Flickr/Gawen947

According to NPD, 35 percent of the smartphones sold last year run on a 4G network, even under the loosest definition of 4G. While that’s up from 6 percent a year ago, it still means nearly two out of three new phones are 3G-only.

One big factor in that is the iPhone. Of all of Apple’s devices, only the iPhone 4S on AT&T’s network runs at a speed higher than 3G, and that one just barely fits the bill.

The fastest of the new networks are the LTE networks being rolled out by Verizon and, more recently, by AT&T. But most of the 4G smartphones out there are the ones that run on HSPA+, a more evolutionary technology. That technology is in use at T-Mobile and also at AT&T, and accounted for 22 percent of smartphone sales.

Phones supporting LTE accounted for 7 percent of smartphone sales, with 6 percent of smartphones using WiMax, the 4G technology adopted by Sprint.

What started out as an alphabet-soup marketing war, though, is now converging. Sprint plans to start rolling out its LTE network later this year, while T-Mobile has said it will start offering such a network next year, though it hasn’t said how it will do so. (Update: T-Mobile says it has been clear, maintaining it will be able to launch an LTE network through re-use of existing spectrum and the spectrum the it acquired from AT&T as part of the failed merger.)

“With all major U.S. carriers committing to LTE as their 4G future, it is clearly the cellular network technology that will determine the baseline for the next generation of advanced smartphones,” NPD Group analyst Ross Rubin said in a statement.

(Image courtesy of Flickr/Gawen947)

Also getting the service are Austin; Chapel Hill, N.C.; Orlando; Phoenix; Raleigh, N.C.; and San Diego, Calif.

That’s in addition to the 15 other markets in which AT&T launched LTE last year. Of course, AT&T still trails Verizon, which has coverage in 190 markets, with service available to more than 200 million people.

Sprint, meanwhile, has much of the country covered with an alternate 4G technology, WiMax. However, Sprint has announced plans to launch an LTE network of its own later this year.

Constrained by spectrum, T-Mobile USA has focused on rolling out ever-faster variants of its 3G network. The company had hoped a merger with AT&T would solve its problems, but is now scrambling for other options since that deal collapsed.

Update, 1 p.m.: In a Twitter posting, Sprint noted on Wednesday that it plans to launch its LTE service in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio by mid-year.

The agreement soothes investor fears Sprint was seeking to distance itself from its 4G provider as the carrier planned its own new high-speed network on the LTE technology favored by AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless. Sprint will pay $926 million for unlimited use of Clearwire’s WiMax 4G network through 2013, giving Clearwire a needed cash infusion.

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CNET reports that Sprint is actually more than open to LTE — it’s already testing gear and planning to launch an LTE network early next year. Sprint is scheduled to talk about its network future at an event next week and a representative declined to comment ahead of that.

Sprint has already taken some steps into LTE, including signing a deal with LightSquared, which is looking to build a wholesale LTE network of its own.

Verizon has already launched LTE widely and AT&T has just launched its own LTE network in several markets. T-Mobile has said its long-term future would be LTE, but it currently lacks the spectrum it needs to offer such a network — part of the reason it is hoping its deal to be acquired by AT&T goes through.

While adding LTE would be costly for Sprint, trying to get handset makers to support WiMax with their latest devices could become harder over time as the world centers on a different technology. Many of the signs of such a move are evident, including partner Clearwire saying that it is also looking to support LTE.

In the meantime, the shift means it will be even longer before RIM has a tablet capable of connecting to the Internet without Wi-Fi or a nearby BlackBerry.

RIM had been touting the forthcoming Sprint model as an answer to critics who noted the PlayBook was of limited use without a tethered BlackBerry.

“RIM has decided to prioritize and focus its 4G development resources on LTE,” the company said in a statement to AllThingsD. “We remain excited and committed to delivering innovative and powerful 4G tablets to the U.S. market together with our carrier partners.”

RIM didn’t say exactly when the LTE-equipped models will arrive, but it clearly will be later than the Sprint model would have been, had the carrier stuck to its original plan.

“Testing of BlackBerry 4G PlayBook models is already under way and we plan to enter labs for network certifications in the U.S. and other international markets this fall,” RIM said.

Meanwhile, Apple’s iPad 2 is available for both AT&T and Verizon, with Android tablets already on Verizon’s 4G LTE network as well. HP has said it will soon have a TouchPad running on AT&T’s network.

It’s not the first challenge the company has had in getting carrier support for its tablet. AT&T initially blocked the Wi-Fi version of the PlayBook from connecting to a BlackBerry on its network, saying it needed more time to test the tethering software. In July, it said it was ready to allow such connections.

The carrier said it will light up LTE networks in Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta and San Antonio this summer, with 10 or more additional markets coming in the second half of the year.

AT&T is in the process of both adding an HSPA+ network, similar to the kind of higher-speed network used by T-Mobile, as well as LTE, which is the technology being used by Verizon Wireless. Spring’s high-speed network–the oldest of the bunch–uses WiMax technology. All are marketed as “4G,” making it hard to tell what’s what.

“We also have plans to add 20 4G devices to our robust device portfolio this year, with some of those being LTE capable,” AT&T CTO John Donovan said in a blog post. “We’re positioning to deliver a great mobile broadband experience in the near term with HSPA+ and a growing LTE footprint.”

The company said its LTE network should cover 70 million Americans by year’s end. AT&T talked a bit about its LTE plans back at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, but Wednesday’s comments are the most specific it has been so far.

“We’ve invested $75 billion in our wireless and wired networks over the last four years–more capital invested in the U.S. than any company in any industry,” Donovan said. “And we plan to invest $19 billion in our wireless and wireline networks and other capital projects this year. The investments we’ve made to evolve our mobile broadband network in recent years, plus what we have planned for the future, put our customers in position to benefit fully from a host of coming mobile broadband innovations.”

The company’s net loss was $227 million, or 93 cents per share, including the $202 million in charges.

