AT&T said it would turn over the airwaves, or spectrum, along with $3 billion in cash to T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom AG after pulling out of the deal as opposition mounted from the FCC, Justice Department, state attorneys general and rival carriers.

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The crunch will come from a variety of corners, from wireless cameras for filming close-ups, walkie-talkies for coordinating volunteers and, of course, millions of spectators looking to upload their photos and videos to gloat to non-ticket-holding relatives.

“The event presents a unique logistical challenge never faced before by the U.K., with a need to assign up to 20,000 wireless frequencies to be used for the Games in London, more than double the number usually assigned in a year,” Britain’s Ofcom said in a statement.

Ofcom, the agency responsible for managing the British airwaves, said it has been working for six years on a plan. To get the needed spectrum, Ofcom says it will temporarily borrow some spectrum held by the government, use some frequencies made available by the digital-TV switchover, and offer up airwaves that are in the process of being auctioned off but not yet in use. Unlicensed spectrum will also be tapped, it said.

To handle all these airwaves and avoid interference, Ofcom said it has built a state-of-the art airwave management system, and has also been doing tests during high-profile events, such as last year’s royal wedding.

A final test will come at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in early June, with the Games themselves starting July 27.

“Ready and prepared for this challenge, Ofcom recognises that there is no room for complacency,” Ofcom COO Jill Ainscough said in a statement. “We are working behind the scenes to make this capacity available, to ensure that this demand is met.”

Julius Genachowski on Wednesday made yet another call for Congress to speedily allow incentive auctions to free up badly needed spectrum for the wireless industry.

But while the content in the FCC chairman’s speech was familiar, his vehicle for delivering it was different. He’s given many speeches reading from a tablet, as he did in Vegas, but this was the first time he had done so on an Android model — a Samsung Galaxy 8.9.

“I’ve only done them on the iPad,” Genachowski said. “On my smartphones I’ve tried to make it a practice to switch them up.”

So how was it?

“It was all good,” Genachowski said, showing off his remarks on the Galaxy tab. His trusty iPad was nearby, which he used to dash off a quick email before our interview. “It was a seamless experience.”

As for the content of his talk, Genachowski focused on several points that are near and dear to his heart — first, that Congress enable the auctions quickly, and second, that it leave the FCC the option of keeping some of the spectrum freed up for unlicensed purposes.

“It would be a very serious mistake to pass incentive legislation and prohibit the FCC from using some spectrum for unlicensed (uses),” he said, echoing comments he made on a Silicon Valley swing late last year.

Such uses, he said, allow innovation that could provide for even more efficient spectrum usage than limiting it only to licensed purposes.

“We may see innovations there that lead to more efficient use,” he said. “To me, it’s a no-brainer.”

Genachowski said that allowing those with unused spectrum to auction it off could allow for the recovery of 100MHz of very high quality spectrum near the 700MHz band used for today’s 4G services.

“The work doesn’t end with incentive auctions, but incentive auctions are a sure way to provide very significant relief to spectrum.”

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Getting FCC clearance is a condition of a 15-year fourth-generation spectrum-and-equipment-sharing accord between the two companies. LightSquared has said the Sprint accord will help it save $13 billion through the end of this decade.

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This time it’s GoGo Inc., maker of GoGo Inflight Internet service, which you’ve probably used at some point if you’ve ever accessed Wi-Fi during a flight.

The company is filing for an initial public offering that could raise as much as $100 million.

GoGo’s S-1 doesn’t say how many shares it plans to sell or at what price. But it does plan to trade under the stock symbol — you guessed it — GOGO.

There are currently 1,177 commercial airplanes offering Internet access through GoGo: That’s about 85 percent of North America’s Internet-enabled commercial aircraft.

According to the filing, GoGo’s consolidated revenue increased to $113.8 million from $60.1 million, a year-over-year increase of 89.3 percent in the nine-month period ending in September. Despite increasing revenue, the company still lost $25.8 million in the first nine months of 2011.

A large portion of GoGo’s revenue comes from its customers in the business aviation market, for which it provides both broadband connectivity and satellite-based communications systems. GoGo’s business aviation arm has sold approximately 6,000 ATG and satellite-based communications systems for private planes and has signed agreements with all of the largest fractional jet operators, according to the filing.

