Cell Geek

BlindType has just announced that they have been acquired by Google.  BlindType creates predictive typing software they claim is better than the competitors.  The software will allow users to type on a touch based device without looking at the keyboard. The terms of purchase were not disclosed, but you can assure that this company was purchased to integrate the technology into Android based devices.  Text entry on touch devices has seen many improvements lately, the most notable is Swype.  Some manufacturers have already begun to bundle Swype into their devices standard.

Atlantic-Tele Network is having a very good day.  The FCC has just approved their purchase of the former assets held by Alltel.   ATN will purchase these assets from Verizon Wireless for $200 Million. 
The assets include Assets, spectrum, and 800,000 subscribers.

Twitter has announced that they have purchased Cloudhopper.  Cloudhopper is a small SMS provider.  Twitter is hoping the integration fo the company will provide better SMS support and scalability when working with Network Service Providers.  Twitter currently processes over one Billion text tweets per month.

According to Juniper Research the Mobile Internet Advertisement market is about to explode! In 2009 the amount spend on this type of advertisement is expected to approach $500 million globally. By 2014 however, that number looks to be closer to $2 billion a year.

Mobile internet continues to become more and more embraced by the masses. Emerging markets such as India have already embraced mobile internet as their primary means of accessing internet based information. In India 90% of their access for 2008 was already based on mobile technology.

With the mobile devices being a personal item that is normally not shared with other members of the family, that gives advertisers an oportunity to build uniquly targeted campaigns that are able to followup with a user. Detailed profiles of user activities and responses can also be easily collected.

For the first time in 2009 Mobile internet adspend will overtake SMS based advertisements.

Today, 11/04/2008 the FCC board entered the commission meeting several hours late. The commission meeting that was scheduled for 11 am, entered session approximately 3:30pm. One of the most important pieces of information on the agenda was the proposed merger of Alltel and Verizon. The merger, being hotly contested, was heavily scrutinized by the commission over a period of 4 months. The decision was not unanimous. However, the approval for the merger was granted. McDowell, Adelstein, and Copps officially take the position of "Concurring in part, and dissenting in part." The remaining commissioners including chairman Kevin Martin voted 100% to approve the merger. Commissioner Tate, which voted 100% pro-merger, mentioned that the divested spectrum would be made available to current and potential service providers, thus helping to ensure competition. She also went on to mention that by Verizon agreeing to a 4 year stay on the existing roaming agreements, LTE should become available from another competitor, and sufficient protection from adverse roaming would again provide relief to smaller regional carriers desperate for data roaming service. The FCC placed additional conditions to the merger. A total of 105 markets must be divested, including 5 additional Verizon had not already voluntarily committed to divesting. The carrier will further submit to the FCC's new more stringent policies for E911 and handset emergency location services. These services will be held in check on a county by county basis to allow for more quality control over the E911 system. The FCC has also chosen to phase out ETC's. The ETC's gave carriers a portion of funding for maintaining network in rural areas. This funding was for network maintenance and operational costs. The removal of this benefit helps remove the enormous burden being placed on the Universal Service Fund. This meeting was presided over by Chairman Kevin Martin, with input from commissioners Tate, Copps, Adelstien, and McDowell.

For a Live Blog Account of the commission meeting click below

CellGeek Live Blog Commission Meeting November 4th, 2008 (replay)

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FCC: Sprint and Clearwire Are Given Green Light

Department of Justice Approves Verizon / Alltel Merger

Verizon Voluntarily Agrees to Divest 15 Additional Markets

Verizon Agrees To Divest To Purchase Alltel

T-Mobile USA has re-branded select SunCom markets in their own image.  T-Mobile purchased SunCom earlier this year for $2.4 Billion.  Stores in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have reopened as T-Mobile.  The existing customers will be allowed to keep their current phones, and phone numbers.  Customers will however, be required to choose a new T-Mobile rate plan.

