T-Mobile USA's equity value has dropped by $13 billion since the failed sale to AT&T in 2011.
T-Mobile USA is worth about $26 billion including debt, based on MetroPCS’s share price and analyst estimates, according to Bloomberg.
Deutsche Telekom had intended to sell T-Mobile USA for $39 billion.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
T-Mobile USA Has Lost $13 Billion Since Failed AT&T Merger
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Top Mobile Service Providers Globally
China’s three mobile operators all recorded double-digit subscriber growth over the last year, strengthening their respective standings in the latest Wireless Intelligence Wireless Intelligence ‘Scoreboard’ operator ranking.
China Mobile extended its lead as the world’s largest operator group, growing connections by 11 percent year-on-year to 683.1 million. Its two domestic rivals both moved up the ranking compared to a year ago - and all three now feature in the top ten for the first time.
China Unicom moved up one place on the back of a 21 percent increase connections to 219.3 million, while China Telecom climbed two places as connections increased 33 percent to 144.2 million.
China as a whole surpassed the one billion milestone earlier in the year.
| Rank | Operator-group | Connections (millions) 1 | YoY Growth, connections | YoY Growth, rank | Mobile Revenue (US$ billion) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China Mobile | 683.08 | 11% | - | 22.05 |
| 2 | Vodafone Group | 386.88 | 5% | - | 13.92 |
| 3 | América Móvil Group | 251.83 | 7% | - | 7.98 |
| 4 | Bharti Airtel Group | 250.04 | 13% | +1 | 3.04 |
| 5 | Telefónica Group | 243.51 | 7% | -1 | 11.40 |
| 6 | China Unicom | 219.25 | 21% | +1 | 4.95 |
| 7 | VimpelCom Group 2 | 205.05 | 7% | -1 | 4.58 |
| 8 | Reliance Communications | 154.60 | 8% | - | 0.48 |
| 9 | Telenor Group | 152.74 | 24% | - | 2.55 |
| 10 | China Telecom | 144.18 | 33% | +2 | 3.37 |
| 11 | MTN Group | 136.59 | 14% | -1 | 3.85 |
| 12 | France Telecom Group | 133.38 | 57% | +9 | 7.18 |
| 13 | Telkomsel Group | 117.24 | 15% | +2 | 1.43 |
| 14 | Idea Cellular | 117.16 | 23% | +3 | 1.00 |
| 15 | Sistema Group 3 | 114.51 | 3% | -4 | 2.54 |
| 16 | Verizon Wireless | 111.37 | 5% | -3 | 15.78 |
| 17 | Deutsche Telekom Group | 107.86 | 2% | -3 | 8.38 |
| 18 | AT&T | 105.21 | 7% | -2 | 14.77 |
| 19 | Telecom Italia | 101.10 | 16% | +1 | 4.10 |
| 20 | BSNL | 98.28 | 5% | -2 | 0.44 |
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Sprint Weighs MetroPCS Bid
Sprint is in the early stages of evaluating a counter offer for MetroPCS Communications Inc. (PCS) to top Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE)’s bid to combine it with T-Mobile USA, BusinessWeek reports.
Should that happen, it would appear the Sprint board of directors made a bad decision in overruling CEO Dan Hesse's proposal that Sprint should buy MetroPCS, made earlier in 2012.
Should that happen, it would appear the Sprint board of directors made a bad decision in overruling CEO Dan Hesse's proposal that Sprint should buy MetroPCS, made earlier in 2012.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Comparing Mobile Wallet Providers
Nice chart by GigaOm's Ryan Kim.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
“Mobiles” are Mostly Used “Untethered”
About 68 percent of consumer mobile phone use occurs in the home, a study sponsored by AOL and BBDO has found. That, as much as anything, shows the growing importance of “untethered” access for mobile devices.
The study, conducted by research firm InsightsNow, shows that a focus on “mobile” devices actually requires understanding the role of untethered access, which in fact might already represent as much as half of all mobile operations on a smart phone.
The study segmented into seven distinct "mobile motivations" that encompass most mobile use:
a. Accomplish - managing activities and lifestyle to gain a sense of accomplishment
b. Socialize- active interaction with other people
c. Prepare - active planning in order to be prepared for upcoming activities
d.Me Time - seeking relaxation and entertainment in order to indulge oneself or pass the time
e. Discover - seeking news and information
f. Shop - focusing on finding a product or service
g.Express Myself -participating in passions and interests
“Me Time” is by far the biggest pasttime, accounting for almost half (46 percent) of all smart phone app and website activities, averaging 864 minutes per month per user, About 70 percent of those activities are “lean-back” experiences.
