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09/15/11--11:24: MetroPCS adding EV-DO to around 20% of cell sites (chan 3119522)

Flat-rater carrier MetroPCS (NASDAQ:PCS) is deploying EV-DO data service in a little less than 20 percent of its cell sites to augment its CDMA 1X data service that exists in all of its markets, CFO Braxton Carter said.

Carter, speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Entertainment & Communications conference, said that cumulative investment for the deployment will be less than $100 million by the end of the year, and that the company is already seeing positive results. The carrier said during its second-quarter earnings announcement that it will increase capital expenditures this year from a previous estimate of $700 million to $900 million to a new target of $900 million to $1 billion. Carter said the EV-DO deployment is part of that increase.

CDMA carrier MetroPCS skipped deploying a 3G EV-DO network and instead moved straight to LTE, which it turned on late last year.

Carter said that the company wants to migrate more customers to its LTE network, but will likely not be able to do so until it can offer cheaper LTE Android smartphones--devices that MetroPCS can purchase for under $200--which he said likely will not happen until the end of next year. He noted that MetroPCS will have spent around $1 billion total on its LTE network through early next year. "The good news is a lot of that investment is already behind us," he said. "The bad news is we're in this transition period." MetroPCS has LTE service in its 14 core markets.

Interestingly, as part of that transition to LTE, Carter said MetroPCS is making ample use of Wi-Fi offloading. Carter said "a lot" of smartphone data traffic is now going over Wi-Fi--in some cases as much as 70 percent, though he did not provide more details. Wi-Fi connectivity firm iPass recently said that the company's research indicates that MetroPCS may be offloading as much as 20 percent of its cellular traffic onto Wi-Fi networks.

When asked if having more smartphones on a 1X network would lead to customer disappointment and higher churn, Carter said that the company's smartphone churn is improving and is not materially different than feature phone churn. However, he acknowledged that if customers want to stream video or audio on the carrier's 1X network, they likely will not have a positive experience. Carter then noted that MetroPCS does currently offer two LTE phones, the Samsung Craft and Samsung Galaxy Indulge, an Android phone.

Carter also touched on Verizon Wireless' (NYSE:VZ) nationwide launch of its $50 prepaid unlimited "Unleashed" plan, which offers unlimited voice, texting and Web access for feature phones. The MetroPCS executive said he was not worried about the plan, echoing similar comments made yesterday by Leap Wireless (NASDAQ:LEAP) CEO Dough Hutcheson about Unleashed.

Unleashed is "a pure big box [retailer] play," Carter said. "It's never been a key focus of ours." Carter speculated that Verizon might be targeting T-Mobile USA customers with the plan. Verizon Communications CFO Shammo said Wednesday that the launch was done to coincide with the launch of Verizon's retail relationship with RadioShack, given that the retailer sells a great deal of prepaid service.

For more:
- see this webcast

Related Articles:
Leap not worried about Verizon's Unleashed plan
Verizon to launch Unleashed $50 unlimited prepaid plan nationwide Thursday
MetroPCS may be offloading at least 20% of its traffic to Wi-Fi
MetroPCS adds 200K subs in Q2, boosts capex spending
MetroPCS adds 725K subs in Q1, banks on Android
MetroPCS sets sights on smartphones, LTE for 2011 growth

09/28/11--07:02: Sprint to launch enhanced CDMA push-to-talk service Oct. 2 (chan 3119522)

Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) will launch its upgraded CDMA push-to-talk (PTT) service, Direct Connect, on Sunday, one of the key steps in its Network Vision network modernization plan.

Kyocera DuraMax

The carrier, which first announced the new service in March, said that Direct Connect will offer enhanced services, including CDMA data, for Sprint's push-to-talk customers. The action is part of Sprint's plans to eventually move users off its aging iDEN network and onto its CDMA network. Sprint plans to eventually begin shutting down PTT service on its iDEN network and will refarm is 800 MHz iDEN spectrum for advanced voice services as well as possibly LTE service.

Sprint said the new Direct Connect service will offer improved in-building coverage and will triple the square-mile reach of its current iDEN-based PTT service. Specifically, Sprint said its new PTT offering will cover 2.7 million square miles and a population of 309 million (with the addition of 1XRTT and roaming coverage), up from the iDEN network's 908,370 square miles covering a population 278 million. The new service will ride on Sprint's 1900 MHz spectrum; Sprint's iDEN network runs on the carrier's 800 MHz spectrum.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) is the vendor for the new PTT solution, which is an upgrade over the existing QChat technology that Sprint deployed a few years ago using its CDMA network.

In 2012, Sprint plans expand the Direct Connect PTT coverage area to match the Sprint CDMA voice coverage area. Additionally, Sprint said international PTT calling to select countries will also become available next year.

Sprint said the first phone compatible with the new service will be the Kyocera DuraMax, which will sell for $69.99 with a two-year contract and after a $50 mail-in rebate. Sprint also plans to launch to more Direct Connect phones in the fourth quarter, including another Kyocera phone as well as an Android PTT phone from Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI).

For more:
- see this release
- see this CNET article

Related Articles:
Will Sprint's improved QChat service stop iDEN customers from leaving?
Sprint to deploy enhanced CDMA push-to-talk service in Q4
Sprint selects network project vendors, will start shutting down iDEN in 2013
Hesse: Sprint eventually will shut down iDEN

10/04/11--11:10: Apple unveils iPhone 4S with GSM/CDMA world phone capabilities (chan 3119522)

Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) newest iPhone, the iPhone 4S, will not include support for LTE networks but will support both GSM and CDMA networks, making it a world phone.

Apple's Phil Schiller made the announcement as part of the unveiling of the iPhone 4S at a media event at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.

The iPhone 4S will support a faster HSDPA speed, which should benefit customers using AT&T Mobility's (NYSE:T) HSPA+ network, since the HSDPA speeds the phone supports will be faster than EV-DO data. The iPhone 4S will support speeds up to 14.4 Mbps while last year's iPhone 4 supports speeds up to 7.2 Mbps.

Additionally, in a bid to try and avoid the "antenna-gate" issues that plagued the iPhone 4 last year, Apple said that the device will be able to now intelligently switch between the antennas for even better call quality.

For more:
- see this Engadget live blog
- see this This is my next live blog
- see this AllThingsD live blog

Special Coverage: Click here for all Fierce iPhone articles

10/04/11--13:20: Apple unveils iPhone 4S, adds Sprint, Siri voice-recognition software (chan 3119522)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) took the wraps off the iPhone 4S, the fifth incarnation of its popular smartphone, and added Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) to its list of U.S. carrier partners, potentially giving a leg up to the nation's No. 3 carrier. Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) will also launch the iPhone 4S.

Click here for a photo tour through the iPhone 4S.

Apple CEO Tim Cook made the announcement as part of the unveiling of the iPhone 4S at a media event at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. The iPhone 4S will support both GSM and CDMA networks (but not LTE or WiMAX networks) and will be available Oct. 14 in the United States. The device will come in three variants, a 16 GB model for $199, a 32 GB model for $299 and, for the first time, a 64 GB model for $399, all with two-year contracts.