On a more positive note, Clearwire said it now expects to end the year with approximately 9.5 million subscribers, up from a February prediction that it would end the year with around 8.8 million subscribers. The company said it continues to see its capital expenditures for this year to be less than $400 million and will make other cost cuts with a goal of improving its cash flow. Clearwire ended the first quarter with approximately 6.15 million total subscribers, including 1.29 million of its own retail customers and 4.86 million subscribers from wholesale partners, particularly Sprint.

The troubled company has seen a good deal of turmoil in recent months, including concerns by auditors, job cuts, a dispute with Sprint and a change in management. However, officials expressed confidence in the earnings release that things were headed in the right direction.

“Looking ahead, we expect to work closely with Sprint and all of our other wholesale partners to expand our 4G leadership and capitalize on our rich spectrum holdings that enable us to meet the exploding customer demand for mobile broadband internet access,” COO Erik Prusch said in a statement. “Since the beginning of the year, our network has experienced a 40 percent increase in network usage due to expanded coverage, record subscriber growth and higher usage per device.”

Under the new pact, Sprint commits to a minimum $300 million usage this year, $550 million next year and will pre-pay $175 million for 4G wholesale services to be used in the coming years. The two parties had said they were working on a new pact to resolve a dispute over wholesale pricing.

“Sprint has been our biggest and most important customer and partner since we launched 4G services in the U.S. more than two years ago,” Clearwire interim CEO John Stanton said in a statement. “Today’s agreement further aligns Sprint and Clearwire’s interests and lays the foundation for a continued, constructive relationship. We are pleased to have the resources and partnerships necessary to maintain our 4G leadership and leverage our significant spectrum and capacity for delivering mobile broadband services.”

Stanton took over as interim CEO last month amid a management shakeup. The company also cut jobs late last year and auditors have raised concerns about Clearwire’s future prospects.

Sprint, which owns a big chunk of Clearwire, also praised the new deal.

“We are pleased to reach this wholesale pricing agreement with Clearwire,” Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said in a statement. “We look forward to working with them under this new agreement to provide an expanded offering of 4G capabilities and solutions for Sprint customers.”

The deal also revises how Sprint is charged for devices that run on both its own 3G network and on Clearwire’s 4G network, ensuring that there is a minimum revenue for Clearwire per device and giving Sprint various volume and usage discounts.

The move is part of a planned transition, but it raises some interesting questions about what Sprint might do with the 800MHz spectrum that it will free up by shutting down the old iDEN network. Reports suggest the company already is planning to build an LTE network that would augment its current WiMax-based 4G network.

Verizon Wireless is already selling LTE service in a number of areas, with plans to expand nationwide. AT&T has announced plans to build an LTE network in addition to adding a speedier version of its existing network. T-Mobile has said it hopes to move to LTE eventually as well, though it currently lacks the spectrum to do so.

Sprint had the early lead in next-generation networks by going with WiMax, but many still expect the carrier to ultimately add an LTE network as well, something the company has hinted it may do, but has yet to publicly commit to doing.

Sprint didn’t reference LTE in any way in this week’s announcement, but said it will, in the fourth quarter of this year, start offering push-to-talk devices from Kyocera and Motorola Mobility that run on its CDMA network. Among the initial devices, Sprint said, will be an “ultra-rugged camera flip phone” as well as a touch-screen Android device with a full keyboard. More phones are planned for next year, it said.

The company is pitching its new Sprint Direct Connect network as a more powerful evolution of the push-to-talk network popularized by Nextel. Although Sprint may be able to offer more powerful devices, expanded coverage area and better in-building coverage, it will be a tough shift for some companies that have widely deployed phones and applications customized for the iDEN network.

Sprint said it will work with developers who have built applications specific to the Nextel network to bring them over to the new Direct Connect devices. Sprint also said that the new devices will interoperate with existing push-to-talk devices as well as mobile radios widely used by emergency services personnel and many businesses.

Although it hasn’t publicly outlined LTE plans, Sprint has talked about the ability of its planned network shifts to “enhance its 4G technology options.” Sprint first started outlining its network transition plans back in December, though with less detail and specificity.

The transition will also be costly for Sprint, which has said it expects to spend between $4 billion and $5 billion on the multiyear effort, though over a seven-year period it expects to save between $10 billion and $11 billion through lower energy costs, reduced roaming expenses and other efficiencies.

Morrow, who is leaving for “personal reasons,” will be replaced on an interim bases by company board Chairman John Stanton, former CEO of VoiceStream Wireless. Morrow (pictured here) will serve as an advisor during the transition.

Also leaving the WiMax service provider are former Microsoft executive Mike Sievert, one Microsoft’s chief commercial officer, and CIO Kevin Hart. Both are leaving the company “to pursue other opportunities.”

At the same time, Clearwire said it is promoting CFO Erik Prusch to the newly created chief operating officer spot. Treasurer Hope Cochran will assume Prusch’s former role as chief financial officer.

Clearwire said that the shake-up won’t affect its progress in resolving a dispute with Sprint over wholesale pricing.

“Clearwire believes that an agreement with Sprint is imminent,” it said in a statement.

However, the company’s longer-term picture remains unclear. The company laid off workers in November as auditors questioned the its ability to operate as a going concern.

Currently Clearwire sells its WiMax service directly to consumers and on a wholesale basis to Sprint, which owns a significant stake in the company.

The president flew to Michigan to deliver his remarks on the subject and saw a demonstration of WiMAX technology in use at Northern Michigan University.

Obama hopes to build this network with money raised from two key sources, thankfully neither involving any additional direct burden on taxpayers. First he’d like to make changes to the Universal Service Fund, which has historically been used to help connect remote and rural areas to the telephone network. Some $5 billion from that fund that currently goes to subsidize phones in rural areas will instead be put to work building wireless towers and other related infrastructure in places where such networks don’t yet exist. Police, firefighters and other emergency workers would get access to their own wireless network built with another $10 billion. Yet another $3 billion would go toward research and development on other ways to use wireless networks.

