FCC say's Wireless competition still strong

[Fire14]

Wireless Competition Robust Despite Consolidation - FCC

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Competition in the U.S. wireless industry remains robust despite recent consolidation in the sector, the Federal Communications Commission said Friday.

"Although consolidation during the period covered by the report has reduced the number of nationwide mobile telephone carriers, the FCC found that none of the remaining carriers has a dominant share of the market and that the market continues to behave and perform in a competitive manner," the FCC stated in an annual report to Congress on the wireless sector.

The report covers 2004 and the first half of 2005.

During that time, the FCC approved Cingular Wireless's acquisition of AT&T Wireless.

Since midyear 2005, the agency has approved Alltel Corp.'s (AT) purchase of Western Wireless Corp. and the merger between Sprint Corp. (S) and Nextel Communications Inc.

Despite those mergers, the FCC report found that 97% of the U.S. population lives in counties with at least three wireless carriers.

The agency said increased use of family plans and a rise in the percentage of consumers using prepaid plans from 6% in 2003 to between 8% and 11% in 2004 show "that competitive pressures continue to incite carriers to introduce innovative pricing plans and service offerings."

The FCC said U.S. mobile subscribers increased to 184.7 million in 2004 from 160.6 million the previous year and text messaging doubled. Prices for mobile services fell in 2004, the report said.

[bobolito]

"Although consolidation during the period covered by the report has reduced the number of nationwide mobile telephone carriers, the FCC found that none of the remaining carriers has a dominant share of the market and that the market continues to behave and perform in a competitive manner"

My "Plain English" translation:
"....In other words, we want to assure everyone, that we didn't screw up in our decisions, so don't come and rub it in our face later on if something happens!"

[Fullstrength]

They need to open up the 900 or 1800 band in the US for more carriers. Even if it takes 10 yrs.

[xikle]

Originally Posted by Fullstrength

They need to open up the 900 or 1800 band in the US for more carriers. Even if it takes 10 yrs.

Should but probably won't happen. Cordless phones still run on 900, and the military uses 1800 AFAIK.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by xikle

Should but probably won't happen. Cordless phones still run on 900, and the military uses 1800 AFAIK.

If they stopped making cordless phones that operated on the 900 band most of them will be 10-7 within 3-5 years. The 900 band would be a boon to the wireless industry. 1900 sucks for building penetration. If 900 was available we'd have better indoor coverage.

[xikle]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

If they stopped making cordless phones that operated on the 900 band most of them will be 10-7 within 3-5 years. The 900 band would be a boon to the wireless industry. 1900 sucks for building penetration. If 900 was available we'd have better indoor coverage.

Possibly. If they placed towers better then building penetration with 1900 vs 850 wouldn't matter. If the 1900 tower were closer then the 850 tower then they should be about the same. Another thing about opening the 900 up is that then we could use tri-band phones that didn't have the 850 band if some of the spectrum was sold to GSM providers.

[bobolito]

Originally Posted by xikle

Possibly. If they placed towers better then building penetration with 1900 vs 850 wouldn't matter. If the 1900 tower were closer then the 850 tower then they should be about the same.

Yeah....we all know this, but the problem is how do you get so many 1900Mhz towers built closer together across the country to make up for the coverage difference? Do you know how many more towers that will take? What about the extra money needed? And what about the NIMBYs? I know many neighborhoods here in my area where the only signals available are at 850Mhz because there is no feasible location to place closer 1900Mhz panels. This is why 850Mhz will always have an advantage.

[xikle]

Yes massive problems trying to run a 1900 only network across the country. My thought was use a mix of 1900 and 850 in the cities and then use 850 in rural areas so more coverage with less towers.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by xikle

Possibly. If they placed towers better then building penetration with 1900 vs 850 wouldn't matter. If the 1900 tower were closer then the 850 tower then they should be about the same. Another thing about opening the 900 up is that then we could use tri-band phones that didn't have the 850 band if some of the spectrum was sold to GSM providers.

Personally I don't see the point of a tri-band phone. As the networks currently operate I see a need for dual band phones (850/1900 for domestic only use) and quadband. What is the point of a triband phone that doesn't operate on all of the spectrum alotted in this country, unless you're a T-Mobile customer. for the most part Tri's are singles because they operate on 2 bands that aren't even used here. However, if a phone is triband then it should be capable of quadband, all the hardware should be capable of transmitting on those frequencies. If it doesn't then either the Mfr or the carrier who sold it is limiting the capability of the phone.

[xikle]

And now from what I've heard T-Mo has opened up 850 roaming for more coverage. Personally I don't see why they don't just make dual-band and quad-band phones so the phone would either work just here or just over seas, lets say cheaper handsets, and quad-band phones that would work everywhere there was GSM signal, and just remove triband phones. Does anyone know how much more it costs to add that 4th band to a tri-band phone? It seems like it wouldn't be much but I don't know.

[Fire14]

Well if you go by this document by the FCC, 1.7 & 2.1 Ghz are the next frequencies going to become available to the carriers for 3G services, so I don't see 900 becoming available anytime soon, plus you still have pager companies using it. It would be nice to see them open the 900 band up for the carriers & align them with the rest of the world.

