Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Optimal level of carrier competition

I just read this wonderful quote from Orange CEO, Stephane Richard, "The optimal level of competition looks to be three carriers per market rather than four." I agree with Richard, when it comes to the profit margins of the carriers, three is better than four, but I would like to suggest that maybe just one carrier would be even better!

For users of carrier services, consumers and businesses, it is quite clear that optimal market outcomes indicate something entirely different. The facts, both EU-wide, in France (Orange home market) and in the US market tend to strongly suggest that when you go below four carriers in a market, competition decreases significantly.

Why do we include unprofitable products in global smartphone market share?

When we look at measuring the market shares of various smartphone manufacturers today we first of all can observe the battle going on between the two OS platforms, iOS and Android.

However, most of the attention in both mainstream media and in dedicated tech media has focused on the occasionally shrinking market share of the Apple iOS device family. And while this is certainly true, I would like to ask the question:

Is this measurement relevant?

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Both iPhone5C and S will support TD-LTE

Based on the technical specifications for the new iPhone5S and iPhone5C, it appears that both models will come in versions that will support TD-LTE in addition to the, as of now, more commonly used FDD-LTE 4G technology.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Verizon want to end the Internet (they just don't know it)

Today, Verizon squared off against the FCC in what promises to be a long fight over the future of the Internet. What is at stake is something called Net Neutrality. FCC want to keep it, Verizon does not. 

On the face of it, the case argued in Federal Court in DC today is about whether the FCC has legal authority to regulate the internet (within the US) at all. But the reason why this case came to be in the first place was that the FCC decided that Net Neutrality was one of the core principles that had contributed to the explosive growth and innovation provided by the Internet as we know it.

Verizon didn't like it and decided to go nuclear by questioning the FCC authority in court.

Monday, September 2, 2013

Vodafone return of cash and shares to investors signals bleak future

Today, Vodafone and Verizon finally announced their expected deal where Verizon buys out the remaining Vodafone ownership share in their US joint venture. This deal has been expected but also a long time coming.

I think this deal is very well timed by Vodafone as the competitive landscape in the US wireless market is most likely about to change and Vodafone may have sold their interest in Verizon "at the top".

I do support this rare win for Vodafone. However, after reading through the details of the Vodafone announcement, I think there is a significant risk that the Vodafone management and board has pretty much given up on the future of the company and that we can expect the past decline to continue and possibly accelerate. Even a takeover might be in the cards.