On the the commercial side, the company cites the emergence of the “connected lifestyle” for consumers, coupled with the projected growth of the worldwide travel market, as evidence of demand for its in-flight product. In 2010, there were approximately 2.7 billion scheduled passengers on commercial aircraft worldwide, with 630 million in the U.S. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the number of passengers worldwide is expected to grow to nearly 3 billion by 2012.

GoGo plans to expand internationally and to penetrate even more of the business aviation market, with the number of business jets in the North American and global business markets expected to grow by 8.3 percent and 16.7 percent, respectively, by 2015.

One of Gogo’s biggest risks is its dependence on partnerships with North American airline fleets for about half of its consolidated revenue. Approximately 45 percent of its commercial airline revenue — generated within a nine-month period ending September 30, 2011 — was acquired through Delta Air Lines; approximately 18 percent came via GoGo’s partnership with American Airlines, whose parent company, AMR Corp., recently filed for bankruptcy.

The company also cites as risks the increasing demand for in-flight WiFi, and the possible incapacity to meet that demand, as well as the need to keep up with rapidly advancing technologies in network infrastructure.

Low on the risk list, though still worth noting, is that in June of 2006, Gogo purchased at auction a $31 million, exclusive 10-year license for three megahertz, air-to-ground spectrum, outbidding at the time JetBlue LiveTV LLC and a company called Space Data Spectrum Holdings. GoGo expects to renew that license, but the FCC could, in the future, decide to auction additional spectrum for ATG use that is not currently designated for that purpose.

Illinois-based GoGo Inc. was originally incorporated in Texas in June of 1991 as Aircell Inc., and later became Aircell Holdings Inc. On June 15 of this year, Aircell Holdings Inc. officially changed its name to Gogo Inc.

Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, UBS, Allen & Company, Evercore Partners and William Blair & Company are listed as the underwriters on the IPO filing.

The Federal Communications Commission signed off on the deal Thursday on a 3-1 vote, with minor conditions, FCC officials said. The approval means that AT&T and Qualcomm could close the deal by the end of the year.

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The product getting the okay is designed to offer broadband service, and is made by a company called Koos Technical Services. KTS has been among the companies heavily involved in working with the FCC to test white-spaces devices.

The white spaces, though not without their challenges, are seen by proponents as offering some of the same potential uses as the unlicensed regions used by Wi-Fi. Because they operate at a lower frequency range, they offer the potential to work over a longer range and perform better indoors.

“With today’s approval of the first TV white spaces database and device, we are taking an important step towards enabling a new wave of wireless innovation,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement. “Unleashing white spaces spectrum has the potential to exceed even the many billions of dollars in economic benefit from Wi-Fi, the last significant release of unlicensed spectrum, and drive private investment and job creation.”

Approval is limited, for now, to service in Wilmington, N.C. But it’s a first step for an area that has long been talked about as rich for new innovation.

The FCC said the approval will be expanded nationwide once the government finishes establishing procedures for those using wireless microphones (which also operate in these areas of spectrum) to coexist with devices running in the white spaces.

Regulators have been looking to open up the spectrum for some time, and have worked to address objections from the TV industry (and performers including Dolly Parton), who have worried about potential interference. The FCC voted last year to formally open the spectrum up to devices, after granting initial approval back in 2008.

(Image credit: iStockphoto | gaiamoments)

While Dish has a chunk of airwaves, or spectrum, that would fit nicely with AT&T, the two companies don’t appear to be best friends. Dish was one of the more vocal critics of AT&T’s T-Mobile deal, and the satellite TV operator appears to have wireless ambitions of its own, making it more of a direct rival to AT&T.

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While the carrier gets valuable spectrum, a roaming agreement and $3 billion in cash, the future of the No. 4 U.S. carrier is cloudier than ever, now that AT&T has called off its planned purchase.

T-Mobile has been operating as something of a lame duck since AT&T first proposed its $39 billion acquisition in March. Consumers, employees and potential partners have all been writing the carrier off, assuming that it would soon be swallowed up by its far-larger rival.