The announcement means that T-Mobile USA, which AT&T is trying to acquire, is the only Tier 1 U.S. carrier that will not carry the iPhone. Apple also said an 8 GB iPhone 4 will be available for $99 with a two-year contract to Verizon, AT&T and Sprint subscribers and that the iPhone 3GS will be free with a two-year contract to AT&T customers.

In conjunction with the iPhone 4S, Apple also unveiled its new voice-recognition software, Siri, which it acquired in 2010. The Siri technology enables iOS device users to employ natural spoken language to access and perform device tasks like mobile search, messaging and contacts. Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, described Siri as an "intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking," while Scott Forstall, senior vice president of iOS software, demonstrated the service by asking Siri about the weather, to which a computer-generated voice replied "Here is the weather for today." Siri also supplied information about the current time in Paris, today's Nasdaq performance and recommended Greek restaurants in the Palo Alto area. (Click here for details on Siri.)

Apple also said it will release an iOS app that will allow users to find other users who opt-in to the service. The offering stands as an alternative to similar friend- and family-tracking services from the likes of Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), Sprint and AT&T. (Click here for details on Find My Friends).

Apple also unveiled Cards, a free iOS application enabling users to design personalized greeting cards via iPhone. Once the card is completed, Apple will print it, address it and mail it, even offering USPS delivery tracking on cards mailed within the U.S. Apple also will send users a push notification when their card arrives at its destination. (Click here for details on Cards)

While some analysts and observers had been expecting a wholesale makeover for the iPhone, others were less surprised by the modest hardware changes, and the announcement was akin to when Apple introduced the iPhone 3GS in 2009 to replace the iPhone 3G. The iPhone 4S sports a dual-core Apple A5 processor, an 8-megapixel camera with advanced optics and full 1080p HD resolution video recording. (Click here to see how the iPhone 4S stacks up against the competition.) Additionally, in a bid to try and avoid the "antenna-gate" issues that plagued the iPhone 4 last year, Apple said that the device will be able to now intelligently switch between the antennas for even better call quality.

Click here to see how the iPhone 4S stacks up against the competition.

Analysts were divided over what the impact of the new device would be. CCS Insight analyst John Jackson said the device is essentially a refresh, but that a more important factor could be Apple's decision to lower the prices of the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4. "They have put themselves in a position to grow the base of iOS users without incurring all of the massive nonrecurring engineering costs associated with developing a fundamentally new product," he said.

According to data from The Nielsen Company, in August Google's Android platform captured 43 percent of the U.S. smartphone market and iOS captured 28 percent, while Research In Motion's (NASDAQ:RIMM) BlackBerry had 18 percent.

Some analysts thought that Sprint getting the iPhone would be a boon to the carrier, which has struggled with postpaid subscriber losses. Sprint, unlike AT&T and Verizon, still offers unlimited smartphone data plans. ABI Research analyst Kevin Burden said in the near term he expects Sprint to hammer AT&T and Verizon on that point in marketing to attract subscribers, but said Sprint will eventually have to drop unlimited data plans.

"Is it six months, a year?" he said. "Most likely it will happen because it's kind of the way things are going to go."

Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg said getting the iPhone 4S is "a great deal" for Sprint and that the most obvious losers are T-Mobile and all other carriers still without the iPhone.

However, he noted that "there are still customers for whom the carrier is the most important choice who won't switch on the basis of any particular phone."

For more:
- see this release
- see this Apple site
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)

Special Coverage: Click here for all Fierce iPhone articles

Related Articles:
Report: Sprint buys 30.5 million Apple iPhones over four years
Sprint: We're ready for the iPhone (but not confirming it)
Rumor Mill: Sprint to pair iPhone 5 with $80 unlimited plan
Report: Sprint to get iPhone 5 in October
Report: Apple working on cheaper 8 GB iPhone 4
Apple sells 20.3M iPhones, 9.25M iPads in another record quarter

10/05/11--07:45: Verizon, AT&T start marketing battle over iPhone 4S, while Sprint stays mum (chan 3119522)

For the first time, three U.S. wireless carriers will have access to the same Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone, in the form of the new iPhone 4S, which will go on sale Oct. 14. Of course, that's not stopping them from arguing that their particular iPhone will be the best.

"We feel like the new phone, when it runs on our 4G network, is going to download material twice as fast," AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) CEO Ralph de la Vega told AllThingsD in an interview on Tuesday. "When you combine that with a new portfolio that includes the iPhone 3GS, the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S, I think we have the best iPhone portfolio in the industry."

The iPhone 4S will support both GSM and CDMA networks. However, GSM users likely will enjoy faster data speeds due to the phone's HSDPA support of speeds up to 14.4 Mbps--faster than CDMA EV-DO data. AT&T is also the only carrier that will offer a free iPhone 3GS with a two-year contract.

Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) began offering the iPhone 4 in February, and supported unlimited smartphone data plans for new customers until July. It also offered a mobile hotpsot service with the iPhone, which AT&T did not have at the time of launch (but has subsequently gained). However, now both Verizon and AT&T will be offering usage-based data plans to new iPhone 4S customers. In that competitive environment, Verizon indicated it will turn to an old standby in terms of marketing: its network quality.

"The network matters," Verizon CMO Marni Walden said in a statement, according to AllThingsD. "And, while iPhone 4S may look like the same device across all carriers, customers know they are choosing reliability when they select a Verizon Wireless iPhone 4S."

Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S), meanwhile, confirmed that it is getting the iPhone (and like Verizon and AT&T will offer an 8 GB iPhone 4 for $99 with a two-year contract), but has not tipped its hand as to how it will market the iPhone. The carrier has not issued a formal press release about the iPhone yet and has not indicated what kind of data plan it will pair with the device, though Sprint does remain the only Tier 1 wireless carrier with a truly unlimited smartphone plan--its $79.99 Everything Data plan.

Meanwhile, analysts seemed to conclude that Sprint will take a large hit in its operating margins as a result of the iPhone, which Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has indicated may be the case, but that getting the iPhone was a net positive for the company. "They will benefit from improved retention of their customers and a high level of customer upgrades," Michael Nelson, an analyst with Mizuho Securities USA, told Bloomberg. He said he expects Sprint will sell about 1 million iPhones in the fourth quarter.

For more:
- see this AllThingsD article
- see this Bloomberg article

Special Coverage: Click here for all Fierce iPhone articles

10/06/11--07:39: Sprint confirms unlimited data plans for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 (chan 3119522)

Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) said it will offer Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 with its unlimited smartphone data plans, revealing its expected trump card as it prepares to compete head-on with its larger rivals AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) and Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ).

The carrier confirmed that its current smartphone pricing plans, which include unlimited data, will not change for the iPhone. Both AT&T and Verizon currently offer usage-based data plans to new smartphone customers. Sprint's plans, which offer unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling, data and messaging will range from $79.99 for a plan with 450 anytime voice minutes up to $109.99 for Sprint's Simply Everything plan, which has unlimited voice minutes.

