At the Cellular Association’s Meeting this week in Orlando, the first day keynote speakers, included Sprint CEO Dan Hesse and FCC chairman Julius Genachowski who both talked up broadband’s growth, and the squeeze in spectrum.
CTIA’s second day of keynotes featured LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja. But Ahuja did not discuss any LightSquared deal over spectrum or services, such as the one announced yesterday with Cricket Wireless.
Lightsquared’s CEO did announce a deal with Best Buy to sell Lightsquared services, which may be in association with it’s Cricket Wireless deal announced yesterday. Lightsquared plans to start tests of a service in early 2012 (if they can resolve GPS interference issues). Best Buy, will use Lightsquared to expand its Best Buy Connect service, reports the WSJ.
Some analysts hoped Ahuja would announce a network agreement with No. 3 U.S. mobile service Sprint Nextel to help reduce thee costs of building the network.
RCR Wireless News is at the International CTIA Wireless show with discussions, industry news and analysis. Some of the largest influencers and decision makers in wireless join RCR Wireless – please see schedule and join RCR Wireless at CTIA for intelligence on all things wireless.
LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja, today extolled the benefits of LightSquared’s planned wholesale-only, satellite/terrestrial-based LTE network, but didn’t drop any bombshells such as partnerships with Sprint or, perhaps, MetroPCS.
The nation’s three largest wireless operators took to the stage yesterday, during the opening keynote. Moderator Jim Cramer asked AT&T Mobility President and CEO Ralph de la Vega how much of a role spectrum played in the carrier’s plans to acquire T-Mobile USA. De la Vega said spectrum was a big part of the deal and something that is needed to handle the growth in data usage.
Cramer asked Verizon Wireless’ CEO Dan Mead whether they had looked at a possible acquisition of T-Mobile USA. Mead noted that Verizon Wireless did not see the need for an acquisition, but did note that he saw some potential for further bolstering the carrier’s spectrum assets should government regulators require divestitures by AT&T Mobility in approving the T-Mobile USA acquisition.
Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse, kidding both Mead and de la Vega, drew applause from the audience at various times. Sprint opposes the AT&T Mobility/T-Mobile USA deal saying that if approved it would concentrate a vast majority of the domestic market into the hands of two operators, another comment that drew applause from the audience.