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_publi...C-05-149A1.pdf

[xikle]

Interesting. Do you think that the 2100 frequency will coinside with what is used in Europe so we will only have to have one 2100 mhz phone standard instead of two?

[bobolito]

I agree with the above. They should've stop making tribands the day GSM 850was real.

[bobolito]

Originally Posted by xikle

Interesting. Do you think that the 2100 frequency will coinside with what is used in Europe so we will only have to have one 2100 mhz phone standard instead of two?

Unfortunately no. Our dear FCC decided to make the 2100Mhz band in the US completely incompatible with the 2100Mhz band overseas.

[xikle]

Originally Posted by bobolito

Unfortunately no. Our dear FCC decided to make the 2100Mhz band in the US completely incompatible with the 2100Mhz band overseas.

So we will eventually have 6 band phones so we can use all the available bands for voice and data, or will there be a gradual transistion from the other bands to 2100?

[agentHibby]

FCC made the AWS band incompatible with Europe's 3G band so they controll what goes on that band like Cellular and PCS bands. This enforces if a wireless phone is going to use a US compatible band it has to get the thumbs up from the FCC.
So all the phones we use must get FCC approval before the phone can get sold same with new 3G and 4G digital Technologies coming out.

                   US                              Europe
1G band  Cellular 850 MHz            Cellular 900 MHz
2G band  PCS 1900 MHz               DCS 1800 MHz
3G band  AWS 1700/2100 MHz      3G 2100 MHz

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by agentHibby

FCC made the AWS band incompatible with Europe's 3G band so they controll what goes on that band like Cellular and PCS bands. This enforces if a wireless phone is going to use a US compatible band it has to get the thumbs up from the FCC.
So all the phones we use must get FCC approval before the phone can get sold same with new 3G and 4G digital Technologies coming out.

                   US                              Europe
1G band  Cellular 850 MHz            Cellular 900 MHz
2G band  PCS 1900 MHz               DCS 1800 MHz
3G band  AWS 1700/2100 MHz      3G 2100 MHz

I somehow knew it was a purely political reason.

[bobolito]

By the time we get to 4G there will be like 10 bands in the world.

[xikle]

Wow. I wonder how much phones will cost when they have all the bands, or will there be a slow faze out of the older tech so they could make use of those bands again with a newer tech?

[Fire14]

Originally Posted by bobolito

By the time we get to 4G there will be like 10 bands in the world.

This may be where us the consumers have to start complaining to the FCC that we have a problem with there choices & how it hurts the consumers when trying to travel & having expensive & more then 1 phone. There might come a point where the phone manufactures say "We can't make compatiable phones for both the US & the rest of the world".

[bobolito]

I really hope that happens, Fire14.

[EdwardP]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

If they stopped making cordless phones that operated on the 900 band most of them will be 10-7 within 3-5 years. The 900 band would be a boon to the wireless industry. 1900 sucks for building penetration. If 900 was available we'd have better indoor coverage.

If you are close enough to a tower, a 1900 MHz mobile phone has no problems at all receiving a signal inside a building.

[EdwardP]

Originally Posted by xikle

Yes massive problems trying to run a 1900 only network across the country. My thought was use a mix of 1900 and 850 in the cities and then use 850 in rural areas so more coverage with less towers.

I'd like to know what these "massive problems" are...

T-Mobile's 1900 MHz network is working perfectly for me.

[xikle]

Rural areas usually don't have enough people to support a carrier puting in multiple 1900 towers where one 850 tower would cover the same area. Also you have NIMBYs, getting power and a trunk line to a tower. I'm not talking about in the city where you can find multiple towers because of the population.

[EdwardP]

Speaking of NIMBY's, I work with someone who is a IWOIMBY (I Want One In My Back Yard) and lives in a rural area.

She resides in a complex of condominiums and tells me the signal there (I believe she mentioned VZW) was not very good and thought the placement of a new cell tower, with the income from it going to the condo association, would be good, plus the residents would have improved cell service.

The question I was asked was: "How do I get this started?"

I haven't a clue...

[Fire14]

Originally Posted by EdwardP

Speaking of NIMBY's, I work with someone who is a IWOIMBY (I Want One In My Back Yard) and lives in a rural area.

She resides in a complex of condominiums and tells me the signal there (I believe she mentioned VZW) was not very good and thought the placement of a new cell tower, with the income from it going to the condo association, would be good, plus the residents would have improved cell service.

The question I was asked was: "How do I get this started?"

I haven't a clue...

Here is a link to 1 of the tower companies that cell sites go on, this page has a link to fill out a form for considering the property.
http://www.americantower.com/MainWeb/landowners.asp

You can also go to Sprint's site to fill out a form: http://www1.sprintpcs.com/learn/cellsite1.jsp

[NYCDru]

Originally Posted by Fire14

Here is a link to 1 of the tower companies that cell sites go on, this page has a link to fill out a form for considering the property.
http://www.americantower.com/MainWeb/landowners.asp

You can also go to Sprint's site to fill out a form: http://www1.sprintpcs.com/learn/cellsite1.jsp

Sprint will let you file for one online???

Thats pretty cool. Do they actually take these things seriosously? Larry?

[MOTOhooligan]

Originally Posted by bobolito

By the time we get to 4G there will be like 10 bands in the world.

Then, we'll just have to get deca-band phones.