Verizon introduced the iPhone 4 in February when it was still offering unlimited data plans for smartphones (it switched to offering usage-based plans for new smartphone customers in July). Verizon has activated 4.5 million iPhones since then. AT&T, meanwhile, activated 7.2 million iPhones in the first two quarters of this year (during that time AT&T has been selling both the iPhone 4 and a $49 iPhone 3GS with a two-year contract).

Sprint, like Verizon and AT&T, will begin taking pre-orders for the iPhone 4S Oct. 7 at midnight Pacific Time. Sales will begin Oct. 14, with the iPhone 4S retailing for $199.99 for the 16GB model, $299.99 for the 32GB model and $399.99 for the 64GB model, with a two-year contract. Sprint, like AT&T and Verizon, is also selling an 8 GB iPhone 4 for $99.99 with a two-year contract.

The iPhone 4S will support both GSM and CDMA networks. However, according to Apple, only iPhones activated for Verizon and Sprint will have the CDMA capabilities turned on. Additionally, CDMA iPhone 4S users will not be able to have simultaneous voice and data access, but will be able to roam on GSM networks. GSM users likely will enjoy faster data speeds due to the phone's HSDPA support of speeds up to 14.4 Mbps--faster than CDMA EV-DO data. AT&T is also the only carrier that will offer a free iPhone 3GS with a two-year contract.

The carriers are already positioning themselves for how they intend to market their iPhone offerings. AT&T is billing itself as the most complete iPhone carrier, as well as the one with the fastest iPhones. Verizon is relying on its reputation of network reliability to differentiate itself. And Sprint appears to be banking on its value proposition to customers. "Sprint's unlimited data plans provide more value than metered plans from other carriers," Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said in a statement. "Our customers can take advantage of the innovative features of iPhone without worrying about overage charges or surprises on their bill."

For more:
- see this release

Special Coverage: Click here for all Fierce iPhone articles

Related Articles:
Verizon, AT&T start marketing battle over iPhone 4S, while Sprint stays mum
Apple unveils iPhone 4S, adds Sprint, Siri voice-recognition software
Apple forgoes NFC m-payment integration with new iOS 5
Apple launches Siri voice-activated controls with new iPhone 4S
Sprint to launch iPhone 4S Oct. 14, along with AT&T, Verizon

10/07/11--09:23: Sprint to launch LTE on 1900 MHz spectrum by mid-2012 (chan 3119522)

NEW YORK--Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) will launch LTE service by mid-2012 using its 1900 MHz spectrum, an expected move away from WiMAX as its 4G technology of choice. The switch to LTE is the most significant part to date of the carrier's Network Vision network upgrade.

Hesse

At an investor conference here, Sprint executives detailed the company's 4G strategy and the timeline for the switch. Sprint will launch FDD LTE service on its 1900 MHz PCS spectrum by the middle of next year. The executives reiterated many of the benefits of Network Vision, which centers around multi-mode base stations that Sprint argues will enable it to lower costs and support multiple technologies on one network. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said Network Vision will help improve the customer experience, reduce costs, allow Sprint to better use its spectrum assets and will give the company flexibility and sustainability.

LTE deployment and Network Vision

Steve Elfman, Sprint's president of network operations and wholesale, said that Sprint will undertake an "aggressive" rollout of LTE, and that the carrier's first LTE markets will be turned on by mid-2012. Sprint's LTE buildout will be largely complete by 2013, he said.

Bob Azzi, Sprint's senior vice president of networks, said that by the end of 2012, Sprint will cover 176 million POPs with 4G, a figure that includes 123 million LTE POPs, 120 million WiMAX POPs and 67 million POPs that will overlap. He said by the end of Sprint's Network Vision deployment at the end of 2013, Sprint will have 250 million LTE POPs covered and will continue filling in smaller markets with LTE at the beginning of 2014.

Sprint's initial LTE deployment w ill be in the G-Block of the 1900 MHz band, where Sprint has a nationwide 5X5 MHz block of spectrum, Azzi said. He said Sprint's G-Block spectrum will be combined with other 1900 MHz spectrum for its LTE service, and that the carrier currently has an average of 20-25 MHz per market nationwide in 1900. At some point in the future, Sprint also plans to use its 800 MHz for LTE; the carrier currently uses 800 MHz for iDEN but will begin moving those customers off that spectrum by 2013.

Sprint also plans to deploy CDMA 1X voice service in its 800 MHz spectrum and move CDMA traffic off its 1900 MHz spectrum. However, Sprint plans to decommission its existing iDEN service on its 800 MHz spectrum beginning in 2013. To get more capacity, Sprint also plans to introduce Wi-Fi offloading this quarter as well as new femtocells and optimization technology.

Sprint CFO Joe Euteneuer said the company plans to spend around $10 billion in 2012 and 2013 on deploying Network Vision and LTE as well as maintaining its legacy wireline and wireless operations. At the same time, he said Sprint will save $10 billion to $11 billion in operating expenses and capital expenditures from 2011 to 2017, including $4 billion from shutting down iDEN service.

Azzi said LTE markets will be turned on in "clusters" and not all at once, so some customers will get the benefits of Network Vision as the deployment progresses. Azzi said the speeds of Sprint's LTE network will be greater than those provided by the WiMAX network, which network provider Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR) and Sprint advertise as delivering average downlink speeds of 3-6 Mbps. Azzi said there will be a seamless handoff between CDMA and LTE on 1900 MHz and that "where we have 3G coverage we'll have 4G coverage."

The Sprint executives noted the base stations will enable Sprint to support multiple technologies in multiple spectrum bands. Sprint is also moving iDEN customers to advanced CDMA push-to-talk service on its 1900 MHz spectrum, which Sprint said offers improved in-building coverage and will triple the square-mile reach of its current iDEN-based PTT service.

Sprint will continue to use 1900 MHz spectrum and 800 MHz spectrum, which is currently being used for iDEN service, through 2014, Elfman said. Elfman and Azzi both noted that Network Vision's multi-mode base stations, which are being provided by Alcatel-Lucent (NASDAQ:ALU), Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) and Samsung at a cost of $billion to $5 billion, will bring numerous benefits.

Devices

The first 1900 MHz dual-mode CDMA/LTE devices will be available also by mid-2012, and Sprint will continue to sell WiMAX devices throughout 2012 as well. Sprint currently resells mobile WiMAX service through Clearwire, in which it holds a 54 percent ownership stake.

Fared Adib, vice president of product development at Sprint, said the company will partner with Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) on multi-mode chipsets for its new LTE devices. Adib said Sprint will launch 15 CDMA/LTE devices in 2012, including smartphones, tablets and data cards. He also said CDMA/WiMAX/LTE devices will only be launched as mobile hotspots.

Adib also said HTC, which created Sprint's first CDMA/WiMAX phone, the Evo 4G, also plans to deliver LTE devices to Sprint. Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI) will also release LTE devices for Sprint, according to Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha, who delivered a video message at the conference.

