LightSquared to Build Nationwide, Wholesale 4G Network
Posted by Jesse Ward on Wednesday, July 21, 2010 · 
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LightSquared, backed by Harbinger Capital Partners, is investing billions to create a nationwide, wholesale, 4G wireless network, using satellite and terrestrial technology. The new company, which was launched just yesterday, has received $2.9 billion in assets from Harbinger, and raised a portion of $1.75 billion in debt and equity from unnamed sources.
LightSquared does not plan to compete directly with retail providers, but rather offer wholesale access to a variety of other mobile broadband providers. ”As the nation’s first wholesale-only integrated wireless broadband and satellite network, LightSquared will provide wireless broadband capacity to a diverse group of customers, including retailers; wireline and wireless communication service providers; cable operators; device manufacturers; web players; content providers; and many others,” LightSquared said in a release. LightSquared plans to offer its partners three coverage options: satellite-only, terrestrial-only or a combination of the two.
The company has selected Nokia Siemens Network to build, operate and maintain the wireless network in an eight-year deal valued at $7 billion. The network will consist of approximately 40,000 cellular base stations, and the company plans to cover 92% of the U.S. population by 2015. LightSquared controls 59 MHz of nationwide spectrum. Read more
NTELOS Buys FiberNet, Expands Regional Fiber Network
Posted by Jesse Ward on Wednesday, July 21, 2010 · ·
NTELOS, an independent telco based in Waynesboro, Va., announced yesterday that it will acquire One Communications’ FiberNet business for about $170 million.
NTELOS is committed to building a regional fiber network. Last fall the telco made a deal with Allegheny Energy to acquire 2,200 miles of fiber in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and parts of Maryland, Kentucky and Ohio. Fast forward 10 months and through this new transaction with FiberNet, NTELOS is inheriting a 3,500-mile fiber optic network that covers all of West Virginia and surrounding areas in Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky. Once this transaction is completed, NTELOS’ network will contain nearly 8,000 miles of glass. Read more
VocalTec and YMAX/magicJack Announce Merger
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, July 19, 2010 · ·
VocalTec Communications Ltd. and YMAX Corp., the creator of magicJack, have successfully merged. The new entity will be called VocalTec and will be traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol CALL.
This is an interesting matchup. MagicJack has a well recognized brand with more than 6.5 VoIP million units sold since 2008. In fact, magicjack is the largest CLEC in the United States in terms of area codes available and certification in number of states.
For its part, VocalTec will add softswitch, application servers and a softphone to the mix. VocalTec bills itself as the “inventor” of VoIP and the softphone and says it has the patent portfolio to back up the claim. Read more
Engadget: Verizon’s LTE Rollout is Imminent
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, July 19, 2010 · ·
Tech blog Engadget got its hands on some (alleged) internal Verizon documents late last week which detail the carrier’s 4G network plans.
The documents confirm what Verizon, and the New Edge, have already reported — Verizon’s LTE network will offer 5-12 Mbps downstream, aircards will be available before smartphones, and the carrier is still on track to serve 100 million connections and 30 cities by year-end.
But the docs also claim that the planned LTE isn’t just fast, it offers a minimal 30 ms latency too. The docs also note that we can expect 4G tablets in 2011 as well.
A pair of loyal Engadget readers and tipsters supplied the blog with (real?) shots of Verizon LTE SIM cards.
If the documents and devices are indeed legit, it suggests that Verizon is in the final preparation stages for its LTE network launch.
See the documents for yourself at Engadget.
Windows Phone 7 Preview
Posted by Kevin McGuire on Monday, July 19, 2010 · ·
While I would love to say we have a review of the developer’s version of Windows Phone 7 , unfortunately we do not. However, we have found several reviews out there if you are interested:
Overall it is getting pretty decent reviews. While most bloggers have suggestions for improvements, it’s not likely it will come out before the fourth quarter, so they still have time to polish it up. I just wonder if MSFT is too late in the game to get any traction.
Nokia Siemens Networks to Acquire Certain Wireless Assets of Motorola
Posted by Kevin McGuire on Monday, July 19, 2010 · ·
Nokia Siemens Networks today announced a $1.2B deal in which they will acquire “the majority of Motorola’s wireless network infrastructure assets.” As with acquisitions of this size, it is subject to closing conditions and regulatory approval, but they expect the deal to be done by the end of 2010.
So what does a majority of assets mean? Read more
AT&T Reaches Agreement with Rainbow Media
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, July 19, 2010 · ·
AT&T U-verse announced last Thursday that it reached a new carriage deal with Rainbow Media.
Rainbow, part of Cablevision Systems, owns AMC, IFC and WE tv. The agreement with U-verse expired July 1, but was extended another 14 days for negotiations.
“We are happy to report that AMC, IFC and WE tv will remain on AT&T U-verse,” AT&T said in a statement. “We’re very satisfied that we were able to reach the fair deal we wanted for our customers – one that includes the right content, across platforms, at prices that are in line with the marketplace, and that helps us with important strategic content initiatives. We are very grateful to our customers for their support.”
Rainbow also released a statement: “We’re pleased to have reached an agreement with AT&T for AMC, WE tv, IFC and Sundance Channel that truly recognizes the value of our networks. We look forward to continuing our partnership with AT&T and are excited to continue to bring their subscribers our award-winning programming, including the new season of AMC’s Mad Men on Sunday, July 25.”
