700 MHz Spectrum Auction

Cox eyes $500 million wireless investment

Dan O'Shea — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:13:23 -0400

Cable TV company Cox Communications already has committed $300 million at auction to acquire 700 Mhz wireless spectrum, and company president Patrick Esser said at the Progress and Freedom Foundation's Aspen Summit that Cox will spend a total of $500 million to roll out mobile content offerings and other wireless services that will enhance its ability to offer quadruple play services on a single bill. Cox also wants to integrate all of its services via wireless where that makes sense.

Though Cox is not saying when all this will happen, it joins other service providers who are getting closer using their new spectrum. Meanwhile, 700 Mhz activist Google, which did not acquire any spectrum in the band, has moved on to a campaign promoting the use of white space TV spectrum for mobile broadband.

For more:
- see this Cox report at InformationWeek
- see this white space story at Network World

Related articles:
Cox also reportedly has been looking at its fiber options. Cox report
Google was very interested in 700 Mhz this time last year. Google report

CenturyTel to enhance footprint via 700 Mhz

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 06:59:57 -0400

While mega-carriers have been gradually unveiling their 700 Mhz technology plans and discussing the merits of open wireless networks, we haven't heard much about the plans of some of the smaller 700 Mhz license holders. Now, rural telco CenturyTel, of Monroe , La., is saying it plans to use the A block and B block licenses it won through the auction to deploy a wireless overlay that will help the company expand voice and data services more effectively and less expensively to remote areas around its existing markets. The telco, which once owned a wireless subsidiary, but sold it to Alltel (the company which later spun off its wireline operations to help form Windstream Communications), paid about $149 million for the licenses.

CenturyTel currently offers wireless service via a mobile virtual network operator deal with AT&T, but it appears that the telco will use the new licenses more as an extension to current wireline-based offerings. The 700 Mhz market is already becoming a competitive battleground for the WiMAX and LTE technology camps, but CenturyTel says it will wait for the spectrum to be cleared sometime next year, before stating more specifics of its network overlay plan.

For more:
- check out this coverage at Telephony

Related article:
- CenturyTel recently posted a profit increase and tempered outlook. CenturyTel report

Hundt: Make broadband policy top priority

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 06:59:57 -0500

Telephony caught up with former Federal Communications Chairman and would-be wireless network entrepreneur Reed Hundt at the OFC/NFOEC event in San Diego. The exclusive interview that resulted is a tough analysis of broadband policy, universal service fund reform, the ongoing peer-to-peer traffic-shaping controversy and the uncertainty surrounding the final days of the 700 Mhz spectrum auction.

It seems that to Hundt an open-access broadband policy can solve a lot of problems, and that an industry commitment to 100 mbps access and clarity about the pricing and performance users can expect would mitigate the P2P controversy. The creation of an open, universally available broadband network also would make the universal service fund debate moot.

But, the real nugget of the interview comes at the end, where Hundt wonders why President Bush doesn't give telcos accused of wiretapping the Scooter Libby treatment.

For more:
- read this interview at Telephony

Related article:
- The FCC recently started to tackle universal service fund reform

Motorola surrenders its mobile business

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 06:59:57 -0500

Motorola has finally succumbed to investor demand and has announced it is prepared to "separate" its beleaguered mobile telephone division. That is code for "make us an offer" with analysts suggesting Motorola could get $20 billion for the handset business. There has been market speculation a Chinese buyer is interested in the business, which has a 12 percent market share of the hyper competitive handset sector.

In a statement released after market close yesterday, the company said it is: "exploring the structural and strategic realignment of its businesses to better equip its Mobile Devices business to recapture global market leadership and to enhance shareholder value. The company's alternatives may include the separation of Mobile Devices from its other businesses in order to permit each business to grow and better serve its customers."

Motorola has been facing break-up calls from billionaire shareholder Carl Icahn, who owns 3.3 percent of the stock. Icahn lobbied for a boardroom seat last year and last night approved the separation: "For many months I have been publicly advocating the separation of mobile devices from Motorola's other business and I am pleased to see that Motorola is finally exploring that proposal."

Motorola was an early leader in the mobile space and dominated the U.S. handset market for a number of years, but has seen its market share collapse in the face of innovative and cheaper products, led by European manufacturer Nokia. Last year Korean CE giant Samsung eclipsed Motorola for the number two position.

The possible sale comes as the traditionally tight relationship between U.S. carriers and manufacturers is being challenged by a new open handset alliance led by Google and with a heated auction battle for new 700 Mhz spectrum--with Google and Verizon speculated to be the two remaining bidders. In the face of Google's alliance, Verizon late last year agreed to open its wireless platform to third party applications.

Motorola's handset business represents about half of the company's annual sales of $36 billion. A sale would leave Motorola with its home and networks division, plus its enterprise and government business. Once the mobile business is separated it is likely the remaining business will become attractive to a vendor looking to strengthen its position in the network and media sectors. Cisco?