The abrupt turn of events will send T-Mobile and its parent company back to the drawing board, which will include soliciting new buyers, figuring out a strategy for its next-generation network and coming up with some inducements to avoid losing even more customers.

The blow of the breakup is only softened by the fact that the Bellevue, Wash.-based carrier will be handed a huge chunk of spending money to ride out the near-term bumps.

As T-Mobile looks to come up with Plan B, here are some potential options:

Spectrum sharing: As part of the breakup, AT&T has entered a mutually beneficial roaming agreement with Deutsche Telekom. Terms of the agreement have not yet been shared, but there could be some pretty compelling outcomes.

In Europe, it is common for carriers to share spectrum and even the cost of maintaining the network and towers. From the consumer’s perspective, it’s two different networks and two different brands. The carriers only end up competing on handset offerings, price and features — not coverage.

Another merger: T-Mobile will entertain any and all offers. Most recently, Dish said it was interested in partnering with T-Mobile if its merger with AT&T fell apart. Other candidates could include Sprint, or other companies from the media industry that are always sniffing around wireless, such as cable operators.

A bid from a company like Google or Microsoft would definitely make things interesting. While both are less likely candidates, they could use the network to push their agenda, including handsets and applications.

A total overhaul: The $4 billion breakup fee could give Deutsche Telekom the confidence to take another shot at the U.S. market. Probably not, but there’s always a chance. The company’s roots have been entrepreneurial and scrappy, but it’s been awhile since it has been able to make an impact on the market.

Worst-case scenario: Deutsche Telekom passes out the cash as a dividend to stockholders. It has always leaned on the U.S. as a moneymaker, and this could be no exception.

The 4G conundrum: Regardless, T-Mobile still does not have enough spectrum to update its network to the next generation. It may gain access to AT&T’s 4G network as part of the roaming agreement with AT&T, but both companies will arguably need more spectrum to keep up with demand.

The only two options will be to partner with Clearwire or LightSquared, or to wait until the next government auction. Both Clearwire and LightSquared are always in need of more cash, and have their difficulties. A deal with Clearwire would be additionally complicated by the fact that Sprint owns nearly half of the company.

AllThingsD’s Ina Fried contributed to this report.

The deal allows Cox and Verizon Wireless to sell each others’ services in their stores and other sales channels. The joint marketing arrangement is similar to the one agreed to in the groundbreaking deal disclosed earlier this month between Verizon and Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Bright House Networks, in which Verizon said it would pay the cable consortium $3.6 billion for wireless spectrum licenses covering 259 million people in the U.S.

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“Leave the FCC the flexibility to make sure there is efficient use of spectrum, including unlicensed spectrum, so that we can adjust to the needs of the future,” Genachowski told AllThingsD in an interview. Genachowski was in town for an event announcing winners of a contest to develop community apps that make use of government data.

The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would include something the chairman badly wants: incentive auctions that would free up badly needed spectrum for wireless broadband. However, the bill also includes a provision that would limit the agency’s authority to manage unlicensed spectrum bands, something Genachowski opposes.

At one point during the event, held at the offices of Andreessen Horowitz, I asked for the password to the venture firm’s guest network.

“That’s why we need Wi-Fi,” Genachowski said, a reference to the fact that Wi-Fi is possible only because the FCC has been able to preserve and make available unlicensed bands of spectrum.

In a follow-up interview, he talked about the need for such spectrum.

“It takes spectrum that doesn’t lend itself for the same use (as that licensed to carriers and others) and says ‘Let’s put it out there as a platform for innovaton,’ not knowing exactly what will happen,” Genachowski said. “When the FCC first did this, no one knew that it would lead to Wi-Fi.”

Unlicensed spectrum has been used, he said, to help meet the challenges of lots of groups, including those faced by the wireless carriers that have licensed spectrum, Genachowski said.

“Wi-Fi itself has gone from something that was resisted by the licensed carriers to something that is now embraced because it is such an important part of addressing demands on spectrum. Wi-Fi offload is a critical part of the system.”

