AT&T Admits That The Whole 'Spectrum Crunch' Argument It Made For Why It Needed T-Mobile Wasn't True
from the well,-implicity dept
You may recall that back when AT&T was trying to buy T-Mobile, a big part of the argument was a spectrum crunch around its wireless efforts. The company insisted -- strenuously -- that it would not be able to expand 4G LTE services to more than 80% of the population unless it had T-Mobile. That argument ran into some trouble when a lawyer accidentally posted some documents to the FCC which admitted that the company could fairly easily expand its coverage to 97% of the population of the US without T-Mobile (and, in fact, that it would cost about 10% of what buying T-Mobile would cost). Suddenly, the argument that it absolutely needed T-Mobile rang hollow -- even as the company continued to insist exactly that. Still, the FCC suddenly was skeptical and AT&T, seeing the writing on the wall, gave up on the merger.So, it probably shouldn't have been seen as much of a surprise that just 11 months after the T-Mobile deal fell through, AT&T has announced plans to expand its LTE footprint to cover 97% of the population of the US. In other words, the internal document was exactly correct, and AT&T's public claims? Hogwash.
Even the mainstream news media is now mocking AT&T's obviously bogus claims during the merger fight. AT&T's response to this is to claim that it "chartered a new direction," doing something like 40 new deals for spectrum. However, as Broadband Reports notes, all of this seems to make clear that there is no spectrum crunch -- that's just a bogeyman story that the telcos tell the government when they want a handout. In fact, AT&T is now saying publicly that there is no spectrum crunch. It has more than enough.
Speaking to analysts, AT&T's chief strategy officer John Stankey yesterday acknowledged the company is now well-positioned on the spectrum front -- even before the company starts moving on their new plan to use WCS spectrum for LTE deployment.Of course, I'm sure the next time AT&T needs something from the government, or wants to wipe a competitor off the map, we'll be right back to that story about how they're in desperate need of spectrum.
"Even under ideal circumstances, getting new spectrum on the market in the next five to seven years is aggressive," Stankey said. "But what we do know is that AT&T is well-positioned now...These deals give us confidence that we can meet our LTE objectives for next two years and they will allow us to deliver competitive performance."
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: 4g, mobile, spectrum, spectrum crunch, wireless
Companies: at&t, t-mobile
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
More like it needed another reason to squeeze income out of it's customers.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
More importantly, why have the executives ofg the time not been arrested for fraud and extortion?
Oh, wait, that ould be the right thing to do.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
1) Buy tmobile.
2) Wreck customer base.
3) Take over towers.
4)Cover 99% of US.
5) Jack rates thru the roof.
6) ...
7) PROFIT!!
...well, the execs will profit. AT&T will cut jobs and pay, and turn their network into a world laughingstock while said execs escape to Angola with their fat bonuses and sold stock options.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Evil capitalists
I wish my world were as simple as yours.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Evil capitalists
OF COURSE THEY'LL JACK THEIR RATES TOO!! Haven't you realized that most "execs" are just a bunch of "monkey-sees, monkey-do's" that don't have a single brain cell in their overinflated egoistic crania??
In other words: they're drunk, dumb, and retarded (sorry, mentally-disabled people); and they're functionally incapable of anything but shoving a shiv into your back to steal your last crust of bread.
And people wonder why we need government regulation in our lives!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Evil capitalists
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Evil capitalists
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Evil capitalists
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Evil capitalists
There isn't a lot of price variation amongst the cell carriers. There is a lot of variation in the exact form the various plans take, but that confusion is design to give the appearance of lower rates compared to the competition without actually giving lower rates.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Evil capitalists
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Evil capitalists
They all collude and fix rates.
It's just business, in the name of profits. Who cares about those lousy pesky custo:tard:s??
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Evil capitalists
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Tine to Break up AT&T
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Tine to Break up AT&T
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Tine to Break up AT&T
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Would you do better?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Would you do better?
Remind me never to send any business your way. Yes, I do believe the majority of businesses (especially small businesses) out there do still know what honesty, honour, integrity, ethics and morality are and they take them seriously, because their reputations rely on it. Outright lies and "Reality Distortion Fields" may be de riguere for the Wunderkind silicon based megacorps of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, but that's not most of us. We're generally not psychopaths.
Eg., IBM applies for and gets a huge number of patents on its tech every year; close to the top performer I believe. They don't go Thermonuclear on their competitors like Apple's chosen to do recently.
I'm not much of a fan of the FCC especially considering the dismal state of telecom extant in the US today (monopolies, and consumer choice bedamned!), but at least they weren't stupid enough to fall for this bit of BS from AT&T.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
AT&T in the fabrication biz
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: AT&T in the fabrication biz
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Author, hmmm? Are you sure? When did AT&T say this? Can you provide a source reference?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Not exactly
The spectrum crunch is real, and metered pricing is one reaction to it. If you like metered pricing, keep on ignoring the realities of spectrum and you'll find a lot more fun stuff to complain about.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Not exactly
As you say, metered pricing is one reaction to it -- one one that's being actively used in a very deceptive way to soak us all to the greatest degree possible.
Why should we just knuckle under and submit to more of the same? Should we not seek a solution that is less susceptible to shenanigans?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Not exactly
To get to the higher data rates supported by LTE and LTE Advanced, the carriers need more spectrum. Instead of 5 and 10 MHz channels, they need 20 MHz or better. This isn't carrier fiction, the same dynamic exists in Wi-Fi: To get to 802.11n's maximum speeds, it needs to use 40 Mhz channels instead of old school 20 MHz channels, and to get to 802.11ac's peak rates it needs an 80 MHz channel.
Do you see a pattern here?
Whining about carrier behavior is sometimes warranted, but the ability to bring the snark isn't a substitute for real technical knowledge or for exceptional policy wisdom, it's simply lame link-whoring.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Not exactly
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Not exactly
How does that work with your conspiracy theory about telco exaggeration?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Not exactly
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Not exactly
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]