Well many expected Google to be the anthesis of the Telcos, swoop in buy up the 700mhz block and sell bandwidth subsidized by wireless ad revenue. Well that didn’t pan out so well. Now Ars Technica is suggesting that the new Clearwire consortium might be that ‘ThirdPipe’. –

A lengthy document filed this week with the FCC asks for permission to merge the 2.5GHz spectrum assets of Sprint and Clearwire into "New Clearwire," the company backed by Sprint, Clearwire, Intel, Time Warner, Google, and Bright House. In the filing, Clearwire makes the case that it will provide true "third pipe" Internet access to home and mobile users at speeds of 6Mbps (and 3Mbps uplink).

The companies involved know how to make the right promises:

• "New Clearwire will permit consumers to use any lawful device that they want so long as it is compatible with and not harmful to the WiMAX network
• "New Clearwire also will permit consumers to download and use any software applications, content, or services they desire, subject only to reasonable network management practices and law enforcement and public safety considerations
• "New Clearwire will offer non-exclusive wholesale access to its network
• "New Clear wire will deploy an advanced mobile WiMAX broadband network that will cover up to 140 million people in the United States in 30 months"

Ars quotes that Clearwire has filed a request with the FCC that they be permitted to logically merge several bands from an operatonal perspective. Assuming this happens and the FCC relents this might be the engine that gives Verizon competition to their 700mhz acquisition.

Linky.

RCR is reporting that cell phone sales have dropped sharply in the first quarter. Considering the sate of the economy right now, frivolous upgrades like to an iPhone or Blackberry curve has to be expected. Why spend the dollars when the handset you have is working fine and you are satisfied with the carrier? —

Cellphone sales in the United States declined abruptly in the first quarter of the year, the first time since The NPD Group began tracking handsets, the firm wrote in a new report. The quarter saw a 22% decline in sales year-over-year, reaching just shy of 31 million units and sales of $2.7 billion, down from $2.9 billion a year ago.

The 7% drop in sales revenues came soon after the traditional holiday season rush, wrote Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at the firm.

“Cellular phone service has become a practical necessity in modern life; however, with looming economic concerns on the horizon, many consumers may be holding back on new handset purchases, especially those tied to new prepaid plans,” he wrote.

Motorola Inc. nabbed a 27% share of units purchased during the quarter, maintaining its lead in the U.S. market. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. gleaned 18%, followed just barely by LG Electronics Co. Ltd. at 17%. Nokia Corp. and BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion Ltd. rounded out the remaining top five OEMs at 8% and 5%, respectively. RIM made the biggest move in the quarter, shoving Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. out of the top five.

It will be interesting to see if there is a consumer ‘freeze’ once Verizon announces the services and handsets for the 700mhz band. A shift will occur at that point causing cannibalization of the current cellular market. It is going to be fun to watch folks!!

Linky.

Verizon has made two decisons –

• Linux will be its handset platform of choice.
• The joined the LiMo alliance rather than the Android consortium.

Funny, Linux wins either way, which is good I guess. But this does put up an interesting twist to the argument for ‘open device access’ in the 700mhz space. Contrived I know, but VZ could turn and say hey we are open we use Linux and the LiMo product set. Hence freezing out Google. Yes its a stretch but that would be a way the game could be played. Nasty.

Verizon Wireless has chosen Linux as its “platform of choice,” it said. Starting with feature phones in 2009, followed by iPhone competitors, Verizon will offer Linux phones compliant with specifications from the Linux Mobile Foundation (LiMo), an industry group it and seven other companies joined today.

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In a press conference held by the LiMo Foundation, Verizon Wireless’s Kyle Malady, network VP, said his company chose LiMo over Google’s Android platform, due to LiMo’s open, board-run model, and its membership of companies that have already succeeded in shipping Linux phones. However, Verizon Wireless will continue to support RIM (Blackberry), Windows Mobile, Palm, and Brew operating systems, said Malady, and in the future will consider supporting the Linux-based Google Android platform pushed by the Open Handset Association (OHA).

Biggest losers? Any firm using a closed development platform, like Nokia.

Linky.