Part of the conditions to move forward with the Merger with Alltel Wireless state Verizon must divest 85 overlapping markets in the United States. Verizon has reportedly retained Morgan Stanely for teh divestment. Morgan Stanley has valued the assets to be divested between $3 Billion and $4 Billion. Potential purchasers were required to submit a proposal to Morgan Stanley by August 22nd. There has been interest in the purchase, but no one has offered a price to Verizon for their assets as of yet.

Kevin Martin has put the carrier roaming rule reform on hold. The current issue is stemming from smaller carriers wanting Verizon blocked from purchasing large rural carrier Alltel. The carriers are siting concern over fair roaming practices limiting the network selection for CDMA digital carriers in the United States. Martin withdrew his proposal after FCC commissioners could not come to an agreement on the issue.

Verizon has announced that the approval for their purchase of Rural Cellular Corp is official! Rural Cellular Corp operates under the brand Unicel, and is expanding Verizon's network by 625,000 customers. This gives Verizon access to covering an additional 4.7 million people within the newly acquired area. (Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Alabama, Mississippi, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Idaho, Washington and Oregon)
Verizon will begin to serve customers immediately while they implement CDMA digital technology, as well as EVDO high speed wireless broadband. Unicel's existing GSM structure will remain in place to be leveraged for partnered roaming revenues. Customers will be notified by letter in the next few weeks that the purchase has completed. The letter will explain the new options that they have for phones (for those impacted by network technology changes). The phone options will include phones that are free, or at low cost. No immediate action will be required by any customer. All Unicel stores will remain open to serve the needs of their customers, but will be branded Verizon in phases, as will the billing conversion. The conversion is expected to be completed mid-year 2009. Required divestitures as a condition of the approval have already been placed into a trust management account to be sold. These markets will operate under the Unicel brand until they are sold. These areas include rural licences from Vermont, New york, and parts of Washington. Wireless markets in southern Minnesota and western Kansas will also remain Unicel, as Verizon has already committed to voluntarily divest these areas with the acquisition of Alltel Wireless. At&t has already purchased licenses in Vermont.

Read the full release at Verizon Wireless

Verizon has gained approval from the FCC to aquire Rural Cellular Corp. Conditions for the approval require a divestiture of spectral assets and licenses in 6 cellular market areas. One in New York, two in Washington, and three in Vermont. The purchase expands Verizons coverage in the midwest, new england, south, and pacific northwest covering 716,000 people. Verizon spent $2.67 billion to aquire Rural Cellular.
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

Everyone is paying very close attention to the news of Alltel being bought by Verizon. Verizon has potential to become an even bigger industry super-power than it has already become. I mentioned in a previous post FOUND HERE, that Verizon has agreed to a divestiture of network to aquire Alltel. The map here shows the areas that are going to be required to divest. (Click Here for a larger Photo)

The merger will not be approved until day 52 at minimum per FCC timelines, so in the mean time you can check out the proposal by Verizon with the new coverage after the merger. The map will represent the coverage given by Verizon's owned network after the aquisition of Rural Cellular Corp., and the merger with Alltel. This map is provided via the Federal Communications Commission. Verizon/Alltel merger proposal Map at FCC website

**UPDATE** Since this article was posted Verizon has agreed to Divest 15 additional markets. (see story below) The FCC has also imposed, as a condition of merger, 5 additional markets not already volunteered by Verizon.