That’s almost $19 billion. Where will it come from? Spectrum auctions. The administration hopes to raise nearly $28 billion by re-auctioning some of the spectrum currently held by TV broadcasters but no longer actively used. (About $10 billion would go toward reducing the deficit.) The rub is that TV broadcasters are resisting pressure from the president and the Federal Communications Commission to voluntarily give that spectrum back. Under the plan being considered, broadcasters would get some portion of the proceeds from the auctions–no word yet on how much.

These give-backs are supposedly going to be voluntary, and one priority the National Association of Broadcasters hopes to see in this plan is a provision that allows broadcasters to opt out of the process without penalty. This suggests that the administration will get some spectrum back in some places, but not in others, creating the potential for a sort of inconsistent patchwork. More on the particulars of the plan here.

Building out the Internet is certainly a laudable goal. As I’ve written before, an Internet connection is now as essential to modern life as electric lights and running water. Places without adequate network coverage are essentially locked out of participating in the economic and cultural discourse that so many of us take for granted every day.

Consider for a moment how much of the recent political campaigns was conducted on the Web, and then ask yourself how well-informed a voter you’d be without relatively fast access to the Web day in and day out. As the Communications Workers of America pointed out in a recent study, roughly one American in three doesn’t have access to broadband at home; some choose not to have it, but other want it but can’t get it.

I thought about this a bit when I read that a new undersea fiber-optic Internet cable had been laid to improve access to the Internet in Cuba, courtesy of an international aid program paid for by Venezuela. As it stands right now, Internet connections there are handled via slow and cumbersome satellite links, and so only about three percent of the population has access to the Web. The new cable will allow connections 3,000 times faster than currently possible.

Say what you will about the ultimate political aims of Venezuela in financing the cable, or what controls the Cuban government will likely impose upon those who use it, but you can’t deny that any improvement in getting people in Cuba connected to the Internet is a good thing. Who knows what changes a better connection might bring?

Here my thoughts turn once again to Egypt and the changes unfolding there. During the past several weeks we’ve seen the power of the Internet brought to bear in Egypt, where what’s been widely called the Facebook Revolution seems on the cusp of toppling President Hosni Mubarak. It was Mubarak who shocked the world by cutting his country off from the Internet, and it so irritated people both inside and outside Egypt that they banded together to find ways around the digital curtain he tried to erect around his borders. The same chain of events has turned a humble Google marketing exec into a national hero.

It’s at moments like this that I’m struck by the immeasurable power of the Internet to be turned into a powerful force for good and for the empowerment of people in all walks of life, with better information, better communication, more economic choices. Without passing judgment on Obama’s proposal–it’s likely to spark a fight with congressional Republicans and with various constituencies in the broadcasting and telecom industries–it’s hard not to agree with his intent. It’s unfortunate that in 2011 the country that gave birth to the Internet hasn’t yet found a way to extend its many benefits to every sector of its population.

Here are a few highlights from the president’s speech today, courtesy of the Associated Press.

The idea, he said, is pretty simple: Identify places where there is a lot of cellular congestion and build Wi-Fi networks there.

Over the next several months, Towerstream plans to expand an existing pilot Wi-Fi zone in New York and also hopes in the next year to add wireless “hot zones” in San Francisco and Chicago.

While its core business is selling Internet service to businesses, Towerstream hopes to wholesale its hot zone networks to cellular carriers looking to improve their performance in congested areas.

“We don’t see that problem going away anytime soon,” Thompson said. “It’s really a real-estate issue, not a technology issue.”

The idea of using Wi-Fi to ease cellular overcrowding doesn’t seem that crazy these days. Just last week AT&T announced its own hot zone plan for San Francisco and New York.

The idea of hot zones is not new for Towerstream either, Thompson said. The company first had the idea about four years ago, but at the time there were few Wi-Fi capable phones and not the kind of mobile data congestion seen in big cities.

For now, though, Towerstream’s announcement is mostly a statement of intent, rather than a detailed plan. The company still has to acquire many of the rooftop rights it needs to build its hot zones, and it hasn’t said where within each city it will offer the wireless connections.

Towerstream also doesn’t have any announced carrier partnerships, but Thompson said that it is in trials and said the Wi-Fi hot zones it is building will be capable of working with multiple carriers simultaneously.

“We know there is a lot of value in these networks,” he said.

The first extension of the event, it produced some very newsy sessions. We’ll be posting them all.

Today, Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse talks about battling the leaders for dominance among wireless carriers.

It’s not easy being No. 3, but Hesse has tried to mind the gap by beefing up Sprint’s customer service and investing in the prepaid sector to attract a wider audience during the economic downturn. Going forward, Sprint looks to its 4G strategy for growth through its ownership stake in WiMax-provider Clearwire.

Here’s the video of the Hesse interview with Walt Mossberg:

Next up: Glenn Lurie, the man who brought the Apple iPhone to AT&T (for better and worse).

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101227/d-dive-into-mobile-the-full-interview-video-of-sprint-nextels-dan-hesse/feed/ 2 http://allthingsd.com/20101207/sprint-nextel-ceo-dan-hesse-we-couldnt-wait-to-deploy-lte/ http://allthingsd.com/20101207/sprint-nextel-ceo-dan-hesse-we-couldnt-wait-to-deploy-lte/#comments Tue, 07 Dec 2010 23:05:41 +0000 Arik Hesseldahl http://newenterprise.allthingsd.com/?p=315 Asked in an interview at D: Dive Into Mobile why Sprint is deploying WiMax and not LTE as its 4G technology, Sprint-Nextel CEO Dan Hesse said it was the success of the iPhone that demonstrated that the market was ready for 4G services.

“We wanted to be first, and WiMax was available” in 2008, Hesse said. “I can’t deny that LTE will be a bigger ecosystem, but we couldn’t wait. We thought the market was ready.”