Preliminary data from recent government and industry tests of LightSquared’s network suggest that the start-up hasn’t solved concerns that its network would knock out a large number of personal or military GPS devices, the report said, according to the aide.

LightSquared, a startup funded largely by hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, wants to build a national wireless broadband network and offer wholesale Internet access to companies including Leap Wireless International Inc. and Best Buy Co.

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Unlike many companies in the industry, Verizon has maintained a neutral posture on the deal. But on Wednesday, Mr. McAdam said “that match had to occur” and cautioned the government that if it chooses to block such mergers, it needs to come up with a clear plan for getting the industry the spectrum it needs to meet growing demand.

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U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra and California Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, got a walk-through of the Palo Alto foundry, as well as AT&T’s pitch on how it hopes to use the facility to spur innovation, fuel start-ups and create jobs. AT&T is the latest carrier to set up digs in the Bay Area, a list that includes Sprint and Verizon Wireless, as well as overseas carriers, including Vodafone, which earlier this month inaugurated a Redwood City facility.

Chopra said the site, which is designed to allow AT&T to more easily partner with small companies, is an example of how technology jobs created in one place can spill over to other parts of the country.

“In today’s information-driven economy, products and services can connect from anywhere and to anywhere,” Chopra said, as he wrapped up his tour of the facility. “Job creators need not wait for job opportunities locally.”

For her part, Eshoo praised AT&T’s work at the facility, even if she has been a vocal opponent of the company’s proposed $39 billion deal to buy T-Mobile USA.

As for her opposition to the deal, even that is not necessarily set in stone.

“I think there is work to be done on it,” she told AllThingsD. “Some of the problems, at least that I have with it, and some others about the merger, is not a newer AT&T that you experience here, but the older one. It’s up to the DOJ, I think, and the company, to work on that.”

The key thing, she said, is to create an environment with competition that creates new businesses.

“I want to see new companies being born every split second of every day,” Eshoo said. “We have the capacity to do that in this country. If anyone doubts it, they should just come here and visit this and so many other places in the Valley.”

Chopra steered clear of commenting on the T-Mobile deal, instead talking about his priorities when it comes to mobile technology and jobs, including freeing up spectrum and speeding development of a public safety-oriented wireless network.

Eshoo, too, was happy to talk about the need to free up more wireless spectrum, an issue upon which she and AT&T are in agreement.

Meanwhile, since it can’t get all of the regulators and lawmakers to come to it, AT&T has also launched an ad blitz in D.C. to make its case for the merger.

T-Mobile — that company we want to buy for $39 billion — is doing just awful.

We understand the argument tactically. AT&T also has said it wants to buy T-Mobile for its wireless spectrum, and not so much for its operational prowess. But AT&T’s soft diss of its merger partner does have a strange ring.

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In a letter to the two companies, the FCC said that it needs more time to evaluate whether this deal, as well as AT&T’s planned $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile USA, are in the public interest.

“The Commission’s ongoing review has confirmed that the proposed transactions raise a number of related issues, including, but not limited to, questions regarding AT&T’s aggregation of spectrum throughout the nation, particularly in overlapping areas,” the FCC said in the letter. “As a result, we have concluded that the best way to determine whether either or both of the proposed transactions serve the public interest is to consider them in a coordinated manner at this time, without prejudice to independent treatment at a later date.”

Sprint praised the enhanced scrutiny of the Qualcomm deal as well as the notion of reviewing it in conjunction with the proposed AT&T-T-Mobile deal.

“Given the complexity of the regulatory review of both proposed transactions, it’s a reasonable step for the FCC to coordinate the two reviews,” Sprint VP of government affairs Vonya McCann said in a statement. “The proposed transactions would produce game-changing effects on consumers and on competition in the wireless market. Over the next few months, we look forward to working with the FCC and other interested parties as the FCC conducts a coordinated review of the two transactions.”

Although it halted the clock and indicated it was reviewing the two deals in tandem, the FCC did not formally merge its review of the two transactions, which AT&T held out as something of a victory.

“We believe the Qualcomm transaction stands on its own merits,” AT&T spokesman Michael Balmoris said in a statement. “We are pleased that the Commission has rejected calls to officially consolidate the two deals and has expressly preserved the ability for the Qualcomm application to be resolved in advance of the T-Mobile application. We remain confident that the FCC will approve the license transfers as consistent with the public interest.”