For more:
- Motorola statement
- Possible sale of cell group stuns workers. Article

Related article:
-Can Motorola rebound? Article

700 Mhz won't change industry landscape

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 06:59:53 -0500

The 700 Mhz spectrum auction is scheduled to kick off later this month, and while Google has applied to bid, I don't think the end result of this auction will much alter the industry landscape. Big telcos and cable TV companies will get their spectrum, and use it to drive some interesting services (most notably the cable guys), but I think Google's participation will prove anti-climactic. I don't think Google wants to operate a network, and if it actually does acquire spectrum, I think a spin-off or or joint venture with some other network firm is more likely. Spectrum auctions are big events intended to open doors for new players, but they rarely turn out that way.

While the auction won't change the industry too much, the open access issue it has been coupled with could continue to change the game. Stay tuned for more announcements from wireless carriers proclaiming open access strategies.

Cable firms join Google at 700 Mhz auction

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 06:59:57 -0500

As the Federal Communications Commission gets set to kick off next month, it's becoming more apparent just who plans to be bidding. The FCC began releasing information yesterday about which telecom firms applied to participate in the auction and which bidders it had accepted so far. Cable TV companies Cox Communications and Cablevision Systems applied to bid alongside Google. Another cable player, Microsoft co-founder and Charter Communications majority owner Paul Allen, also plans to bid. And besides AT&T and Verizon Communications, bid applicants from the traditional telco industry will include Mexico telecom magnate Carlos Slim Helu and a Guam-based telco backed by Roy Disney (yes, that Roy Disney).

More than 260 applications to bid were filed. Only 96 have been accepted so far, and many, including those from AT&T and Verizon, have paperwork issues that need to be completed, but you can bet there will be many more accepted in the weeks to come.

For more:
- see this story in The Wall Street Journal
- read this Associated Press story in BusinessWeek

Related article:
- Google confirmed earlier this month that it applied to bid

TIA president looks toward 2008

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 06:59:58 -0500

Many telecom equipment vendors have had a rough go of it lately. Some of them are still struggling with their own consolidation moves, while others struggle under the market pressures posed to them by consolidation among their carrier customers. But, the challenges of 2007 may give way to some optimism in 2008 as consolidation tapers off and potential new customers for telecom gear emerge via the 700 Mhz auction in January.

Grant Seiffert, president of the Telecommunications Industry Association, which represents these equipment vendors, recently assessed the changing industry and the TIA's role in it, and outlined significant issues the agency will follow and address in 2008. To read our interview with Seiffert, click here.

Also, be sure to check out our 2007 Review and 2008 Forecast next week. I still need "Best of..." lists from some of you, so be sure to e-mail them to me today.

- Dan

Google to bid on wireless spectrum

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 06:59:57 -0500

Companies planning to bid on 700 Mhz wireless spectrum at federal auction in January need to confirm their intentions by the end of the day today, and the biggest question already has been answered. Google said it will bid in the auction, and if it wins spectrum, its new status as a wireless carrier could present a serious competitive threat to the wireless operations of major telcos.

Still, there's some question as to whether Google is serious. Some believe the company may bid just to assure that the big wireless carriers follow through on their promise to provide open access to their networks. Yet, even if Google doesn't really want to be a wireless carrier, can it bid half-heartedly, let the telcos win, and still save face competitively? Maybe saving face isn't all that important when you already could afford to buy the entire planet.

For more:
- read this report from Bloomberg.com

Related articles:
- Click here to read more Google-related news

Telcos ready for 700 Mhz fight

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 06:59:58 -0400

Telcos ready for 700 Mhz fight
Google CEO Eric Schmidt has not confirmed that the Internet colossus will bid for 700 MHz spectrum. He only indicated, in response to a question from a T-Mobile official, in front of an audience that included several journalists, that either Google "probably" would bid, or that bidding would "probably" be the answer to the question of whether it would bid or not.

Still, the indication of some forward movement--probably, that is--has many industry watchers suggesting telcos are now shaking in their shoes at the prospect of being out-bid by Google, or at least should be shaking in their shoes. Much is being made of Google's mega billions of dollars and stratospheric stock price, and its apparent progress in developing some type of "Google phone."

But, if anything, Google now seems both unsure and not terribly excited about the 700 MHz spectrum auction, and in the months that January event, Google may be the one getting the yips.

Why? Telcos (and I don't mean cellular carriers; I mean the massive corporations that own most of them and offer, in addition to wireless, a lot of wireline services) are old hands at controlling the pace, direction and outcome of spectrum auctions. They also have a lot of cash and cash flow themselves, by the way. Their wealth is not primarily based on the fickle winds of the stock market and a series of mostly unproven business models for generating more revenue from content and Web 2.0 applications, as is Google's.

Though the traditional telco business is changing, telcos have every right to be confident in their evolving business models. Also, they have more experience with wireless and broadband networking, and with technology innovation and timing. Google has less experience with all of the above than we care to remember, and it's already watched other multimedia juggernauts fail to take over telecom (e.g., mobile ESPN).

Google is indeed a juggernaut to top them all, and it may eventually own everything, right up to the future access to the words in this column. Still, I don't think its victory at 700 MHz is certain, or that it's certain Google even will bid on the spectrum. Google may come out of the 700 MHz auction a winner, but if it does, that victory will come just after a bloody, costly fight with traditional telcos, and just ahead of a competitive fight the likes of which Google hasn't yet faced.

For more about the 700 MHz battle, check out our Fierce coverage at FierceWireless.

- Dan