Would the ATnT/T-Mo merger affect Wind?

[ztringz]

http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/21/confirmed-atandt-wants-to-use-t-mobiles-aws-spectrum-for-lte-bui/

I wonder what this could mean for the future of networks like WIND and Mobilicity, particularly on the handset manufacturer front. Any thoughts?

[jaStrom]

Good question. It's seems like the merger would be a bit concerning for WIND/Mobilicity. T-Mobile has always been the driving force behind AWS 3G+ handsets in North America. If they use AWS for LTE then it might make things difficult for WIND and Mobilicity.

Perhaps if they could grab some more spectrum and switch AWS to LTE as well, they would be okay but both of those would be very difficult to do.

[ztringz]

Good question. It's seems like the merger would be a bit concerning for WIND/Mobilicity. T-Mobile has always been the driving force behind AWS 3G+ handsets in North America. If they use AWS for LTE then it might make things difficult for WIND and Mobilicity.

Perhaps if they could grab some more spectrum and switch AWS to LTE as well, they would be okay but both of those would be very difficult to do.

Agreed. But once again, the chances are that the voice portion of the AWS spectrum would have a very limited lifespan (chances are ATnT would push/encourage customers who currently have T-Mo 3G+ phones to purchase ones that have voice support on its 850 etc... bandwidth, and LTE capability only on the 700, 1700 and maybe 2100 band). This would consequently make roaming in the US pretty damned hard for WIND customers, and would effectively prevent handset manufacturers to continue to support voice in that spectrum.

Effectively, unless Wind switches its frequency support set to match that of both AT&T/T-Mo, we'd have a hard time staying current. And the big3 here already have full control of the rest of the GSM spectrum...

I wonder if this new Russian merger with Globalive will change anything.

[jaStrom]

I think you're probably right.

This is just speculation, but I'm going to make a couple of guesses about what could happen.

1. Wind purchases Mobilicty and drives Public Mobile out of the market.
2. Wind then sets up an agreement with one of the Big 3 to effectively 'rent' some of their spectrum for voice. Thus, Wind could do LTE on AWS and voice on something like 850/1900.

Think it's possible (even if it may be unlikely)?

[chall2k5]

Russian merger with Globalive? you havn't been following properly

Vimpelcom is merging with Wind Telecom SpA,which owns 51% of Orascom, who own shares in Globalive