The deal with Industry Canada calls for the sharing of commercial spectrum in the 700 megahertz band as well as some spectrum in the 800 MHz band, while the deal with Mexico’s Secretariat of Communications and Transportation is focused solely on the 700 MHz band.

“These arrangements will unleash investment and benefit consumers near the borders by enabling the rollout of 4G wireless broadband service and advanced systems for critical public safety and emergency response communications,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement.

Reid’s plan, which is expected to come to the Senate floor for a vote today, would raise $24.5 billion over 10 years, of which $13.1 billion would be available for deficit reduction, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

So how does $13 billion help solve a $14.3 trillion problem? It helps fills some of the gaps by making the bill more palatable to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. As one wireless industry lobbyist put it, spectrum auctions are in large part seen as politically neutral territory because they’re not tax increases that Republicans would oppose, and they’re not spending cuts, which so irritate Democrats.

The Reid plan is a variation of one put forth by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the West Virginia Democrat and chairman of the Commerce Committee which oversees wireless spectrum issues. Rockefeller’s plan would have raised $6.5 billion. Both plans essentially call for setting aside a big block of wireless spectrum, known as the D Block, for public safety. It would give the FCC authority to auction off TV spectrum currently held by TV broadcasters, and pay for financial incentives to entice them to voluntarily give that spectrum up. Broadcasters are generally not inclined to give it up, however.

There’s also a spending component to the plan. The D Block spectrum set aside for public safety agencies would be used to create a national wireless broadband network that emergency officials could use during an emergency. This is an idea that’s been rolling around Washington since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Rockefeller’s plan calls for $12 billion to begin construction of the network, plus a few billion for research and development into additional uses for the network. Reid’s bill drops the R&D funding and cuts the construction funds to $7 billion. It’s not enough to build the network, but more of a down payment, meaning there’s a good chance that lawmakers will have to find some money to finish the job in a few years.

Reid’s bill would also direct the Federal Communications Commission auction of airwaves — currently held by government agencies like the U.S. Department of Defense — that aren’t being actively used. In addition, it would encourage TV broadcasters to voluntarily give up some of their unused spectrum for auction by offering them part of the proceeds.

What would all that spectrum be used for? The expectation is that wireless carriers like Verizon Wireless and AT&T would bid on it in order to expand their wireless broadband networks, and thus give smartphone users more bandwidth to slake their apparently insatiable digital thirst.

Just because spectrum auction revenue is neither a tax increase nor a spending cut doesn’t mean there’s no opposition. Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican and 2008 GOP presidential nominee, blasted the plan and called it a “cop-out” from the Senate floor. Meanwhile, Rep. Anna Eshoo, a California Democrat, told Politico earlier this week that the debt bill is the wrong place to debate wireless spectrum.

It wouldn’t be the first time that wireless spectrum has figured in the budget-balancing and deficit-reduction process. Revenue generated from spectrum auctions helped then-President Bill Clinton balance the budget in 1993 and 1997, and President George W. Bush used them to help reduce the federal budget deficit in 2005.

(Image from Harry Reid’s campaign site.)

That’s one of the first questions that AT&T wireless boss Ralph de la Vega had to face at the D9 conference this month. Good thing he came prepared!

Also on the agenda for the wide-ranging discussion: The Verizon iPhone, the company’s LTE rollout, the impending spectrum crisis and the role of the carrier in the age of mobile ecosystems.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110624/ralph-de-la-vega-says-att-can-better-as-it-gets-bigger-the-full-d9-interview-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110531/google-chairman-eric-schmidt-on-the-eric-schmidt-era-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20110531/google-chairman-eric-schmidt-on-the-eric-schmidt-era-video/#comments Wed, 01 Jun 2011 05:07:59 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=80411 Google Chairman Eric Schmidt himself provided the answer to that question in the opening night session of D9. During a wide-ranging interview with co-hosts Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, Schmidt talked about handing adult supervision of the company to co-founder Larry Page, the “Gang Of Four” companies dominating tech today, Google’s social networking missteps and a decade spent growing the company from quirky start-up to industry leviathan.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110531/google-chairman-eric-schmidt-on-the-eric-schmidt-era-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110527/fcc-asks-att-for-pricing-spectrum-data/ http://allthingsd.com/20110527/fcc-asks-att-for-pricing-spectrum-data/#comments Fri, 27 May 2011 22:40:45 +0000 Amy Schatz http://allthingsd.com/?p=79553 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.

