Posted by: Joan Marsh on April 14, 2011 at 2:26 pm
A few weeks ago, AT&T announced an agreement to acquire T-Mobile USA. While some people were surprised by the announcement, the main reason for the deal was obvious to anyone who has been following the rapid growth of the wireless industry – we need more capacity to address the surging demand for mobile broadband.
AT&T’s wireless broadband networks continue to carry a tremendous amount of data traffic. You’ve heard the stats: wireless data traffic on our network is up over 8000% in the last four years and we anticipate it will be 8 to 10 times greater by 2015. The surest, fastest and most efficient path by far to addressing the capacity limitations we face in the near term is to acquire T-Mobile and its highly complementary spectrum portfolio and network assets. It was the deal hiding in plain sight.
The result of the combination will be extraordinary: the denser network of cell sites will drive capacity improvements and speed gains; spectral efficiencies will be gained by the combinations of two 2G networks into one, including less spectrum used for call set up and control, and more opportunities to migrate bands to support mobile broadband services.
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Posted by: AT&T Blog Team on April 7, 2011 at 12:24 pm
The following statement may be attributed to Bob Quinn, AT&T Chief Privacy Officer and Senior Vice President of Federal Regulatory:
“Roaming agreements for both voice and data are in place throughout the country, and were reached through normal commercial negotiations. The evidence presented in this proceeding demonstrated conclusively that proponents of a roaming mandate were seeking government intervention, not to obtain agreements – which are plentiful – but rather to regulate rates downward. While we will thoroughly review today’s order, we continue to believe that a data roaming mandate is unwarranted and will discourage investment and build out of broadband facilities for both those seeking regulated roaming rates and those forced to wholesale facilities at those rates.”
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Posted by: Frank Simone on April 7, 2011 at 11:56 am
The FCC stepped up to the plate today to remove barriers to broadband infrastructure investment and lower the costs of broadband deployment, a key recommendation of the Commission’s National Broadband Plan. It was a good day at the dish, but it looks as if this game is headed to extra-innings.
As many of you know, the Commission’s pole attachment Order, adopted today, confirmed its authority to oversee all pole attachment rates, but it failed to set a benchmark rate for traditional phone companies, such as AT&T. What this means, at least for the near term, is that traditional phone companies will continue to pay rates that are multiple times higher than their broadband competitors – cable companies and CLECs.
So, you can say that the Commission took a step in the right direction, and they should be applauded for that. But this game is far from over.
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