Verizon Divestitures
With the Alltel buyout approved, Verizon will be seeking a partner or partners to purchase the spectrum and markets the FCC is forcing them to divest. Is there a chance that Metro PCS will purchase any of these markets?
...
I would say, absolutely not. MetroPCS is a PCS-only company and is transitioning it's entire spectrum into the 1700 MHz AWS band. There is no way that they would buy a whole bunch of cellular areas which operate in the 850 MHz band. That would be kind of stupid because many of Metro's customers have PCS-only phones.
...
So many of it's customers have 1900 MzH phones but at some point they plan to transition those customers onto the AWS (1700/2100 MzH) spectrum? I guess they'll have to upgrade those customers to new phones in any case, huh? As long as they are upgrading perhaps adding 850 band to those new phones might make sense, no? T-Mobile was all PCS too, but when the opportunity to gain SunCom's 850mzH came along they grabbed it. I would caution that there is a fine line between stupidity and genius. In fact if one has an idea that everyone else agrees with chances are that someone else has already beaten you to the execution. If Metro PCS or any carrier is in this for the long haul then they need to be pursueing a national footprint by any means...
(continues)
(continues)
...
Well the thing is, all of Metro's original customers that live in the original Metro areas, have 1900 MHz only phones for the most part. Now that Metro is building like wild in the AWS band, they are selling 1700/1900 MHz phones to those customers in those markets. I'm sure that if anyone buys a new phone in the original markets, they will have AWS on the phone. 850 may also be on there, but that's only for roaming.
As for the T-Mobile/SunCom thing, SunCom was primarily a 1900 MHz-only company. I think they had one 800 MHz area, like in South Carolina. So, T-Mobile wasn't really gaining a large 800 MHz footprint.
As for the T-Mobile/SunCom thing, SunCom was primarily a 1900 MHz-only company. I think they had one 800 MHz area, like in South Carolina. So, T-Mobile wasn't really gaining a large 800 MHz footprint.
...
I just checked out their six latest phones they all have 850mZh radios built into them. I hope they get involved in any urban markets Verizon has to divest. It's bad enough Verizon is gobbling up alltel as it is. If Cingular gets involved...that's even worse. I'd prefer to see a smaller carrier make a move.
...