LightSquared and Clearwire

Elfman said Sprint may get access to LightSquared's 1.6 GHz L-Band spectrum, but he noted that the FCC is still reviewing whether to approve LightSquared's network plans. Sprint and LightSquared entered into a 9-year $15 billion network hosting arrangement in July in which LightSquared will use Sprint's Network Vision architecture, but LightSquared is currently mired in concerns that its network will cause interference with GPS receivers, and the FCC has mandated more tests of its network. Sprint has the right to terminate its deal with LightSquared if the FCC does not grant approval by the end of 2011.

Notably, Sprint executives did not say the company will provide new funding for Clearwire. Clearwire has said it needs to raise between $150 million and $300 million for the maintenance of its existing WiMAX network and $600 million to begin rolling out LTE-Advanced network technology. Euteneuer said that Clearwire remains a strategic partner and Sprint will continue to try and help Clearwire going forward, but that no decisions have been made. Hesse noted that Sprint and Clearwire have a $1 billion wholesale relationship that runs through the end of 2012. Hesse said that if Clearwire ever did face a potential bankruptcy, he would expect Sprint to be involved, but that Sprint does not have insight into Clearwire's finances and that no wireless bankruptcy has ever resulted in customers losing service.

LTE competition

The main thrust of Sprint's argument centered on the benefits of Network Vision and how it will enable Sprint to achieve parity with other carriers deploying LTE. Other carriers are already moving rapidly ahead with their own LTE deployments.

Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ), which first launched LTE service in December 2010, said its LTE network now covers more than 160 million POPs, which is more than half of the U.S. population. The network is available in 143 markets, and Verizon expects to cover 175 markets and 185 million POPs with LTE by year-end. Verizon plans to cover two-thirds of the U.S. population by mid-year 2012 and cover its entire 3G footprint with LTE by year-end 2013.

AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) launched LTE last month in five markets--Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio--and plans to cover 70 million POPs in 15 markets by year-end. AT&T has said its LTE deployment will be complete by 2013. However, the company's LTE deployment plans could be complicated by whether the Department of Justice wins its case to block AT&T's proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA. AT&T wants to acquire T-Mobile's spectrum and network resources to deploy LTE to 97 percent of the U.S. population.

10/20/11--05:54: Ericsson posts Q3 profit, but N. American sales continue to decline (chan 3119522)

Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) reported stronger profit and sales in the third quarter than analysts had expected, but sales in North America, which accounted for around 22 percent of the company's total sales in the quarter, continued to fall on weakened demand for CDMA.

Overall, Ericsson, the world's largest network infrastructure provider, posted solid financial results. The Swedish vendor reported net income of $579 million, up from $558 million in the year-ago period and beating the consensus of $555 million of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Total sales climbed to $8.42 billion, up 17 percent from $7.20 billion in the year-ago quarter.

In Ericsson's core networks business, sales spiked 25 percent, up to $4.93 billion. Ericsson said all regions in the world except North America, Northern Europe and Central Asia, Mediterranean and India showed sequential growth in networks. Ericsson's services business grew 7 percent to $3.09 billion.

Despite the strong top-line results, Ericsson's closely watched gross margin slipped to 35 percent from 38.2 percent in the year-ago period as network modernization projects in Europe, which have lower margins than buildouts, accelerate. Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg told Dow Jones Newswires that this is in a period where gross margins are coming down. "Our network modernization projects will continue and they will accelerate into the fourth quarter," Vestberg said.

In an interview with FierceWireless, Ericsson CFO Jan Frykhammar said Ericsson's business goes through cycles in which coverage buildout of a new technology--CDMA, HSPA, LTE--increases and margins go down, but then pick back up as operators invest in additional capacity, software and services. "It's natural," he said. "We are always trying to have a good balance."

In North America, sales fell 2 percent sequentially and 6 percent year-over-year, down to $1.83 billion. Ericsson said a strong "uptake in the services and OSS/BSS businesses in the quarter could not fully offset the impact from a slower networks business after a period of high operator investments in network capacity." The company noted that CDMA sales declined sequentially although they increased year-over-year and that there is a continued operator focus on commercial LTE launches. However, the company also noted that operators are also focusing on cash flow management, which could impact their network investments.

Frykhammar said in North America there are still uncertainties related to AT&T's (NYSE:T) proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA as well as when CDMA investment will peak. "There is, of course, an ambition from our customer to limit investment in that technology and focus more on 4G and LTE," he said, referring to CDMA. "It is a little bit too early to say whether we have seen the peak of CDMA or not."

The Ericsson finance chief said said it is logical to conclude that CDMA investments will peak "when the ecosystem on LTE from a handset point of view is sufficient to be able generate significant traffic on the LTE networks" and when carriers move to Voice over LTE.

For more:
- see this FierceBroadbandWireless article
- see this release
- see this Dow Jones Newswires article (sub. req.)
- see this Bloomberg article
- see this Reuters article

Special Report: Wireless in the third quarter of 2011

10/20/11--06:33: Sprint's Azzi talks about unlimited data plans, Wi-Fi offloading and QChat (chan 3119522)

with Bob Azzi, senior vice president of networks, Sprint Nextel

Exactly two years after Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) inked its ground-breaking network management deal (called Network Advantage) with Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC), Sue Marek, Editor in Chief of FierceWireless, sat down with Bob Azzi , senior vice president of networks at Sprint Nextel, to talk about the long-term advantages of that deal, Sprint's Network Vision network modernization plan, whether Sprint will be able to keep up with mobile data demand and maintain its unlimited data price plan, and how the company plans to incorporate Wi-Fi offloading into its toolbox.

FierceWireless: When I heard you speak at the PCIA Wireless Infrastructure conference you said you think the Ericsson managed services deal with Sprint was a success. Why?

Azzi: Yes, it's a success. That's not to say that everything has been perfectly harmonious. That would be impractical and no one would believe that in a relationship of this scale that everything could be ideal and prefect. We have day-to-day problems to solve. But it fulfilled my hopes and went beyond my expectations.

I hoped that because I had this partner that my team would be more focused on the future. The reality is that I don't believe that Network Vision would have manifested itself in the way that it did without having Network Advantage in place.

From a pure cycle time of executives, attention of the team and redirecting resources away from the day-to-day and to the future we wouldn't be where we are today with Network Vision.

We talked to others in the world that had done this and they told us that we would be amazed at how your attention gets focused on things that really matter to your customer when you have your partner attending to what is important but not something that will differentiate you. People expect the network to work. So we rely on Ericsson to take care of that for us.

FierceWireless: You also credited Ericsson's Network Advantage project with Sprint's ability to keep up with the sudden surge in data usage. Why are those related?

Azzi:When we got to point where our growth had returned and we needed to stay ahead of that growth we were able to tap into Ericsson's expertise. Being able to learn from their experience elsewhere in the world where there might be similar challenged allowed us to stay ahead of what was coming.

FierceWireless: Are you confident you can keep up with demand for data?

Azzi: I'm confident with the scale that Ericsson has in place that we can throw anything at them and we would find a way to respond. We have had tremendous growth. We believe our call models for data are higher than our competitors because we have unlimited data. It's a funny thing about those plans, customers don't worry about using their phones. We think that's a good thing for customers.