The Federal Communications Commission’s 78-page request asks AT&T 50 detailed questions about its spectrum holdings, its network and its contention that it needs T-Mobile’s airwaves to provide nearly seamless mobile broadband service across the U.S.

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110527/fcc-asks-att-for-pricing-spectrum-data/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110523/exclusive-france-telecom-ceo-on-apple-android-and-how-you-can-kiss-your-unlimited-plan-goodbye/ http://allthingsd.com/20110523/exclusive-france-telecom-ceo-on-apple-android-and-how-you-can-kiss-your-unlimited-plan-goodbye/#comments Mon, 23 May 2011 19:00:46 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=7928 Stephane Richard knows a thing or two about the iPhone.

In addition to carrying one of Apple’s iconic smartphones, Richard is also the CEO of France Telecom, whose networks carry traffic from more iPhones than any other carrier except AT&T. France Telecom, with its Orange brands, sells the iPhone in 15 countries.

“They just created smartphones with the iPhone,” Richard said during an hourlong chat over breakfast in Downtown San Francisco last week. “Everybody should be grateful to them to have put such a product in our market.”

But, while he praises Apple, Richard is wary of the power that the company holds by having total say in which apps do and don’t get on its network.

Unlike with Android, where the carrier can largely configure phones the way it would like to, on Apple, the company has to settle for putting various services in the App Store. And, ultimately, it is Apple that controls what makes it into the App Store.

“Everybody is talking about net neutrality,” Richard said, but “net neutrality is not only dealing with pipes.”

“It also deals with management of application shops,” he said. “If you have people like Apple managing their application store and saying ‘This is OK and I don’t want to see this app in my shop,’ it’s a problem.”

In the interview, Richard offered a blunt take on a number of other key industry players and topics ranging from the need for variable pricing to the fates of Nokia and RIM.

Richard has been outspoken before, including calls last year for those flooding networks with data–companies like Apple and Google–to help pay some of the costs of making necessary network investments.

Though RIM and Nokia both face challenges, Richard said in our interview that he is glad that there are still a number of competing smartphone operating systems duking it out.

“For us we are quite happy with the existing landscape in terms of operating systems,” he said. “A world with 90 percent of Android-based devices would not be attractive for us, but we are far from that.”

Oh, and as for that report that France Telecom and Apple are working together on a standard for smaller SIM cards. That’s true, Richard said, and it’s a compromise designed to appease Apple’s desire for something smaller without resorting to a software-only virtual SIM card that Apple had initially been advocating.

Here were some of his more interesting comments from our conversation:

On the massive increase in mobile data use and the dangers that creates:

The real risk of everything is collapse. Nobody utters this loudly enough, but the real issue for the world is a collapse of the network or some local collapses.

We are the people with pipes. We are supposed to invest heavily in pipes in order to bring the capacity which is necessary to sustain the explosion of consumption and usage and data traffic in our networks. At the same time, the people that create this traffic…are not really incentivized to manage properly, globally, the traffic.

There is an unbalance in the overall system, which in our view is a major problem.

It is totally impossible to absorb such an explosion in traffic without first, clearly investing massively in spectrum and equipment, and second, without introducing some new pricing approaches.

On Microsoft-Nokia:

There are a lot of questions around Microsoft and Nokia–-capacity really to reverse the quite negative trend that they have in the market. It seems difficult, but we will see. We are still definitely in favor of seeing at least three or four big families of operating systems in the market. But it is true it is going to be difficult for them.

On RIM:

It’s not really declining. It’s still popular in Europe. They have customers and users that are quite faithful to them. It works more or less like a community of people. It’s often families that are big BlackBerry users, and of course companies.