Also during his talk, Dan Hesse said that during the last two quarters, Sprint has been the fastest-growing post-paid mobile brand in the U.S. and that the company’s overall subscriber numbers have been offset by losses on its older Nextel network. Hesse also said that Sprint-Nextel will begin to wind down operations of the Nextel iDen network and migrate its customers to Sprint in 2013, though not before push-to-talk features are added to Sprint. “All Gs come to an end,” he said.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101207/sprint-nextel-ceo-dan-hesse-we-couldnt-wait-to-deploy-lte/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20101207/sprint-ceo-dan-hesse-at-dive-into-mobile/ http://allthingsd.com/20101207/sprint-ceo-dan-hesse-at-dive-into-mobile/#comments Tue, 07 Dec 2010 22:45:26 +0000 Tricia Duryee http://emoney.allthingsd.com/?p=222

When Sprint CEO Dan Hesse joined the company three years ago, the third-largest carrier was bleeding subscribers from having a poor reputation for customer service and facing stiff competition from the likes of AT&T, which holds the exclusive on the iPhone.

Since then, Sprint has stemmed the losses, mostly by beefing up its customer service and by investing in the prepaid sector to attract a wider audience during the economic downturn. Going forward, Sprint looks to its 4G strategy for growth through its ownership stake in WiMax-provider Clearwire. Next up, Hesse joins Walt Mossberg onstage.

3:45 pm: Walt welcomes Dan Hesse to the stage. You can’t have mobile without networks, says Walt. You’ve led the way on 4G; tell us about it.

3:46 pm: Dan: We are getting San Francisco up soon, and will have 120 million POPs by the end of the year, or about a third of the country.

He explains what 4G is: 3G for was email and Web pages, but 4G is for multimedia and video.

The best analogy is that 4G is the wide open freeway vs. an interstate that provides the same speeds, but you have to stop along the way.

3:48 pm: Walt: Why are you using WiMax when the two other carriers are using LTE?

Hesse: Back in 2008, we wanted to be first, and WiMax was available right now. (Lots to do with TDD, and other technical mumbo jumbo). Technically, there’s no difference. I can’t deny that LTE will be a bigger ecosystem, but we couldn’t wait. We thought the market was ready.

With the success of the iPhone, we thought it was ready now.

Walt: How much leadership did it give you?

Hesse: Well, it made Verizon move a lot faster….In 2010, we’ll have 120 million POPs, and the EVO and Epic (two 4G phones) have been really successful.

Walt: How successful?

Hesse: If you were to go to Clearwire’s wholesale numbers, you should think of Sprint’s lion’s share of the wholesale numbers.

Walt: Was it worth the investment?

Hesse: I think so.

3:53 pm: Hesse: 4G is one element of many.

Walt: You like Consumer Reports, unlike the guy here earlier [AT&T's Glenn Lurie].

Hesse: Sprint is the fastest growing brand of postpaid in the U.S.–not the Nextel brand, where we’ve been losing subscribers.

3:55 pm: Walt: Are you going to get the iPhone?

Hesse: Can’t say.

Walt: Would you like the iPhone?

Hesse: Under the right conditions, yes, I would. It’s a wonderful phone.

3:56 pm: Backing up a bit, Walt now asks about an industry trend toward tiered pricing for data plans, where the more you use, the more you pay.

Sprint hasn’t yet limited users’ traffic.

Hesse: Customers will pay a premium for simplicity. Even if it’s not in their best economic interest, they will go with the unlimited plan. We were the first to come out with truly unlimited text, voice and data with the Simply Everything plan.

3:59 pm: Walt: Are you not going to do tiered pricing?

Hesse: So far, we aren’t, he says, which gets a round of applause from the audience. But Sprint did up the cost of the unlimited plans of the most capable devices on the network.

4:00 pm: Walt: Unlimited means unlimited or doesn’t it?

Hesse: No, it doesn’t. What if they have the SlingBox streaming 24×7?

4:01 pm: Hesse: The trend is toward one plan for all of your devices, like tablets, phones, PCs, etc.

Walt: Are you going to offer plans for all those devices?

Hesse: We are thinking about it. That’s the next step to simplicity. Three years ago, it was about one device.

4:02 pm: Walt: People aren’t counting minutes, now they are counting megabytes and things people don’t understand.

Hesse: Something has to give; what’s going to be the form? Do you have meters, do you have tiers, do you increase the price of the unlimited plans?

Another option is to have a lot more spectrum available to add capacity at a lower cost.

Walt: Are you talking about taking away the spectrum that the elderly use to watch their TV?

Hesse: If more spectrum is available, you can use more frequencies, which is a lot less expensive than splitting cell sites and putting in more towers.

Walt: There’s some confusion about Clearwire. They are opening stores and selling laptops and modems. You own most of that company, and they are building your WiMax network. Why are they competing with you?

Hesse: I have a wholesale business that resells minutes to Leap, so it’s the same thing.

4:06 pm: Walt’s giving Hesse grief about the structure of the Clearwire deal. Despite Sprint owning roughly 54 percent of the company, Sprint doesn’t control the board.

Walt: Who did that deal?

Hesse: Two thumbs pointing at himself [me]. When you have this many owners of the company, we can’t agree.

4:08 pm: Walt: What’s the value of 4G?

Hesse: The experience is really fast, and we offer unlimited plans on 4G. There’s a five-gigabyte cap on 3G, but 4G is completely unlimited.

Walt’s curious if 4G is really life-changing and transformative. Sprint’s beating the other guys by 2x, not 10x or 20x.

Hesse: My son showed me his speed test on his EVO at home, and it was over 8 mbps, so it depends.

4:11 pm: Questions from the audience. The Seattle Times’ Brier Dudley asks about the potential deal between Clearwire and T-Mobile, which may be falling apart because of Clearwire’s recent $1 billion in debt that it has raised.

