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July 28, 2010: 4G TRENDS WEEKLY NEWSLETTER 4G TRENDS: 4G - at home, on the road, around the world - now from space! THIS WEEK'S FEATURED ARTICLES: - A Harbinger of Sorts: Build It and Will They Come? - The Anywhere road trip - Reliance Infotel to choose WiMAX in India after all 4G TRENDS FEATURE: A HARBINGER OF SORTS: BUILD IT AND WILL THEY COME? By Chris Nicoll, Distinguished Research Fellow, Yankee Group Research Harbinger’s announcement of the creation of Lightsquared as the first new 4G operator in the U.S. in ages has generated a lot of buzz (would you expect less from a company with its foundation in the capital markets?). There are so many angles to play with here, this should be fun for a while. Let’s get started: Does it worry anyone that Harbinger Capital Partners is a private investment firm specializing in event/distressed strategies? Does the building of a Greenfield nationwide 4G cellular/satellite network qualify? There’s more: According to their website, “Harbinger Capital Partners seeks to invest in alpha-generating ideas that are uncorrelated to investment cycles.” What? The leader putting this together also has special talents - again, according to their website: Philip Falcone leads Harbinger’s investment team, “relying on his extensive experience in distressed debt, leveraged finance, and special situations across an array of market cycles.” We are talking about billions of dollars of investment capital, and the principal and the parent company, so to speak, has great experience in distressed debt and distressed strategies? Does this distress anyone? See, this could get really interesting. But wait, there’s more! Harbinger seems to have only about 50% of the funding for the venture in place, as they expect to pay for the network build-out from revenues generated by the initial builds; the devices are not really available and will have to be specially built; and the idea is to hope that the FCC will relax its requirements that Lightsquared’s devices also be able to connect to a satellite so Lightsquared won’t really have to actually launch any expensive satellites or make purpose-built devices. Hmm. That is a big IF. The CEO has extensive experience in building and operating networks in Pakistan and France, but will need to hire some solid NAM market, regulatory and operational expertise, not to mention a really GREAT salesperson. (Yes, I know, NSN is going to operate the new network as well. From India. Has anyone done that before on this scale?) The network will likely be built-out late compared to the incumbent mobile operators and it is a wholesale network. SO this is a true Greenfield - not just upgrading an existing network. That comes with its own benefits, and challenges. What both hoping will prove to be a smart move, and probably characteristically not in keeping with the incumbent vendors’ choices, is that Lightsquared has chosen perennial North American bridesmaid Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) to build out and operate the network. NSN has for the past year been struggling to find its own identity in North America after losing the Nortel LTE auction to Ericsson and getting shut out of the incumbent operator LTE builds. But they have some top-notch next-generation LTE gear just dying to be installed in a Greenfield network somewhere in the U.S. Seems like a match made in heaven. Continue Reading… http://4gtrends.com/?p=3899 LTE and 3G: "The Next Leap Forward, Hosted by Qualcomm 4G World 2010 also provides an exceptional opportunity for professional development through our co-located training sponsors. Our training sponsors offer a comprehensive line up of courses allowing you to develop or keep current with skills in the latest of wireless technologies. No other industry event brings you such a wide range of critical and powerful options for learning. Read more> http://4gworld.com/full-program/monday/ MOBILE INTERNET TRENDS THE ANYWHERE ROAD TRIP By Emily Green, President and Chief Executive Officer, Yankee Group Research A few years ago when we were first centering Yankee Group’s research on ubiquitous connectivity, or what we now call Anywhere, I said something that I now see was wrong. I claimed that the expansion of connectivity around the world would ultimately redefine good vacation experiences not as those that include free WiFi, but those that promise the absence of the opportunity to connect. Meaning we’d be so exhausted from our connected lives that the best vacation would be one in which we would be prevented from connecting - and happy about it. Continue Reading… http://4gtrends.com/?p=3904 WIMAX TRENDS: RELIANCE INFOTEL TO CHOOSE WIMAX IN INDIA AFTER ALL By Caroline Gabriel, Contributing Editor, 4G Trends When the Indian BWA spectrum auctions concluded earlier this year, it seemed that the 2.3 GHz TDD band - once considered a clear run for WiMAX - would actually be split between that technology and TD-LTE. While state-owned telcos BSNL and MTNL are already deploying WiMAX in their 2.3 GHz spectrum, the privately held winners were more divided. The only one of these players to get licenses nationwide was Infotel, which was quickly snapped up by Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL). The firm implied that it would choose LTE for its new frequencies, even though Infotel had previously been committed to WiMAX, but now the firm appears to have opted for the more readily available technology after all, in the interests of early market impact. Continue Reading… http://4gtrends.com/?p=3910 If you no longer wish to receive these e-mails, go to the following link to unsubscribe: http://web.yankeegroup.com/lp/yankeegroup/UnsubscribePage.html?mkt_unsubscribe=1&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRonvqzMZKXonjHpfsX66OUvWKag38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YEGStQhcOuuEwcWGog82Q1WEeWQe5JP7%2BU%3D.