Not to say we told you so, but we did. At the close of the 700MHz auction we predicted Verizon, the winner of the “open access” C block, would begin to redefine what is meant by the word “open”. Immediately after the auction, certain members of Congress friendly to to the Verzion / AT&T cause began blaming Google for undermining the outcome of the auction. I know believe that this was positioning ploy for what is yet to come from the winner (Verizon). Now, consider:

After Google pressured the FCC to apply some winning “open access” rules (pdf) onto the 700Mhz spectrum, there was ample media and blogger speculation that the rules would usher in a new age of wireless competition. Under the din of celebration, I warned that some legal experts who actually read the conditions were noting they weren’t very enforceable, and that Verizon Wireless’s promises for open access were really just an effort to make device/application freedom and choice a premium, luxury tier. (Broadband Reports)

RCR is reporting that the ‘D’ block that did not sell in the 700mhz auction will most likely be reauctioned AGAIN before the end of the year. We have taken the position to pass on this private-public partnership. Or shall we say, alter the nature of the private participation side of the equation. Our answer here.

The ‘D’ block is for the public benefit as it is defined by the FCC rules. Auctioning the block off is like executing state block grants with a private party taking their cut. Make it simple, have a public corp own the block, build the infrastructure and run the network. Get on with it.

Linky.

In a recent decision to permit the merger of AT&T and Dobson communications, the FCC raised the limit on the spectrum that a single company can hold in any location to 95Mhz. In the recent 700MHz spectrum auctions, it seems that the FCC has exceeded their own limits again. It’s important to remember that the intent of opening the spectrum was to make wireless and broadband access more competitive. The opposite is the result if the auction results allowed to stand.

Here is the breakdown of US cellular spectrum AFTER the 700 MHz auction:

AT&T or Verizon Wireless exceeds the 95 MHz Dobson threshold in 8 of the top 10 US markets, 17 of the top 25 markets, and 38 of the top 100 markets.Each of those wireless companies separately exceeds the threshold in 5 of the top 10 markets, 10 of the top 25 markets, and in one out of five of the top 100 markets.

TOP 100 MARKETS WHERE AT&T or VERIZON WIRELESS EXCEEDS THE DOBSON 95 MHZ THRESHOLD:

• New York, NY (VZ: 119 MHz)
• Chicago, IL (VZ: 101 MHz)
• Philadelphia, PA (VZ: 99 MHz)
• Boston-Lowell-Brockton-Lawrence-Haverhill, MA-NH (AT&T: 99 MHz, VZ: 97 MHz)
• San Francisco-Oakland, CA (AT&T: 97 MHz)
• Washington, DC-MD-VA (AT&T: 99 MHz, VZ: 109 MHz)
• Dallas-Forth Worth, TX (AT&T: 124 MHz)
• Houston, TX (AT&T: 99 MHz)
• Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, FL (VZ: 96 MHz)
• Baltimore, MD (AT&T: 99 MHz, VZ: 109 MHz)
• Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI (VZ: 99 MHz)
• Atlanta, GA (AT&T: 99 MHz)
• Denver-Boulder, CO (AT&T: 99 MHz)
• Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL (AT&T: 99 MHz)
• Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN (VZ: 111 MHz)
• Kansas City, MO-KS (VZ: 114 MHz)
• Buffalo, NY (AT&T: 119 MHz)
• San Jose, CA (AT&T: 97 MHz)
• Hartford-New Britain-Bristol, CT (AT&T: 109 MHz)
• Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk-Danbury, CT (VZ: 119 MHz)
• Toledo, OH-MI (VZ: 104 MHz)
• New Haven-West Haven-Waterbury-Meriden, CT (VZ: 99 MHz)
• Syracuse, NY (AT&T: 101 MHz)
• Gary-Hammond-East Chicago, IN (AT&T: 99 MHz)
• Northeast Pennsylvania, PA (VZ: 104 MHz)
• Tulsa, OK (AT&T: 99 MHz)
• Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ (VZ: 99 MHz)
• New Brunswick-Perth Amboy-Sayreville, NJ (VZ: 119 MHz)
• Springfield-Chicopee-Holyoke, MA (VZ: 99 MHz)
• Youngstown-Warren, OH (AT&T: 117 MHz)
• Wilmington, DE-NJ-MD (VZ: 99 MHz)
• Long Branch-Asbury Park, NJ (VZ: 119 MHz)
• Raleigh-Durham, NC (VZ: 99 MHz)
• West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, FL (VZ: 96 MHz)
• Fresno, CA (AT&T: 115 MHz)
• Austin, TX (AT&T: 104 MHz)
• Wichita, KS (AT&T: 97 MHz)
• Las Vegas, NV (AT&T: 99 MHz) (from Viodi)

Anyone who believes that the 700MHz auction resulted in a competitive wireless environment probably believes the tooth fairy is thier sister. This matter requires a public hearing. Unfortunately, the House and Senate have been so well bought off by AT&T or Verizon that such hearings will never see the light of day. After all the House is busy looking into improvements for the capital Visitors Center and financial education (for us, not them, even though they are the ones who need it). With 3% of the Senate AWOL campaigning for the Presidency, they will accomplish even less than usual. It’s doubtful a single Senator would understand any of this anyway.