The study, conducted by research firm InsightsNow, shows that a focus on “mobile” devices actually requires understanding the role of untethered access, which in fact might already represent as much as half of all mobile operations on a smart phone.
The study segmented into seven distinct "mobile motivations" that encompass most mobile use:
a. Accomplish - managing activities and lifestyle to gain a sense of accomplishment
b. Socialize- active interaction with other people
c. Prepare - active planning in order to be prepared for upcoming activities
d.Me Time - seeking relaxation and entertainment in order to indulge oneself or pass the time
e. Discover - seeking news and information
f. Shop - focusing on finding a product or service
g.Express Myself -participating in passions and interests
“Me Time” is by far the biggest pasttime, accounting for almost half (46 percent) of all smart phone app and website activities, averaging 864 minutes per month per user, About 70 percent of those activities are “lean-back” experiences.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
4G Retail Prices 20% Higher Than 3G: Can That Last?
Compared to 3G data pricing, 4G is around 20 percent higher than 3G for the equivalent data plan, according to ABI Research. Whether that will remain the case longer term is more debatable, ABI Research says.
“In South Korea, SK Telecom has cut its 4G pricing to remain competitive," ABI Research notes.
Their ‘LTE 62 Plan’ for smartphones used to be priced US$55.04 for 3 GB of data, but the monthly download quota has now been increased to 5 GB.
ABI Research has seen similar 4G mobile data quota and/or pricing revisions in Norway, Hong Kong, and the US,” said Jake Saunders, VP for forecasting at ABI Research.
According to ABI Research’s cross-country comparison of mobile data pricing, the world’s cheapest 4G data plan is currently on offer by CSL Hong Kong, which launched its 4G service in November 2011.
For 3G mobile data, the lowest tariff can be found in Singapore. Singapore’s M1 offers a 4 GB data plan for US$9.62.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
France Telecom Promises Higher LTE Prices
France Telecom CEO Stephane Richard says the coming Long Term Evolution 4G network will be priced at a premium to the 3G network. That isn’t terribly surprising. The established pricing model for fixed or mobile broadband access is that faster networks cost more than slower networks.
And since there is a relatively linear relationship between network speed and data consumption, as a rule, there will be a tendency for usage-based plans to cost more when customers are on faster networks.
Beyond that, service providers always have used “new features” or “new capabilities” as a rationale for higher retail prices. Aside from the fact that LTE is more bandwidth efficient, an advantage for carriers, LTE does feature lower latency, for example, an advantage for end users.
Also, as a practical matter, expensive networks, with high fixed costs, facing significant loss of current revenue, necessarily will look to price increases. Consumers of electricity and water services, for example, sometimes are exhorted to “reduce” use as a “green” effort, or to conserve resources. But if too many electricity or water customers really do so, then revenue for the suppliers drops, and they raise their prices.
So, in a real sense, the growing competition in the market, not just evolving product demand, also would force suppliers to make up revenue losses, somehow.
Executives of European carriers including Vodafone and Spain’s Telefonica say European regulators need to ease restrictions on consolidation to free up resources for investments into faster networks.
“There are hundreds of telecom operators in Europe while there are three or four in major markets like the U.S. and China,” said Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete, Telefonica’s COO.
For all of those reasons, higher mobile broadband pricing is coming, as mobile service providers build 4G LTE networks.
And since there is a relatively linear relationship between network speed and data consumption, as a rule, there will be a tendency for usage-based plans to cost more when customers are on faster networks.
Beyond that, service providers always have used “new features” or “new capabilities” as a rationale for higher retail prices. Aside from the fact that LTE is more bandwidth efficient, an advantage for carriers, LTE does feature lower latency, for example, an advantage for end users.
Also, as a practical matter, expensive networks, with high fixed costs, facing significant loss of current revenue, necessarily will look to price increases. Consumers of electricity and water services, for example, sometimes are exhorted to “reduce” use as a “green” effort, or to conserve resources. But if too many electricity or water customers really do so, then revenue for the suppliers drops, and they raise their prices.
So, in a real sense, the growing competition in the market, not just evolving product demand, also would force suppliers to make up revenue losses, somehow.
Executives of European carriers including Vodafone and Spain’s Telefonica say European regulators need to ease restrictions on consolidation to free up resources for investments into faster networks.
“There are hundreds of telecom operators in Europe while there are three or four in major markets like the U.S. and China,” said Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete, Telefonica’s COO.
For all of those reasons, higher mobile broadband pricing is coming, as mobile service providers build 4G LTE networks.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
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