T-Mobile or Not, AT&T Sees Wireless Growth Ahead

Despite having to pay a huge breakup fee in the wake of its failed T-Mobile bid, AT&T sounds an optimistic note about 2012. It also takes some shots at the FCC.
Randall Stephenson with Walt at D

FCC Asks AT&T for Pricing, Spectrum Data

Federal telecommunications regulators reviewing AT&T Inc.’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA on Friday delivered their first request for information on the deal, demanding detailed data on AT&T’s pricing, spectrum holdings and any alternatives it considered to solve its capacity constraints.

San Francisco Gets a Few More Bars (Of Signal Strength)

Sprint announces 4G service for San Francisco and San Jose, while AT&T is adding Wi-Fi “hot zones” for some public spaces in San Francisco and New York, two areas where its cellphone service is most often criticized.

News Byte

AT&T Races to Tout Speed-Test Results

AT&T has some new ammunition to fire at anyone who casts aspersions on the speed and reliability of its wireless network. Nationwide testing by Global Wireless Solutions, covering more than 400 markets representing about 88 percent of the U.S. population, found AT&T’s average mobile broadband speeds to be tops–its unnamed “nearest competitor” averaging speeds that were 20 percent slower and its largest competitor (that would be Verizon) running 60 percent slower. The GWS tests also showed that 98.59 percent of voice calls connected over the AT&T network nationwide are completed without interruption–within one-tenth of one percentage point of the top score in that category.

AT&T Activates 3.1 Million iPhones in Q4

Widespread criticism of AT&T’s network performance hasn’t had much impact on the company’s financials. Reporting fourth-quarter earnings this morning, the carrier posted a 26 percent increase in profit, fueled by solid growth from the wireless business for which it is so often lambasted. What’s more, AT&T said it activated 3.1 million additional iPhones, the device believed responsible for many of its network woes.

That 48 Percent Obviously Doesn’t Include iPhone Users

Nearly half–48 percent–of Americans would drop their mobile data service completely if they were driven to it by the souring economy. That’s the conclusion of a new study by Strategy Analytics, which found that consumers are not so taken with mobile connectivity that they’ve completely lost site of household budgetary constraints.
cell-phone-throwing1