Hesse deflects the question despite several reports to the contrary, by saying he didn’t know anything about that.

Another audience question: What’s your stance on network neutrality?

Hesse: The FCC has come out with a proposal, and we are very supportive of it.

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101207/sprint-ceo-dan-hesse-at-dive-into-mobile/feed/ 1 http://allthingsd.com/20101207/for-rim-2011-hopefully-a-lot-better-than-2010/ http://allthingsd.com/20101207/for-rim-2011-hopefully-a-lot-better-than-2010/#comments Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:01:26 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=53767 For Research in Motion, 2010 was a difficult year, one marked by slowing momentum and ebbing market share. But next year promises to be different. Because in 2011, RIM will be more on point than it has been in the past. This according to Barclays analyst Jeff Kvaal, who in a note to clients Tuesday suggested that the company had been taken somewhat off guard by the quick pace of advancement in the mobile industry this year.

“RIM has struggled in the U.S. during 2010,” Kvaal wrote. “Net add momentum has slowed and market share for data has ebbed. RIM acknowledges that the pace of technical advance in network technology exceeded its expectations in 2010.”

Evidently, RIM didn’t expect carriers to be quite as aggressive about moving to WiMAX, HSPA+ and LTE as they ended up being. Rather than skating to where the puck would be, RIM spent the year chasing after it–occasionally in an entirely different game.

But that’s not going to happen in 2011. With the PlayBook tablet headed to the market, perhaps along with a Touch Bold, refreshed versions of the Curve and the Storm in the works, and a smartphone migration to RIM’s new QNX OS on the horizon, the company is poised for a good year.

“We believe 2011 will bring a steadily improving line of products to the U.S. market in general, with AT&T and Verizon particularly noteworthy,” Kvaal said. “AT&T, for example, is demonstrating clear evidence of its desire to diversify away from the iPhone in recent months. We highlight the Torch and Motorola’s Android phones as examples. We also believe that Verizon is likely to be more supportive of BlackBerry in 2011 following a difficult 2010. Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam has indicated that he considers BlackBerry one of the top platforms in the U.S.”

A good forecast all around for RIM, then, though with an interesting side note about Verizon’s LTE network. Said, Kvaal, “RIM’s planning process suggests to us, however, that RIM may not participate in Verizon’s 4G device launches in January.”

RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis appears at D: Dive Into Mobile later today.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101207/for-rim-2011-hopefully-a-lot-better-than-2010/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20101130/verizon-gets-ready-to-launch-4g/ http://allthingsd.com/20101130/verizon-gets-ready-to-launch-4g/#comments Tue, 30 Nov 2010 17:27:42 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=114 Verizon Wireless is about to move from talking about 4G to actually launching its service. The company announced that it will hold a press event on Wednesday to officially spill the beans.

A lot of those beans, though, are already out there. The company has said it will launch the 4G network (using the Long Term Evolution, or LTE, protocol) in 38 cities before the end of the year. It’s also bringing 4G to more than 60 airports across the country.

Although Verizon’s network will launch in December, it will be only for laptops for a while, with 4G consumer phones expected by the middle of next year. As with past leaps, the big plus of the 4G network is faster connections.

For those still getting up to speed on 4G (including yours truly), here’s a recap. Sprint has already launched its 4G network using a different technology, WiMax, in a number of cities. AT&T is planning to use LTE for its 4G network, with its rollout slated for next year. And, just to further confuse things, T-Mobile has recently started billing its faster-speed 3G network using the term 4G and launching devices like the myTouch 4G.

The big question now is just what Verizon will want users to fork over for its speedy network and how it approaches the question of tiered pricing and unlimited versus capped pricing at the high end.

In any case, Mobilized will be covering the Verizon event tomorrow, which is set for noon Eastern Time and will feature Verizon Wireless CTO Tony Melone.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101130/verizon-gets-ready-to-launch-4g/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20101013/broadcom-buys-beceem-for-4g-build-up/ http://allthingsd.com/20101013/broadcom-buys-beceem-for-4g-build-up/#comments Wed, 13 Oct 2010 20:52:46 +0000 Voices http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=31027 Broadcom, a leading maker of chips for mobile devices, is girding for the next generation of wireless technologies by buying Beceem Communications, a closely held maker of chips for 4G LTE and WiMax devices, for $316 million in cash.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101013/broadcom-buys-beceem-for-4g-build-up/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100719/nokia-siemens-buys-motorola-infrastructure-unit/ http://allthingsd.com/20100719/nokia-siemens-buys-motorola-infrastructure-unit/#comments Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:02:07 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=45016 Motorola has found a buyer for its network equipment business–a portion of it, anyway. Nokia Siemens Networks will pay $1.2 billion for most of Motorola’s network infrastructure operations, the companies announced Monday.

Under the terms of the deal, Motorola (MOT) will retain its wireless patent portfolio and iDEN assets, while Nokia Siemens acquires all that remains: the company’s GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband Code-Division Multiple Access), WiMax and LTE (Long-Term Evolution) operations, along with contracts to supply some 50 wireless carriers and cable companies, among them top wireless carriers like Verizon (VZ), Sprint Nextel (S) and KDDI in Japan.

Not a bad deal for Nokia Siemens, which had been struggling to bolster its presence in North America. The company last year bid in two auctions for Nortel Networks’ assets and lost both times, first to Ericsson and then to Ciena.

For Motorola, which has been looking to unload its network infrastructure business for quite some time now, the deal is an important step in its plan to spin off its mobile and cable set-top box divisions into a separate company early next year.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100719/nokia-siemens-buys-motorola-infrastructure-unit/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100630/carriers-go-to-battle-over-faster-networks/ http://allthingsd.com/20100630/carriers-go-to-battle-over-faster-networks/#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 01:07:47 +0000 Walter S. Mossberg http://ptech.allthingsd.com/?p=1366 Most media attention in the cellphone arena is focused on the battle between sexy super-smartphones like Apple’s new iPhone 4 or the latest models based on Google’s (GOOG) Android software. But there is a parallel war under way among U.S. wireless carriers to roll out new, faster data networks to link such sophisticated hand-held computers to the Internet at greater speeds, and to increase the capacity to handle all the data their owners are downloading.

