says Oregon Public Broadcasting. Their live program is coming from the O’Reilly’s Open Source Convention today. Jim Zemlin, Raven Zachary and Rick Turoczy were guests.

Jim Zemlin explains The Mysterious Work of the Linux Foundation.

At the OSCON open-source software convention, Symbian vice president of strategy John M. Forsyth gave a presentation in which he explained the reasoning behind their open-source strategy. Forsyth admits that the Symbian foundation doesn’t entirely know what is doing yet and says that they are looking to the community for advice on how to proceed, reports Ars Technica.

Android Is For The Masses, iPhone For The Rich, says the Read/Write Web.