T-Mobile CEO comments on AT/WWCA merger, 3G, and 850 roaming

[Matt]

You can access slides and the audio here:

http://www.telekom3.de/en-p/inve/6-p...s-2005-ar.html

During the Audio q and a, CEO Dotson was asked about the Alltel/WW merger and 850 roaming. You need to go about 28 minutes or so into the audio clip (it's not on the slides, and the 3G comments might be earlier than that in the clip) but here's the summary:

TM will continue their roaming agreement with WWCA, and they expect AT to add some GSM to their system to increase their rural roaming revenue (I guess AT said that in a merger call or press release). Also, TM will likely skip initial 3G (after rolling out EDGE in 05) and go directly to HSDPA. Finally, TM has been running 850 roaming trials, and according to Dotson, it is a matter of "when, not if" they offer 850 roaming. So, it sounds like TM will be coming more coverage competitive at some point in the not too distant future.

[ShoresGuy]

Cool, good to see that T-Mobile isn't being left out in the cold by the merger.

[bobolito]

That's great. T-Mobile will become like Sprint where the roaming area is larger than their network.

[Matt]

That's fine. It won't leave much for you Cingular zealots to criticize TM

[neilson]

Originally Posted by Matt

That's fine. It won't leave much for you Cingular zealots to criticize TM

Too true. Verizon and Cingular build the networks, and Sprint and T-Mobile can piggyback off the beaten path, ...(dun, dun, DUH!!!!!)... IF THE PRICE IS RIGHT!!!!(Que Evil Laughter!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA)

[Hman]

Originally Posted by Matt

You can access slides and the audio here:

http://www.telekom3.de/en-p/inve/6-p...s-2005-ar.html

During the Audio q and a, CEO Dotson was asked about the Alltel/WW merger and 850 roaming. You need to go about 28 minutes or so into the audio clip (it's not on the slides, and the 3G comments might be earlier than that in the clip) but here's the summary:

TM will continue their roaming agreement with WWCA, and they expect AT to add some GSM to their system to increase their rural roaming revenue (I guess AT said that in a merger call or press release). Also, TM will likely skip initial 3G (after rolling out EDGE in 05) and go directly to HSDPA. Finally, TM has been running 850 roaming trials, and according to Dotson, it is a matter of "when, not if" they offer 850 roaming. So, it sounds like TM will be coming more coverage competitive at some point in the not too distant future.

It looks like T-Mobile already offers GSM 850 roaming, in Alaska. "Alaska Roaming Digital Coverage" 49 cents a minute plus 20 cents a minute long distance. The only GSM network in Alaska is Dobson CellOne, and that network is GSM 850.

It's great to see T-Mobile is starting to come around and offer GSM 850 roaming, but 70 cents a minute is way too much! Cingular includes GSM 850 at no additional charge.

[Matt]

I believe Alaska roaming was added to nationwide roaming in December- no more additional fees.

[ehcruzan]

Originally Posted by bobolito

That's great. T-Mobile will become like Sprint where the roaming area is larger than their network.

...although one advantage TM could have is functional data services while roaming.

[jones]

Originally Posted by Matt

That's fine. It won't leave much for you Cingular zealots to criticize TM

What really puzzled TM critics is
Why it Took TM that long
to figure it out.
TM management should have made 850 MHz
roaming from the start, so
They think TM management
is slow in Decision making.

[azcellphonejunkie]

Originally Posted by jones

What really puzzled TM critics is
Why it Took TM that long
to figure it out.
TM management should have made 850 MHz
roaming from the start, so
They think TM management
is slow in Decision making.

850 roaming is fine, but how many phones are out there right now on the T-Mobile network that have the capability....maybe 1%? Most phones sent from T-Mobile do not have the 800 band availible. It may be something they look to do moving forward...

[jones]

Originally Posted by azcellphonejunkie

850 roaming is fine, but how many phones are out there right now on the T-Mobile network that have the capability....maybe 1%? Most phones sent from T-Mobile do not have the 800 band availible. It may be something they look to do moving forward...

That's right they're late in the Game.
They should have done it from the start.

[bobolito]

Originally Posted by azcellphonejunkie

850 roaming is fine, but how many phones are out there right now on the T-Mobile network that have the capability....maybe 1%? Most phones sent from T-Mobile do not have the 800 band availible. It may be something they look to do moving forward...

That's precisely their mistake. They should've made phones available with 850Mhz from the start. There's absolutely no logic in locking 850Mhz on the V600. But at least from this point forward they will have a coverage map they are not ashamed of.

Now the question is will they make all that roaming available at no extra charge (like Cingular) or will they be like Sprint where roaming is a big issue?

[azcellphonejunkie]

Originally Posted by bobolito

That's precisely their mistake. They should've made phones available with 850Mhz from the start. There's absolutely no logic in locking 850Mhz on the V600. But at least from this point forward they will have a coverage map they are not ashamed of.

Now the question is will they make all that roaming available at no extra charge (like Cingular) or will they be like Sprint where roaming is a big issue?

That $5 a month on Sprint isn't a big deal, but when you have carriers like Cingular allowing it for free, there is a little egg on thier face!

[Matt]

Originally Posted by bobolito

Now the question is will they make all that roaming available at no extra charge (like Cingular) or will they be like Sprint where roaming is a big issue?

TM has not charged for roaming on national plans- no reason to see why that would change.

[Andy]

I also wonder why T-Mobile didn't start offering 850 roaming in the beginning, staying coverage competitive. They went through all the work to lock 850 roaming feature off some phones, and became less coverage competitive. Of course changes are coming, they can't keep going like this because having rural coverage is important for a lot of people, and for people that want GSM, Cingular is the one that offers this more than T-Mo right now.

[agentHibby]

I think it was dumb to block 850 roaming. I know it was until 2001 did we start to see GSM on Cellular. The idea is coverage and more coverage. Since the phone will only work on your networks and roam on who you want to roam, I see no reason to offer 850 roaming when they knew companies like Union Cellular and certain Cellular One's were going to offer it. One reason why living in an Iowa Wireless market can be better than a T-mobile market.

[roamer1]

Originally Posted by Matt

they expect AT to add some GSM to their system to increase their rural roaming revenue

I agree.

I'm starting to wonder if this might be one reason AT acquired PSC in GA/AL -- AT could very well use the PSC GSM network to extend GSM into areas of GA/AL outside PSC's current footprint to capture roamers from Cingular and potentially TMO, while pulling CDMA into the PSC footprint via AT's existing Albany and Montgomery switches. (South GA/AL is a VERY weak region for GSM -- there's VZW and ALLTEL and basically nothing else away from major highway corridors and larger towns.)

BTW, to the person who asked about Alaska:

a) AK is indeed no longer roaming
b) there IS 1900 in AK via Alaska DigiTel, who has a roamer-only GSM overlay a la WWCA, although only in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and IIRC Juneau.

-SC