This network competition is less visible and flashy, and it involves complex engineering, long time frames and techie terminology. But it is crucial to the future of these super-smartphones, of tablets like the iPad and its coming competitors, and even of laptops that run on cellular networks when their owners are traveling. The goal is to make wireless Internet access on the street as fast or faster than the access people get in homes and offices, and to overcome capacity limitations.

So, here is a very simplified explanation of what is going on, plus the results of some tests I’ve been running on the least known of these new speedier networks: T-Mobile’s “HSPA+” system, now available in some U.S. metro areas.

In a nutshell, most of the industry is gradually moving from networks dubbed as “3G,” or third generation, to faster networks called “4G,” or fourth generation. This will take several years and billions of dollars, and will be turned on city by city.

In the meantime, two of the U.S. carriers, T-Mobile and AT&T (T), will be deploying a souped-up interim 3G system, the aforementioned HSPA+ (the faster version of a common system called HSPA, formally known as High Speed Packet Access).

Today, all but one of the fancy super-smartphones that get all the attention, including the iPhone 4, are 3G phones that can’t even take full advantage of the faster HSPA+ variant of 3G. The sole 4G phone in the U.S. today is the Android-based HTC EVO 4G from Sprint (S), which is the only U.S. carrier already deploying a form of 4G. Sprint’s 4G network is based on a technology called WiMax (for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) and is now available in 36 metro areas, with more coming.

The two largest U.S. wireless carriers, Verizon (VZ) and AT&T, are planning 4G networks based on a technology called LTE, or Long Term Evolution. Neither has commercially deployed LTE networks in any metro area yet, though Verizon is pledging to roll it out in up to 30 metro areas by the end of this year. AT&T plans to deploy LTE in an unspecified number of cities starting in 2011, and HSPA+ in an unspecified number of cities starting late this year. T-Mobile, the smallest U.S. carrier, hasn’t unveiled any LTE plans, and is instead doubling down on HSPA+. It has so far rolled out HSPA+ in 25 metro areas, with more coming. T-Mobile claims that although HSPA+ is a 3G technology, it can achieve download speeds akin to 4G networks.

T-Mobile’s new webConnect Rocket

In addition to phones, all the companies are planning to build these faster networks into data modems for laptops. Sprint and T-Mobile already sell these faster gadgets.

The speeds of all these networks, including the current 3G systems, are fuzzy. The carriers issue marketing claims that often don’t pan out in real use, partly because of variations in location, network congestion and equipment.

In my tests of numerous devices over the years, most 3G phones attained download speeds of between 500 kilobits per second and 4 megabits per second. Laptop data modems generally have done better for me than phones, getting download speeds of between 1 and 5 mbps. Upload speeds on both phones and laptops always have been much slower for me than download speeds.

In May, when I tested Sprint’s 4G EVO phone, running on its 4G network, I averaged download speeds of just 3.4 megabits per second, even though the company claims a “peak” speed of more than 10 mbps and typical real-life speeds of up to 6 mbps. (Peak speeds on all these networks are usually two to three times as high as real-life speeds.)

This week, I tested the new T-Mobile HSPA+ network in two locations in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., where the carrier told me it had deployed the faster network. T-Mobile has yet to offer a phone that can take full advantage of HSPA+ speeds, though it says 15 of its current phones will go somewhat faster in HSPA+ areas. Its only true HSPA+ device is a laptop data modem called the webConnect Rocket. T-Mobile claims HSPA+ offers peak download speeds of 21 mbps, and says that, in real-life use, its webConnect Rocket should get download speeds of 5 to 8 mbps, and sometimes as high as 10 to 12 mbps.

For my tests, I compared a standard 3G iPhone 4 running on AT&T against T-Mobile’s latest Android phone, the MyTouch 3G Slide. I did a laptop test, comparing the Rocket against a standard 3G data modem from Verizon, called the UM175, using both with the same Lenovo ThinkPad. I disabled Wi-Fi before testing.

In all the tests, the T-Mobile HSPA+ network beat the competition in download speeds, though I never saw the top claimed speeds.

In each spot, I did 10 tests of the devices and averaged their speeds. At the first location, the T-Mobile Slide barely edged out the iPhone, with a download speed averaging 2.84 mbps versus the iPhone’s 2.74 mbps. At the second location, however, the Slide’s edge grew, with an average download speed of 4.26 mbps versus 3.65 mbps for the Apple (AAPL) product.

The laptop tests were much more dramatic. At my first test location, the T-Mobile Rocket drove the ThinkPad to an average download speed of 4.88 megabits per second, versus just 1.36 megabits per second for the Verizon data modem. At the second location, the Rocket achieved an average download speed on the laptop of 6.15 mbps versus 1.58 mbps for Verizon’s modem.

To be fair, the tests were performed in areas of strength for T-Mobile, which may have been weaker coverage areas for AT&T and Verizon. I have gotten much better speeds from the Verizon device in other locations, though never as high as what the Rocket delivered. Also, the Verizon data modem wasn’t the carrier’s newest or possibly its best.

But even though they didn’t back up T-Mobile’s top speed claims, the tests suggest we are heading into a future where the carrier networks may finally catch up with the power of the new smartphones.

Find all of Walter S. Mossberg’s columns and videos, free, at walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.