They have had some quality problems in the recent period which is a concern, especially with the next generations of devices.

In my view as a customer, or as a partner of them, I think they really should fix very quickly their quality problems.

On Google and Android:

Android is, I think quite a solid and reliable operating system and doesn’t suffer with bugs. We have regularly problems with RIM. We have no problem with Apple and with Android. Let’s be frank and clear.

To me, the risk theoretically is more for Google to use releases–Android releases–as a weapon in their relationship with device manufacturers and indirectly with telcos than anything else. So far they have not really tried to do it.

On Apple and App Store openness:

Everybody is talking about Net Neutrality. Net Neutrality is not only dealing with pipes. It also deals with management of application shops. If you have people like Apple managing their application store and saying “This is OK and I don’t want to see this app in my shop,” it’s a problem.

So far, we have been able to come to solutions with Apple people, even though they are a little tough….We are able to find solutions. We are not at war with the Apple guys. But it is true that it can be tough.

Of course Ideally we would like to have those services embedded natively in the handset which is what we do with Android-based devices like with Samsung or HTC or people like that. It is not possible with Apple. We still are in a position to bring those apps to our customers through the app stores, provided clearly we have access to the App Store.

The problem is the day when Apple says “I don’t want this one.”

Definitely if we face these kind of problems we will go to court. Because competition is not only something that should be applied to telcos and to carriers. For us it should be a principle for the whole Internet environment.

On working with Apple on smaller SIM cards:

As you probably know, Apple has been working for years on reducing the size of SIM cards because they need space in the phone. They even thought about a device without any SIM card, that is what is known as the e-SIM project.

All of us told them it was a bad idea because the SIM card is a critical piece of the security and authentication process. It would be very difficult for a telco or carrier to manage the customer relationship. I think that they understood this point. We had a very constructive exchange and dialogue with them.

We are going to work with them in order to standardize a new format of SIM which takes into accout our needs with security and authentication and also is compatible with their wishes in terms of size.

I understood that the next iPhone would be smaller and thinner and they are definitely seeking some space.

This is good evidence we can work properly with Apple people, Apple teams. In that particular case, we have been able to find, I think, a good answer which is good for everyone.

On Tablets:
To be honest, I am still a little skeptical of the size of the world market in tablets. First, I do think the iPad is very well ahead of the competition in terms of tablets. To me as a user and as a partner, there is the iPad and there is the rest.

I think there will be a world market for the iPad. What will be, really, the size of this market, is difficult to say, because in fact it is a new market.

In fact I think that in the future people will have several devices, several screens. Nobody knows what is the mix or the range of devices that we will have.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110523/exclusive-france-telecom-ceo-on-apple-android-and-how-you-can-kiss-your-unlimited-plan-goodbye/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110421/att-files-papers-to-take-over-t-mobile-usas-wireless-licenses/ http://allthingsd.com/20110421/att-files-papers-to-take-over-t-mobile-usas-wireless-licenses/#comments Thu, 21 Apr 2011 19:12:30 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=6716 AT&T said Thursday it had filed initial paperwork with the Federal Communications Commission to take over the wireless licenses held by T-Mobile USA.

The paperwork is the first step in gaining regulatory approval for the proposed $39 billion acquisition. The Department of Justice also must approve the deal.

AT&T’s filing includes both the transfer application and supporting documents making the company’s now-familiar arguments that the deal will improve access to next-generation networks and make better use of limited spectrum. AT&T has said it is posting a redacted version of the filing on its merger Web site.

“The bottom line is that our merger with T-Mobile USA will offer significant benefits to American consumers,” AT&T said in a blog posting. “It will address capacity constraints that both of our companies face, which will enable the combined company to provide improved services in the many urban, suburban, and rural markets where the enormous surge in broadband usage is fast consuming available capacity. What this means is fewer dropped calls, fewer failed call attempts, and better data throughput.”

Sprint is opposing the deal and CEO Dan Hesse has promised to fight hard to get the deal blocked. The New York attorney general and Congress have also said they plan to scrutinize the deal closely.

Non-profit group Free Press also lashed out at the deal in a statement on Thursday.