I have a strong degree of confidence with the relationship we have built over the past two years that we have the partnership stable to respond however we need to.

FierceWireless: For now the plan is to keep the unlimited data plan?

Azzi: Yes, my job is to keep the capacity growing as is necessary to stay ahead of customer demand and keep the costs down so that we can improve our profitability. That's my job. We understand the position we have staked out with our combination of our device portfolio and our customer-friendly plans and what that means to our base and what it means to prospective customers. It's important for us to maintain that trajectory.

FierceWireless: Does Sprint currently off-load traffic to Wi-Fi? Are you planning to do that?

Azzi: Like all carriers, we believe that is an important element of our portfolio. I would characterize that as a way to provide the overall best customer experience. It can just make sense for a customer to be using a Wi-Fi network, notably at their home. I think it's a smart thing to do to offload traffic to a network that can handle it and is a good use of the spectrum that is available to customers in general.

We do Wi-Fi offloading now and we will do some more in the future.

FierceWireless: There are a lot of different models for Wi-Fi offloading. Some operators purchase the network, others rent space on another's network. Which model are you using, or going to use?

Azzi: We would consider all those models and will probably adopt models that are different from others in the industry. We don't own a portfolio of Wi-Fi hotspots like some others do. So we will find a combination that works for us. Statistically 80 percent of the traffic on Wi-Fi is at home and at work. We work with our enterprise customers to understand how they view it.

The enterprise is in a situation where they are dealing with the desires of their employees to bring their provider handset onto the premise yet the enterprise customer wants to make those devices a productivity tool. They will approach it differently.

FierceWireless: Sprint recently launched the new QChat service, Direct Connect. How is this different from the QChat product you launched a few years ago?

Azzi: It's an evolved product. A lot has improved and changed in the client and how the client manages the RF conditions. We are seeing improved performance over the earlier version. We believe this will really be a solution our customers will want because iDEN has established the gold standard for sub-second instant communications, but it is a 2G technology and doesn't have a data capability. We now have a superior product to that. It provides sub-second capability and adds mobile broadband data capability, and in the next several months we will expand it to a 2 million-plus square-mile coverage footprint. iDEN was limited to the iDEN network. Since we are using CDMA we can open it up to the CDMA network which has a much larger footprint.

Also, globally we have had interest. Some operators have expressed interest. This is a CDMA-based technology but for customers that want a global interaction there is a bigger ecosystem than iDEN.

In my view, it's absolutely superior to the gold-standard iDEN.

FierceWireless: It's no secret that you have lost a lot of iDEN subscribers over the past few years. Will this new service stop the remaining iDEN customers from leaving? How do you plan to transition those iDEN customers to this? Many are very committed to iDEN.

Azzi: Now that we have successfully launched this we believe it will accelerate the migration. The base that we are focused on is the core push-to-talk user. Now we have a viable alternative that is superior. As we have been talking to the users now we have product to put in their hand. Anecdotal feedback is that customers are seeing this as a superior service as well. That is great news for us. Now we have a real alternative for these customers.

We knew we had to have a service that would get customers excited and they would see a way to go to the next step in this product family. It will allow us to accelerate those migrations.

FierceWireless: If LightSquared is delayed because of these GPS concerns, is that going to delay Network Vision?

Azzi: The GPS question will have to be resolved by LightSquared and the other agencies. There is a defined path and that's a good sign. There are testing plans in place. We are proceeding on the presumption that there will be a positive outcome. We don't deploy anything without the appropriate FCC approvals. We are not at a critical stage yet, but certainly if there is a delay, it will be something we have to work through. If it changes it will change the cost structure but it still makes sense to do it this way.

We will have to wait and see. We assume a positive outcome. We acknowledge that it is a legitimate concern that the FCC must work through with LightSquared.

We have GPS in our phones and have an interest in making sure this works. We are supportive of LightSquared and are hoping for a positive outcome.

10/24/11--08:49: What's next in the CDMA migration path? (chan 3119522)

The name of the game these days is growing network capacity by upgrading to faster data technology. HSPA+ has been successfully bumping up data speeds and giving W-CDMA-based mobile operators more capacity to work with--even as they deploy LTE networks. But for CDMA, moving beyond today's 1xEV-DO Rev. A networks isn't as clear cut. The options range from simply bolstering voice capacity via 1x Advanced to increasing data capacity and efficiency by deploying EV-DO Advanced and EV-DO Rev. B. Deciding which migration path to take--if at all--isn't always an easy call to make. Special feature

10/25/11--07:13: Nokia to add CDMA smartphones to Windows Phone mix (chan 3119522)

LONDON--Nokia (NYSE:NOK) will make more smartphones using CDMA technology as it transitions to using Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone platform for its devices--the first of which it will unveil here Wednesday.

Nokia has been fairly tight-lipped about its specific go-to-market strategy for Windows Phone, but some of its plans are starting to come into view. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said last week that the company will release the products in select markets this quarter. Nokia is widely expected to announce at least three new devices--code-named, as of now, the 800, Ace and Saber. The 800 is a device modeled largely on Nokia's N9, and it has appeared in videos in the past months, while previously being called SeaRay.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Jo Harlow, the company's executive vice president of smart devices, said that Nokia has been focused less on feature differentiation and more on getting devices into the market. "Our focus has been on getting to market, as opposed to lots of differentiation," she said, noting that limiting futures to ensure a product launches on time is a strategy the company has picked up from Microsoft.

Harlow said that after Nokia announced its partnership with Microsoft in February Nokia changed the way it organized product development, and stopped having a single product manager for each product, which slowed down development. Instead, product design, engineering, quality-management and marketing teams were given more autonomy, which Harlow said has helped reduce the time it takes to develop a new smartphone by 35 to 40 percent.

Nokia has been working closely with Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ), AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) and T-Mobile USA on its first Windows Phone devices, though it's unclear when the devices will launch in the U.S. or with what carriers. Historically, GSM carriers AT&T and T-Mobile have been Nokia's strongest U.S. partners. Nokia has been developing the U.S. devices at its 600-person facility in San Diego, but is also focusing on CDMA because of the opportunity in China, where variants of CDMA technology are prevalent.

Still, it's unclear how large a commitment Nokia will make to the U.S. market. According to AdAge, Nokia is focusing the bulk of its marketing dollars elsewhere, at least for the 2011 launches. "Nokia needs to protect its foothold in Europe before it can even think about other markets," one executive familiar with the company's marketing told the publication.

For more:
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)
- see this AdAge article
- see this Guardian article
- see this Daily Telegraph article

Special Report: Complete coverage of Nokia World

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Nokia's Elop promises first Windows Phone products in Q4
Microsoft's Ballmer: Windows Phone sales are not so hot
The 5 things Nokia should do to bring Windows Phone into the U.S.