Speedup

U.S. carriers’ planned higher-speed wireless networks

Carrier	Next High-Speed Network	Claimed Peak Download Speed*	When Commercially Deployed	Number Of Metro Areas
Sprint	WiMax 4g	Over 10 mbps	Today	36, more coming
T-Mobile	HSPA+ 3G	21 mbps	Today	25, more coming
Verizon	LTE 4G	40-50 mbps	By year end	Up to 30, more later
AT&T**	HSPA+ 3G and LTE 4G	16 mbps for HSPA+, higher for LTE	HSPA+ this year, LTE in 2011	No number announced

*Speed is expressed in megabits per second. Actual speeds experienced by users vary, but are generally much slower.

**AT&T has announced an intention to deploy both HSPA+, and LTE. Sources: Carriers’ claims

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100630/carriers-go-to-battle-over-faster-networks/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100602/steve-burke-session/ http://allthingsd.com/20100602/steve-burke-session/#comments Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:55:57 +0000 Peter Kafka http://d8.allthingsd.com/?p=466

Steve Burke is about to take on a very big job: Combining GE’s (GE) NBC Universal with Comcast’s programming assets to create a television colossus. Good thing he has spent a lifetime in TV preparing for it.

But even without those responsibilities, Burke has plenty on his plate. As COO of the country’s biggest cable company, he helps steer Comcast (CMCSA) through tricky waters: Net neutrality, feisty file-sharers, sleeping tech guys, etc.

In certain circles–perhaps one you’re in sitting right now–the central question Burke and Comcast have to answer is: How are you going to survive the attempts of Google/Apple/everyone on the Web to turn you into an irrelevant dumb-pipe provider?

But the flip side of this question is just as valid: How can anyone really dislodge the company that controls the pipe that makes TV?

Liveblog

Kara starts off with the basics: Why do you want to buy NBC?

Burke: We’ve always believed that content and distribution go better together. We’ve had distribution, we’ve been trying to get content for a while. Tried to get Disney (DIS), came close to buying Universal when Vivendi owned the whole thing.

8:16 am: Kara–but lots of companies have tried marrying content and distribution. That doesn’t always work.

8:16 am: Burke–It has for News Corp. (NWS). But in our case, we already have the ability to put up 70,000 hours of content for video on demand. But we don’t have all the content we’d like. We don’t have day-and-date movies. We’d like all prime-time programming on VOD, etc. The thing that slows that down is the natural negotiations that you have to go through when you don’t own the content.

8:18 am: Kara–You’re also worried about becoming a dumb pipe, without control, right?

8:18 am: Burke: I like to think of it as opportunities. Look at DreamWorks (DWA)–they are worried about declining DVD sales, and they’d like to be able to do electronic sell-through. We’re in a position to help craft that evolution.

8:19 am: Kara–Are you sure consumers really want to watch this stuff on TVs, as opposed to iPads, etc?

8:20 am: Burke–We’re all for choice, anytime, anywhere. We believe consumers want that, too, and “it’s frustratingly slow” to get that to happen. “But I think that’s the world we’re all crashing into,” and “you can’t stop it anyway.”

8:21 am: What’s going with Hulu, which you’re going to own a piece of?

8:21 am: Burke–Whether it’s Hulu or Fancast, which we own all of, “people want their shows on the Internet. And they’re going to get their shows on the Internet.” Not sure if it’s going to be ad-supported or a paid model. “I know–I’ve read”–that Hulu is going to try a paid model.

8:22 am: We also support the TV-everywhere concept (spearheaded by Time Warner–get what you want on the Web, as long as you pay for a cable subscription).

8:23 am: Kara–you’re going to be running NBC, right?

8:23 am: When the deal closes, Jeff Zucker will run the entity. But he’ll report to me.

8:24 am: By the way, content and distribution don’t naturally work together. You have to make them work together. You have to do things that sometimes aren’t immediately advantageous for both sides.

8:24 am: Kara–Let’s talk about your individual businesses, as well as Steve Jobs’s expressed lack of interest in getting into TV. So cable is most important to you, right?

8:25 am: Burke–Cable provides the majority of NBCU’s cash flow. They’re the best part of the media landscape right now. Majority of cash at most entertainment companies comes from cable right now, and even more so at NBCU. But we also think there’s upside with Universal studio and NBC broadcast.

8:26 am: Okay, but give me an honest assessment of broadcast. What did you think of the Conan deal? Did they call you?

8:27 am: Burke–as the deal closes, it’s not our company. We can’t manage anything. To a degree, we’re watching things in the same way you are. There’s clearly a separation that exists. Because of regulators [natch].

8:27 am: Anyway, broadcast TV has been challenged for some time. But right now it looks to be on the upswing. Ads are coming back. retrans consent, where broadcasters will get money from cable operators, is coming. But broadly, if you look at TV, including cable, the overall television business is making as much money as ever.

8:29 am: Kara–do you still need broadcast networks anymore, anyway?

8:29 am: Burke–for big events, you can’t get a bigger audience. And that’s very attractive. We’re not naive. We know the business is “very challenged.” But in the next few years, there can be a real upside. We can invest in the business. If you’re in the network TV business, you have to spend the money to be competitive: on pilots, on encouraging creative people to work, etc. Note that NBC spent a lot more on pilots for this fall than they did a year ago. “If you’re in it, you have to be in it to invest and win. You can’t cut your way to success in broadcast TV.” [Which was Zucker's strategy last year. So what does that mean?]

8:31 am: Burke moves on to the Universal movie studio. It can move the existing library to different platforms, help it migrate from DVD to electronic sell-through, etc.

8:32 am: Will Burke have to do a lot of cost-cutting? When we bought AT&T (T), we did. But in this case, it’s not about costs. There’s very little overlap. It’s more of a case of trying to put everything together.

8:33 am: Kara: So will you sell anything off after the deal goes through?

Burke: No. We want the cable systems, but the other stuff has value, too. And all of the parts can work together.

8:34 am: Kara–How do you look at competitors like Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG). What do you think of Google TV?

