Showing posts with label MetroPCS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MetroPCS. Show all posts

Thursday, December 16, 2010

MetroPCS Eyes TerreStar Assets - WSJ.com

MetroPCS Communications is exploring a purchase of assets of mobile-communications business TerreStar Networks Inc. out of bankruptcy court, the Wall Street Journal reports.

TerreStar's most attractive assets are government licenses to use spectrum for mobile satellite applications. MetroPCS, the fifth-largest U.S. wireless carrier by subscribers, has been on the hunt for spectrum that will help it become a national operator.

It isn't clear whether the spectrum could be "re-purposed" for terrestrial fourth-generation networks, but LightSquared has been able to get such authority, as Terrestar has customers already making use of the satellite communications network.

MetroPCS also could use wholesale capacity from the proposed LightSquared network, as well. MetroPCS might also bid on spectrum Clearwire wants to sell. 

AT&T's "Satellite Augmented Mobile Service" uses the TerreStar network and dual-mode handsets that use both cellular and satellite networks.

The TerreStar "Genus" smartphone operates with terrestrial mobile as the primary default mode and satellite access capability as a secondary option for voice, data and messaging.

The access to the TerreStar satellite network enables wireless communications coverage in remote areas for government, energy, utility, transportation and maritime users, as well as backup satellite communications capabilities for public safety agencies, first responders and disaster recovery groups.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

No Contract, No Locking, Nobody


Sprint CEO Gary Forsee says Sprint is thinking about expanding the test area for an unlimited calling plan that doesn’t require customers to sign a contract. That's something Leap Wireless and MetroPCS already offer. Nokia meanwhile appears poised to start selling unlocked N95 series really-smart phones imminently. So far, no carriers seem willing to do both.

Of course, there are good financial reasons why carriers like contracts and locked phones. The former provides a more predictable revenue stream and the latter ensures lower churn. Apple doesn't like unlocking either, as it now participates in the recurring revenue stream.

At least some users would benefit from unlocking and contractless service. Anybody buying a Nokia N95, for example, is spending enough on a device that the portable computer (it seems too limiting to call it a phone) clearly is more important than any network.

Of course, the carriers increasingly will find themselves in the position of angering power users who can figure out other ways to use unlocked devices, with or without contracts. To the extent that an N95 really is a mobile media and Web platform, outfitted both with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, users can simply avoid any carrier "calling plan" if they are willing to put up with a little hassle and use Wi-Fi for connectivity.

That won't be very desirable for anybody who really needs mobile calling, but lots of people choose to carry two devices in any case. So maybe one of the new choices is one device for mobile email and voice, and the second for rich media and rich Web browsing.

It isn't so clear to me that a heavy email user is going to opt for an N95 in any case. The N95 excels as a rich media device (audio and video performance is spectacular) but won't satisfy a BlackBerry addict. The BlackBerry, though, isn't so great as a phone and really doesn't measure up as a media player.

Carriers might not like it, but devices are becoming the drivers of purchase and use behavior for a growing segment of the user base. Sure, the presence or non-presence of 3G capabilities is an issue. Operating system is getting to be more important. And then there's the blasted CDMA or GSM choice to be made. Pricing plans still are important, to be sure. But device coolness arguably is enough to outweigh the other considerations.

N95 might be among the first devices that test the theory that a powerful enough rich media device can get traction using Wi-Fi connectivity as an alternative to "mobile network" connectivity. Broad traction still will require 3G GSM. But N95 is the first device I've experienced that gets one to thinking about using it in a way similar to a laptop, rather than a phone. A Wi-Fi-equipped iPod is sort of in the same category.

"Tokens" are the New "FLOPS," "MIPS" or "Gbps"

Modern computing has some virtually-universal reference metrics. For Gemini 1.5 and other large language models, tokens are a basic measure...