“No matter how many high-priced lobbying firms AT&T hires, it won’t be able to fool Americans into thinking the reconstitution of the Ma Bell monopoly is a good thing,” Free Press Research Director S. Derek Turner said in a statement. “Make no mistake, this deal is about eliminating a competitor and nothing more. AT&T has chosen the marketing slogan ‘Mobilize Everything’ to sell this competition-killing deal, but it’s clear their real goal is to ‘Monopolize Everything.’”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110421/att-files-papers-to-take-over-t-mobile-usas-wireless-licenses/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110414/att-flogs-its-t-mobile-deal-as-u-s-regulators-begin-their-review/ http://allthingsd.com/20110414/att-flogs-its-t-mobile-deal-as-u-s-regulators-begin-their-review/#comments Thu, 14 Apr 2011 19:36:47 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=6386 As the government kicked off its formal review of the sale of T-Mobile USA, AT&T on Thursday reiterated its case for why the deal should be allowed to happen.

“While some people were surprised by the announcement, the main reason for the deal was obvious to anyone who has been following the rapid growth of the wireless industry–we need more capacity to address the surging demand for mobile broadband,” the company said in a blog post. AT&T also reiterated that the deal won’t alleviate the industry’s need for more spectrum and said it will continue to support the drive to increase the bandwidth available to the mobile industry.

AT&T’s comments came as the Federal Communications Commission outlined how it will review the proposed $39 billion transaction.

The agency issued a public notice on its Web site and held a press conference. According to the Washington Post, the agency stressed that its primary objective is ensuring the deal is in the public interest, examining both the short-term and long-term impact on competition. The agency didn’t give a timeline for the review.

While AT&T argues the deal will help expand high-speed wireless access to more areas, opponents have argued it will consolidate too much of the market in the hands of AT&T and Verizon, potentially leading to higher prices down the road.

Both the FCC and Department of Justice must sign off on the deal, which has drawn concern from politicians and some interest groups and outright opposition from Sprint. New York’s attorney general has pledged to look into the deal, while Congress also plans hearings on the matter.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110414/att-flogs-its-t-mobile-deal-as-u-s-regulators-begin-their-review/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110329/new-york-attorney-general-pledges-thorough-review-of-att-t-mobile-deal/ http://allthingsd.com/20110329/new-york-attorney-general-pledges-thorough-review-of-att-t-mobile-deal/#comments Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:05:24 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=5641 Add the New York attorney general to the list of those who want to take a hard look at AT&T’s plan to buy T-Mobile.

In a statement on Tuesday, New York’s top lawyer said that his office will “undertake a thorough review” of the proposed $39 billion deal.

“Cell phones are no longer a luxury for a few among us, but a basic necessity. The last thing New Yorkers need during these difficult economic times is to see cell phone prices rise,” said Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. “Affordable wireless service and technology, including smart phones and next generation handheld devices, are the bridge to the digital broadband future. We want to ensure all New Yorkers benefit from these important innovations that improve lives.”

The statement highlighted some of Sprint’s talking points against the deal, such as the fact that, should the deal go through, AT&T and Verizon would have a combined 80 percent share of the U.S. market.

He also added that some areas in New York, such as Rochester, Albany, Buffalo and Syracuse, have fewer wireless options already. One of AT&T’s big arguments as to why there is sufficient competition is that in many markets consumers have five or more options, when adding in regional and low-cost carriers such as Metro PCS, Cricket and others.

AT&T has also touted the deal as key to making good use of limited spectrum and expanding LTE service faster and to more of the country.

“The attorney general’s review will weigh the benefits to New Yorkers against the anti-competitive risks posed to them,” Schneiderman said.

The state review–and any others–come on top of necessary regulatory approval from both the Federal Communications Commission and U.S. antitrust regulators at the Department of Justice.

Update: AT&T issued a statement in response to Schneiderman’s concerns, making the expected arguments.

“We look forward to sharing information with the (Attorney General’s) office and remain excited about the significant consumer and competition benefits that this transaction will provide, including improved customer service and expanded high-speed LTE wireless coverage to additional residents and areas across New York State and the rest of the U.S.,” AT&T said.

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