8:34 am: Our real competitors are the satellite companies and telcos. Right now. The real challenge is delivering all that data. You need infrastructure–pipe–for that. That’s how you deliver tonnage. And it’s going to be that way for a long time. The Web can deliver video, but not the same tonnage, in the same way. There are a lot of companies that want to get to the TV set. And I think all of them can be complementary. But people who subscribe to us want ESPN, CNBC, etc.

8:36 am: Kara–But why do need bundles and tiers, anyway?

8:36 am: Burke: The programmers we work with want full distribution. And you pay $50, $60, and you get 200 channels. And the ecosystem works very well for the programmers, and it works well for us.

8:36 am: Kara–and for customers?

8:37 am: Burke–TV in the U.S. is better than anywhere in the world. It’s natural to say you only want to pay for two channels. And we could technically do that, and we could offer a less expensive bundle. But I think the business model has evolved to be what it is right now, and it’s been successful for both sides of the equation.

8:37 am: But again, people are picking and choosing what they want on the Web. And some of them seem to be turning off cable as well. Aren’t you worried about that?

8:38 am: Burke: We worry all the time. But the fact of the matter is, it’s counterintuitive. I have five kids. And they all consume media different ways. But quarter after quarter, year after year, cable subs go up. It has never gone down. There’s no evidence that people are giving up their cable. If people want ESPN or CNBC, they’re going to subscribe. In the future, you’ll have more stuff on more devices. But at the end of the day, it’s in the programmers’ interest to get affiliate fees for their stuff.

8:40 am: Kara–But don’t you think people want a la carte?

8:40 am: Burke–I’d like to buy the first section of the Wall Street Journal, and not the rest of the paper [followed by Kara fumbling with some math].

8:40 am: In any case, you’ve got much more choice now than you had 10 years ago. It’ll be the same thing in the next 10 years.

8:41 am: Kara–which devices are important to you beyond TV?

8:41 am: Burke–The iPad, of course. We just showed off that new iPad app/TV controller that will replace the crummy search and navigation that exists on the set-top box now.

8:43 am: Kara–Is 3-D coming to the home?

8:43 am: Burke–Yep. This won’t be like HD sets, where they started off very expensive and came down relatively slowly. We’ll get a point pretty quickly where if you’re buying a nice TV set, it will have 3-D. Now there are a lot of places where 3-D doesn’t enhance the experience. And they need to figure it out. For instance, you don’t 3-D when you have overhead shots at at a football game. So we need to figure out what percent of stuff you watch will have 3-D. But it’s coming.

8:44 am: Kara–Jobs talked about collapsing windows, but windows don’t really seem to ever collapse.

8:45 am: Burke–Right. They are narrowing, but only slightly. You want to have windows, but make sure they have a purpose. For instance, I think the best place to have a movie for the general public is the movie theater. I think that’s going to be the same for a long time.

8:46 am: Kara–But what if you don’t want to go the theater?

8:46 am: Burke–I don’t know. I think there’s a real benefit to having it in theaters opening weekend. But 90 days out, I’m not sure. It probably doesn’t have to be windowed for 90 days; you should be able to get it on VOD, etc.

8:47 am: Kara–One more time: What’s the most important device, either real or overhyped?

8:47 am: Burke–The iPad. I bring it everywhere I go. It’s so elegant. And so early in its life cycle. But I’m looking forward to other tablets, too. The big picture is that all this stuff will enhance the value of great content. That’s the bet we made with NBC, that it can get to more people, over more devices, and get more valuable that way. People are always worried about technology draining value from media, but each new wave of technology has been additive.

Q&A:

Q: Do you think your pipe business will become separate from rest of your business and become commoditized?

Burke: For starters, we’re already separating programming from video (which includes TV, high-speed, etc.

Q: What about the theory that big mergers, like the ones you’re doing, are products of hubris more than business savvy?

Burke: I know that theory. We’ve done a lot of deals. “Every single time we’ve done a deal, Wall Street has said, ‘Why are you doing that?’” But we have a view that content and distribution work together if properly managed. And that a company that gets bigger can do cool things with technology, if you do it right. “But we’re totally aware that there are a lot of people saying–’Why don’t you stay where you are?’ We think we’re getting a fairly priced deal for NBCU.”

Q: Do you think there will be a market for set-top boxes that consumers buy on their own, with features they want?

Burke: Complicated question. Each MSO is a conglomeration of different technologies. We’d love it if people bought their own set-top boxes. We’d save a ton of money. But the different technologies involved make that difficult.

Q: What’s your mobile strategy?

Burke: We’ve invested in Clearwire. We’re rolling out WiMax. We’re big believers in Wi-Fi. The iPad makes you want Wi-Fi meshing in cities, and we’re working on that. But the traditional cellphone business, as a fourth product to complement TV, landline and Web, doesn’t make sense for us.

Q: You guys have been good about chasing after malware, botnets, etc. What can you do to get others to emulate you?

Burke: The Internet business is crucial for us. It’s a growth driver. So we have to provide really reliable, really fast Internet service. And we believe in open internet. But you have to deal with congestion and protect copyrights and prevent malware and spam, and we invest a lot in that. It’s a very tricky balancing act, to make sure that the highway is really fast, but also controlled.

Q: I run Hillcrest, and Hulu blocked my service. Will you do something different when you own NBC?

Burke: “It’s not time for me to answer that question.”

Kara: “Really?”

Burke: “Really.”

Q: Your customers hate you. What are doing about that?

Burke: We’re working on customer service, spending a lot of money on it. If you don’t take care of your customers, they’re going to go somewhere else. The physical networks are getting more sophisticated. But we want to improve them.

Q: Apologies, missed the question here.

Burke is explaining that TV software platform is “balkanized” compared with the Web, where it’s much easier to get stuff to work together.

A note about our coverage: This liveblog is not an official transcript of the conversation that occurred onstage. Rather, it is a compilation of quotes, paraphrased statements and ad-lib observations written and posted to the Web as quickly as possible. It is not intended as a transcript and should not be interpreted as one.

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