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In a very strange move this week by Sprint, 3,300 CDMA and IDEN towers will be sold to TowerCo for $670 Million in cash. "..this transaction provides Sprint Nextel with additional liquidity which gives us greater flexibility in managing our company." said Bob Azzi, senior vice president, Field Engineering and Operations, Sprint Nextel. The deal is still subject to all standard closing conditions, but is expected to be approved withing 90 days.
Sprint has been struggling since the acquisition of Nextel and the IDEN network fiasco. Lately Sprint has been struggling with poor customer service. I have to wonder how getting rid of your network will improve the way your customers are treated. Sprints biggest problem has been presented in the form of Illinois PCS or IPCS. IPCS is a Sprint affiliate that has taken the opportunity to sue Sprint Nextel at every turn. I can't help but think that we will see a lawsuit again for breach of this affiliate agreement. Unless this is Sprints way of trying to rid themselves of IPCS for good. In the event another company owns the network assets to Sprint, and the lease of their own transmission from TowerCo does not include the ability to sublet, then IPCS will be forced to also lease frequency from TowerCo to give their customers the network they once enjoyed out of the main area. This would then put IPCS competing directly against Sprint outside of their affiliate market area for the first time putting them in breach of the affiliate agreement that they flagrantly issue lawsuits over. Unification of Sprints internal hierarchy would certainly improve customer service. I would have to believe this is a power play from Sprint Nextel, but only time will tell.

More on the sale of towers at SPRINT

The newest filing to the FCC reveals that Verizon has consented to divesting 54 cellular markets in 18 states to meet the concerns from the Department of Justice in regard to the merger with Alltel. The Department of Justice has also implicated roaming provisions that must accompany the divestiture. Public comment from the FCC is due tomorrow (July 25th). Pushing the merger through in a timely manner may prove to be difficult as the FCC board is now split equal Democrat and Republican chair holders. Verizon has also agreed that any company that currently has roaming agreements set with Alltel may keep them until the expiration of that agreement, and companies that have agreements with both Alltel and Verizon will be able to choose under what provisions they will keep until the termination of the contract. The FCC seems to have a very full plate this month concerning cellular. They are being lobbied from all directions by handset manufacturers and wireless carriers. The up-coming AWS-3 auction still is not finalized as they determine what the provisions will be in terms of open access, and weather they will continue with the auction as planned. The Rural cellular Association petitioned last week to have the spectrum cap reinstated. No doubt this petition was put into play because of fear on behalf of Rural Cellular Association the acquisition of Alltel will make them too large. Let us not forget Alltel being accused of blocking negotiation between Verizon and RCC a few years ago, in a deal that ultimately went south. RCA has many reasons to try to tie up the merger, but mostly I don't think that they want to see one company have the ability that will be given to Verizon with full control of the first National Network of this stature. We should know more information tomorrow if the public comment if favorable, then the merger should move quickly and jump all the hurdles with relative ease, otherwise Verizon and Alltel may be in for a fight to complete the approval process.

This article was edited for correction. The original article sited Rural Cellular Corp as petitioning the FCC when in reality it was supposed to have been Rural Cellular Association

Related Articles:
FCC: Alltel and Verizon's Final Hurdle Cleared
Department of Justice Approves Alltel / Verizon Merger
Live Blog: FCC Commission Meeting November 4th, 2008
Verizon Voluntarily Offers To Divest 15 Additional Markets
Alltel / Verizon Divestiture Map, and Future Coverage

Great list for aquisitions! I very much enjoyed this article, I have to agree that the future of cellular is going to the the applications. Carriers are cutting profit margins every couple months on their base packages to attract customers, and their sales people are being taught to make the phones invade every aspect of their daily lives. (not that I am against this or anything. I didn't mean that to sound negative) The use of these applications will only further the development of cellular companies, technology, and customer aquisition for these companies. Eventually as the technology advances we should see even more inovative software that the VC's will not be able to wait to sink their teeth into.

Read the Article at Ventruebeat.com

Alltel has recently sent a letter to their subscribers this past billing. Alltel has officially recognized to their customers that they have agreed to join Verizon as a single wireless company. They continue on to assure their customers that nothings will change, as Verizon has agreed to honor their existing contracts when the merger finalizes. They continue on to tell their customers there is not action required by them right now. Alltel has also recently revamped the look and feel of their website. The merger information gained its own heading and currently has a copy of this communications to customers on the website.

Read the letter at ALLTEL