10/31/11--14:55: Leap to cover 25M people with LTE by the end of 2012 (chan 3119522)

Cricket provider Leap Wireless (NASDAQ:LEAP) said it will launch an LTE trial market in Tucson, Ariz., later this year, and will cover a total of 25 million people with LTE by the end of 2012. The carrier said it expects to spend around $250 million on the buildout through the end of next year. Leap plans to cover two-thirds of its existing CDMA network with LTE technology within the next two to three years.

Click here for key slides from Leap's third quarter earnings presentation.

The news comes as little surprise; Leap has repeatedly discussed its plans to eventually move to LTE. However, this is the first time Leap has set specific metrics and goals for its LTE buildout.

Leap CEO Doug Hutcheson said Leap expects to offer LTE smartphones in mid-to-late 2012. He also said that Leap currently owns enough spectrum--23 MHz in most of its markets--to offer LTE service without any additional spectrum. However, he said Leap would look to acquire additional spectrum if the opportunity presents itself.

As it travels toward LTE, Hutcheson said Leap is taking a four-pronged strategy for its business:

--Expand distribution through the opening of another 200 Cricket-branded stores by the end of the year. The company also plans to expand to 5,500 new national retail locations (such as Best Buy and Walmart) by the end of this year, bringing Leap service to a total of 11,000 national retail locations by year-end.
--Improve device lineup. Leap said it will offer a total of seven smartphones and five Muve Music devices by year-end.
--Launch new advertising. Leap said it will offer a new marketing message, with details here.
--Focus on Muve Music. Leap said it now counts 270,000 subscribers to its unlimited Muve Music download service, and will continue to push the service.

As for its third quarter results, Leap reported a surprising gain in customer additions, adding a net 10,000 new customers to its systems. According to Reuters, analysts had expected Leap to report a net loss of customers, as it has in a number of past quarters.

Leap said the gains were due to the carrier's focus on selling smartphones and Muve Music devices.

"Investors might get excited by some marginal upside to subscriber growth and ARPU but the resulting $10 million of revenue upside was completely offset by eroding gross margins, likely from increased roaming expense," wrote BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk. "Since Leap launched smartphone service, its Voice ARPU has risen $3.87 but its network expense per average sub has risen by $3.40 and voice CCPU has risen over $5."

Here's a look at Leap's other key quarterly metrics:

Subscribers: Leap's net customer additions for the third quarter were 10,000, a significant reversal from the 200,000 net customer deactivations Leap recorded in the third quarter of 2010. During the third quarter Leap gained a net 73,000 voice customers and lost around 64,000 broadband customers--the carrier has been working for most of the year to shed its broadband customers in favor of smartphone users. Leap ended the quarter with 5.75 million customers, up 13.1 percent from the third quarter of 2010.

Churn: Leap's customer churn for the third quarter of 2011 was 3.8 percent, a decrease from 5.5 percent for the comparable period of the prior year. The carrier's voice churn for the third quarter was 3.4 percent, compared with 5.2 percent for the comparable period of the prior year.

ARPU: Leap's ARPU clocked in at $41.25, an increase of 11.1 percent over the comparable period of the prior year. The carrier said the rise in ARPU was due to sales of smartphones and its more expensive broadband service.

Financials: Leap reported a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $68.8 million, way down from the $536.3 million net loss it posted in the third quarter of 2010. Leap's service revenues for the third quarter of 2011 increased 19.4 percent over the prior year quarter to $717.3 million.

For more:
- see this release
- see this BTIG post (reg. req.)
- see this Reuters article

Special Report: Wireless in the third quarter of 2011

Article updated Nov. 1 with commentary from BTIG.

11/09/11--03:49: 14. Ren Zhengfei, founder, chairman and CEO, Huawei – Most Powerful People in Wireless (chan 3119522)

14. Ren Zhengfei, founder, chairman and CEO, Huawei – Most Powerful People in Wireless What makes him powerful: Little is known about Ren Zhengfei, the former military officer who founded Huawei in 1988. Despite his low profile, he has managed to transform Huawei from a little-known Chinese telecom company into one of the largest infrastructure vendors in the world. While Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) currently holds the No. 1 spot with 40 percent of the global wireless infrastructure market, according to research firm Dell Oro Group, Huawei consistently battles with Nokia Siemens Networks for the No. 2 slot.

In 2010 Huawei estimated that it grew its revenues 28 percent to $28 billion. Although about two-thirds of those revenues come from non-Chinese customers, Huawei has failed to make inroads in the U.S. market, due largely to concerns about security.

The company unsuccessfully tried to win part of Sprint Nextel's (NYSE:S) Network Vision project contract in 2010. Sprint reportedly decided to block Huawei from getting its multi-billion-dollar project because of mounting national security concerns from lawmakers and pressure from the Commerce Department. There were fears that Huawei's chips, routers and other equipment could be bugged to give China's government access to sensitive information.

Nevertheless, the company was successful in securing a contract with Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR) for its WiMAX network. And it also inked a deal with Cox Communications for its CDMA network. However, earlier this year Cox said it was decommissioning its 3G network infrastructure and instead would use Sprint Nextel's CDMA network for its wireless service.

Huawei also has made inroads in the U.S. handset market and has said it will sell LTE phones next year, and is considering other smartphone operating systems beyond Android. Specifically, the company said it aims to become the nation's fifth largest handset vendor within the next three years. The company is currently among the top 10 handset makers in the United States.

Regardless of its set-backs on the infrastructure side, Huawei has been working hard in the past year to ease security concerns, including establishing a national security committee, using an accredited independent test lab to check Huawei's proprietary software and ensuring trusted delivery of all products by using U.S. citizens to deliver product in the U.S.

In addition, the firm continues to invest in the U.S. market by opening a new R&D center in California.

However, these efforts haven't been met with very much success. Earlier this month The U.S. Commerce Department declared that Huawei would not be allowed to build LTE networks for the U.S. public safety community because of concerns over national security. Huawei has asked the U.S. government to specifically detail its concerns.

Clearly Zhengfei will have to overcome U.S. government security concerns if he wants Huawei to rival Ericsson in the U.S. market. Nevertheless, the company has made tremendous strides over the past few years and is certainly a huge contender in the global wireless market. --Sue

01/09/12--11:51: Huawei plans CDMA/LTE phones for U.S. market in 2012 (chan 3119522)

LAS VEGAS--Huawei intends to release LTE devices in the U.S. market this year, including smartphones, and signaled it is looking to branch out beyond its traditional carrier allies.

In an interview with FierceWireless, James Jiang, executive vice president of product marketing for Huawei Device USA, said that the company plans to release LTE devices in the U.S. later this year, including CDMA/LTE devices, which could make Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) and Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) potential targets. He did not provide specific timetables for when the devices would be released or with which carriers Huawei will work. However, Jiang said the company is talking with all of the Tier 1 carriers. "We have to have more exposure with the Tier 1 operators," for Huawei to grow its device business.