With the gag off, Darth V has chimed in on plans for the newly licensed C block. It comes as no surprise that the technology of choice will be LTE.

The new spectrum will not be clear for use until mid-February 2009, when the companies using it for analog television broadcasts are required to stop and switch to digital broadcasting.

The company plans to launch a new wireless network in 2010 in the 700-MHz spectrum, which is considered especially valuable because it can transmit through walls and help meet the growing demand for faster wireless downloads.

“We now have sufficient spectrum to continue growing our business and data revenues well into — and possibly through — the next decade,” Lowell McAdam, the company’s president and chief executive, said in a statement. (Yahoo)

I’m predicting service will be rolled out slowly, underpowered, overpriced and open in name only. Please Darth, prove me wrong!

Google claims to have bid aggressively in the recent 700 MHz auction and is now on record stating they will lobby to have open rules eset for the redo on the D block that did not have a successful bid.

“In ten of the bidding rounds we actually raised our own bid — even though no one was bidding against us — to ensure aggressive bidding on the C Block,” Google said. Active bidding ensured the rules designed to make these networks more open to independent Web services will be implemented, it said.

The Silicon Valley company also said it will weigh in on new rules the FCC may set as it re-auctions airwaves that are to be shared between public safety agencies and commercial service providers — the “D Block” in the auctions. (Yahoo)

The original D block rules were crafted to support the business model of a company formed by a few ex FCC cronies that in the end never manage to raise enough capital to play in the auction. There are a number of unanswered questions that should baeasked about how that progressed.

With Google back in play, we’re always hopeful that a new competitor will enter the market and build our Third Pipe. With the dominance of the telcos, ther are very few players with the capital to compete against such deep pockets. That is at least in the way the FCC currently runs auctions.

The FCC’s gag order just came off, and there are no big surprises from AT&T regarding theor future plans for the spectrum they control.

AT&T wasted absolutely no time setting up a press conference to discuss how it was planning to utilize its win in the so-called B Block. Bottom line: AT&T’s moving to LTE for its 4G infrastructure — no surprise there, since it’s the natural evolution for GSM carriers — and the purchase is designed to support that build-out. As they’ve said before, they’re tooting their horn over the fact that the B Block action combined with the Aloha spectrum purchase gives the carrier 100 percent coverage in the 700MHz arena in the top 200 US markets, while also noting that the frequency range is stellar at breaking through walls for hot in-building coverage. (Endgadget)

I don’t expect to see AT&T build out very quickly unless there is a rapid ramp up from a competitor like Xohm/Sprint. AT&T and Verizon already control the lions share of 2 way wireless spectrum in the US which means there is little or no space for new competition to form even with the right funding and leadership. I think the rules of the game for both of the big telcos will continue be to build slowly and charge dearly.

Hey if you just paid $16B for a brand new set of digs overlooking the Pacific ocean only to find a bunch of squatters in there what would you do? Yeah me too, I’d call the cops and have them evicted. Well what if it was the 700mhz spectrum? Ah hah! –

Imagine you just spent a fortune on some excellent beachfront property, only to discover some termites in the basement. Now imagine that the only way to get rid of the termites involves some toxic chemicals that may arouse the ire of the environmentally conscious locals. What do you do? Learn to live with the termites, or spray and tell your green neighbors to deal?

Oddly, Verizon and AT&T now find themselves in a similar mess — if we substitute “wireless microphones” for “termites.” Verizon and AT&T (As well as a bunch of other folks) just spent a boatload of cash on licenses in the reclaimed analog television spectrum. The FCC has rules in place to migrate the broadcasters — both full power and low power. But — as far as I can tell — no one has plans to migrate the wireless microphone folks, who operate on vacant channels in the band. While in theory wireless microphones are a secondary licensed service and notifying the licensees that channels 52-69 are off limits after the digital conversion, the situation is a little more complicated. As comments filed in white spaces proceeding confirm, wireless microphones are bloody everywhere — with huge numbers of users buying and operating them without licenses.

Somehow I just can’t form the visual of the FCC wearing the Orkin uniform.

Is this a great country or what?

Linky.