So far, Huawei has found its greatest success with flat-rate players Leap Wireless (NASDAQ:LEAP) and MetroPCS (NASDAQ:PCS), but the company has also scored device deals with AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) and T-Mobile USA. In December Sprint launched a $20 Huawei-made Android smartphone, the Express, though the device did not carry Huawei's brand. One indication of a Huawei device that might be coming soon was an FCC filing for an LTE handset dubbed the M920 for MetroPCS, according to Phonescoop.

Jiang acknowledged that so far Huawei has been a niche value player in the U.S. handset market, but he said that the company's new flagship Ascends P1 S device is a "statement" to the U.S. market that Huawei is ready to compete at the high end of the market with more established players like HTC, LG and Samsung. However, he said that although Huawei will target more high-end users it still intends to compete on value.

Huawei's brand is not well-known in the U.S., Jiang said, and noted that the company's inability to secure network infrastructure contracts with Tier 1 carriers is a "hurdle" to the company's growth in the market. Still, he said that the company is working with advertising and marketing firms and will start a major marketing push in early May. He said the company's global tagline, "let's simply share," may be customized for the U.S. market. One of Huawei's major goals, Jiang said, is to "make a name for ourselves" by getting devices into the market with Huawei's branding.

01/09/12--23:32: Leap deploys CDMA 1X Advanced for more efficient voice calling (chan 3119522)

Cricket provider Leap Wireless (NASDAQ:LEAP) is currently selling one CDMA 1X Advanced phone, the Huawei Mercury, and expects to expand 1X Advanced to all of its new feature phones by the third quarter of 2012. Leap's deployment of CDMA 1X Advanced is an attempt by the carrier to transmit voice calls over its CDMA network more efficiently.

Leap spokesman Greg Lund couldn't immediately provide details on Leap's 1X Advanced deployment, including details on installing the technology into the carrier's network. However, Leap's Matt Stoiber, chief of the carrier's devices, confirmed that the Android-powered Huawei Mercury smartphone, released in December, is Leap's first device to support 1X Advanced. Stoiber said the phone runs the Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) 8655 chipset, which is a key requirement for 1X Advanced devices.

According to the CDMA Development Group, 1X Advanced supports four times the number of voice calls than legacy CDMA2000 1X networks, or 80 times the number of calls than older analog networks. It can also improve coverage by up to 70 percent. According to Qualcomm, operators can transition to 1X Advanced "gradually and economically" by deploying suitable devices and then upgrading their network with "a simple channel card upgrade."

Leap isn't the only CDMA carrier eying 1X Advanced. Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) has said it plans to deploy CDMA 1X Advanced voice service in its 800 MHz spectrum, after it decommissions its iDEN network there starting in 2013. Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) to has made noise about 1X Advanced. However, a MetroPCS (NYSE:PCS) spokesman said the carrier is focused on its LTE network and doesn't have any immediate plans for 1X Advanced.

01/19/12--07:25: Report: Verizon to launch nationwide VoLTE service in early 2013 (chan 3119522)

Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) will launch a nationwide Voice over LTE service in early 2013, according to a report in Light Reading. Previously, Verizon executives had said the carrier would launch VoLTE in 2012.

The report, which cited unnamed sources, as well as Catharine Trebnick, a vice president at Northland Capital Markets, said that Verizon is testing VoLTE in two markets but will not conduct a nationwide rollout until early next year. The report noted, however, that Verizon could still launch VoLTE service this year before expanding it nationwide early next year.

Verizon spokeswoman Debi Lewis told FierceWireless the company continues "to work on VoLTE and its associated services, and will share more on any launch or availability plans in due course." She did not provide any further details.

Last year Verizon executives repeatedly affirmed that the company, which now covers more than 200 million POPs with LTE, would launch VoLTE in 2012. Verizon Communications CTO Tony Melone told FierceWireless in 2011 that that the reason the company is moving from CDMA voice to VoLTE is not driven by cost but because of the benefits that VoLTE offers such as providing enhanced call quality and the ability to conduct a simultaneous voice and data session. VoLTE is an IMS-based take on delivering voice via LTE that was launched by the GSMA at the 2010 Mobile World Congress trade show.

Verizon is not the only carrier moving toward VoLTE. Flat-rate carrier MetroPCS (NASDAQ:PCS) announced in October that it had completed its first VoLTE call using end-to-end commercial equipment. The carrier is still testing the technology and plans to launch VoLTE service in 2012, a spokesman told FierceWireless. MetroPCS CEO Roger Linquist has said that moving to VoLTE will allow the company to refarm its spectrum currently reserved for CDMA services. AT&T Mobility has said it is targeting 2013 for a VoLTE launch.

For more:
- see this Light Reading article

Related Articles:
Dell'Oro: Infrastructure market grew 15% in Q3, driven by LTE
Verizon says cost is not behind move to VoLTE
VoLTE becoming competitive need for Verizon
Verizon adding VoLTE capability in 2012

01/25/12--05:34: Ericsson's Q4 profit plunges 66% as North American CDMA sales decline (chan 3119522)

Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) reported a 66 percent drop in net profit as the company confronted tepid operator spending and declining North American sales, particularly for CDMA products. Nevertheless, the Swedish vendor said it will become more efficient and focus on winning LTE business as carriers continue to upgrade their networks.

In the fourth quarter Ericsson posted a net profit of $222 million, down sharply from $651 million in the year-ago period, and well below analysts' expectations, according to Bloomberg. Overall sales inched up just 1 percent to $9.42 billion. Sales in the company's networks business, its largest unit, fell 9 percent to $4.9 billion, due mainly to weakness in Russia and North America.

The vendor said that networks sales in North America were down 27 percent, and that the market was impacted by "operator consolidation, technology shift from CDMA to LTE as well as a slower pace after a period of high operator investments in network capacity." In North America, where overall sales declined 20 percent in the quarter, Ericsson said CDMA sales declined sequentially and year-over-year "as a result of the ongoing rapid technology shift to LTE."

In an interview with FierceWireless, Ericsson CFO Jan Frykhammar said that the company knew when it acquired Nortel Network's CDMA and LTE units in 2010 that its CDMA installed base in North America would decline over time. "We think it has peaked and we think that the transition to LTE will now happen, and this will become more of a service business with maintenance and support," he said.

Frykhammar noted that Ericsson remains in a strong position in North America and that the shift to adopt and deploy LTE networks will now accelerate. Overall, he said that Ericsson is sensing some caution from carriers around the world on network spending but that the underlying conditions of continued mobile broadband growth and smartphone usage remained strong.

Despite the weaker results, Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg said the company will not embark on any major restructuring like its smaller rival Nokia Siemens Networks, which plans to cut up to 17,000 jobs and focus solely on mobile broadband. "That said, we're not planning across-the-board restructuring or layoff programs," Vestberg said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires. "Instead, I expect that all our business units will continue to focus on becoming more efficient."

Vestberg also added that he is confident Ericsson gained market share from its rivals in 2011 and that investments in LTE will pick up. "This shift in technology means that there is a period when sales will slow down, but over time investments in next-generation networks will become very important for us," he said.

For more:
- see this release
- see this NYT article
- see this Dow Jones Newswires article (sub. req.)
- see this Bloomberg article

Special Report: Wireless in the fourth quarter of 2011

02/08/12--03:52: Chris Weber, president of Nokia North America - Meet the 2012 Rising Stars of Wireless (chan 3119522)

Chris Weber, president of Nokia North America - Meet the 2012 Rising Stars of Wireless All eyes are on Nokia (NYSE:NOK) as the handset manufacturer attempts to reinvent itself by using Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone software to stand apart from competitors such as Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the battle for smartphone market share.

Of course, key to Nokia's reinvention is its ability to woo U.S. operators, something the company has failed to do in the past. As the head of Nokia's North American efforts, Chris Weber will be in charge of delivering on that promise.

Weber and his team are off to a strong start. At the Consumer Electronics Show last month Nokia unveiled the LTE-capable Lumia 900 Windows Phone for AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T), and T-Mobile USA started selling the Lumia 710 for $50 with a two-year contract.

But Weber admits he has a long way to go. The company has said it will make CDMA-based Windows Mobile smartphones, but has yet to announce any partnership with CDMA operators such as Verizon Wireless or Sprint Nextel. In addition, Weber knows that the company must reinforce its marketing message so that consumers and operators understand the benefits of the Windows Phone ecosystem and its value proposition.

Nevertheless, his enthusiasm is unwavering. The 16-year Microsoft veteran, who became the head of Nokia's North American division just a year ago, seems to understand the challenges that lie ahead. And he appears prepared to meet them.

02/09/12--07:53: Ericsson sued by Airvana for $330M over 'knock-off' EV-DO product (chan 3119522)

Airvana Network Solutions filed a $330 million lawsuit against Swedish vendor Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC), alleging that the world's largest network infrastructure provider collaborated with LG Electronics to sell an illegal "knock-off" of an Airvana product, threatening to put Airvana out of business.

In a 72-page legal complaint filed with the New York State Supreme Court, Airvana accused Ericsson of violating the terms of a deal that required Ericsson to ship Airvana-designed products with Airvana's software and pay royalties. Instead, Airvana alleged that Ericsson worked with LG to make a knock-off version of the software to ship with Airvana's hardware, giving it leeway to avoid making royalty payments to Airvana. Airvana CEO Randy Battat told Reuters that privately held Airvana generates "hundreds of millions of dollars" of annual revenue from Ericsson.

Airvana is better known today for making femtocells, but it was a pioneer in EV-DO networking technology. Starting in 2001, Airvana supplied hardware and software products to Nortel Networks. In 2005, Airvana states that Nortel convinced Airvana to hand over its proprietary hardware designs so that Nortel could take over manufacturing the hardware.

Under the deal, Airvana would continue to supply the software and Nortel would pay Airvana a royalty for each product it sold. The contract said that Nortel could not sell any product that used Airvana's proprietary hardware designs (or any hardware based on those designs) without using Airvana's software and paying Airvana a royalty fee, Airvana said in a statement.

Ericsson purchased Nortel's North American CDMA and LTE business in 2009 after Nortel filed for bankruptcy, but it also acquired the deal with Airvana. Ericsson wanted to renegotiate the terms of the deal, but Airvana wanted to stick with them. According to the filing, Airvana said that Ericsson plans to sell a competing EV-DO product Ericsson made in-house using software it developed with LG, though still based on Airvana's hardware, in violation of the Nortel deal. Airvana is seeking $330 million in damages and is seeking to block sales of the new Ericsson EV-DO product.

"This is sort of a classic case of a big company trying to push its weight around, and we certainly felt that interaction with Ericsson over the last couple of years," Battat told the New York Times. "We're just shocked they're stepping all over our property in order to do this."

"We are aware that Airvana has initiated legal proceedings against Ericsson," Ericsson spokeswoman Kathy Egan Wummer told FierceWireless. "While we will not comment on ongoing litigation, we can say that we are committed to supporting our customers and will take appropriate action to protect both their interests and those of Ericsson. Accordingly, we will vigorously defend our right to deploy the Ericsson EV-DO Global System in customer networks according to existing commitments."

Ericsson's North American CDMA sales have recently fallen off. Ericsson CFO Jan Frykhammar recently told FierceWireless that the company knew when it acquired Nortel Network's CDMA and LTE units in 2010 that its CDMA installed base in North America would decline over time. "We think it has peaked and we think that the transition to LTE will now happen, and this will become more of a service business with maintenance and support," he said in January.

For more:
- see this Airvana complaint (PDF)
- see this release
- see this Reuters article
- see this NYT article
- see this GigaOM article

Related Articles:
Ericsson's Q4 profit plunges 66% as North American CDMA sales decline
Small cells making big waves
Airvana shareholders approve $540M buyout
Ericsson wins Nortel wireless assets for $1.1B

02/22/12--09:03: AT&T launches trials for enhanced push-to-talk services (chan 3119522)

AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) launched a new charter program to deploy enhanced push-to-talk services primarily aimed at enterprises.

Click here for a video of Kodiak's PTT offering.

The new services will rely on a technology from Kodiak Networks, a PTT pioneer. The technology, dubbed InstaPoC, is an IP-based technology that allows carriers to deliver voice over LTE, 3G networks and Wi-Fi. Additionally, InstaPoC supports simultaneous voice and data activity without changes to the radio access network, according to Kodiak. The platform's capabilities include one-to-one and one-to-many (for up to 250 contacts) PTT-based communication, centralized dispatch, enterprise-class administration, as well as availability and call alerts.

The trials will allow selected business customers in a range of industries with field workers and dispatchers, including transportation, utilities and manufacturing, to test out the new services. The trials will be done on the Samsung Galaxy S II, but an AT&T spokeswoman told FierceWireless that down the road the program will support a variety of devices, including feature phones, rugged devices and specialty devices. AT&T said it will work closely with customers participating in the program to measure results, and participants will have the opportunity to give feedback.

In addition, AT&T said it is working to integrate traditional private mobile radio (PMR) systems with this enhanced PTT service trial in the hopes of boosting the coverage and speeds of PMR systems. AT&T said it will demonstrate the functionality with Raytheon JPS at the 2012 International Wireless Communications Expo this week.

Of course, AT&T is not the only carrier moving forward with advanced PTT services. Last fall Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) launched its CDMA Direct Connect service, powered by a new solution from Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), as part of its plan to migrate iDEN customers. Sprint said the new Direct Connect service, which rides on Sprint's 1900 MHz spectrum, offers improved in-building coverage and will triple the square-mile reach of its iDEN-based PTT service. Specifically, Sprint said its new PTT offering will cover 2.7 million square miles and a population of 309 million (with the addition of 1XRTT and roaming coverage), up from the iDEN network's 908,370 square miles covering a population of 278 million.

For more:
- see this release
- see this Kodiak Networks site
- see this Engadget post

Related Articles:
Sprint details plans to shut down iDEN cell sites
Sprint to launch enhanced CDMA push-to-talk service Oct. 2
Will Sprint's improved QChat service stop iDEN customers from leaving?
Sprint to deploy enhanced CDMA push-to-talk service in Q4

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