Thursday, January 9, 2014

Is Softbank after T-Mobile's network?

There has been continued speculation over the past weeks that Sprint is about to make a bid for T-Mobile. Most of the discussion has centered on the possibility to create a "strong third carrier" in the US market. While I understand the motivation for this from the perspective of protecting margins and decreasing the competitive pressure in the US wireless market, I offer a complimentary strategy for this kind of merger, if the rumors are true.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

AT&T Sponsored data may be a way forward without violating net neutrality

AT&T recently presented their platform for "toll-free" or "sponsored data" whereby a content owner can pay for the data usage caused by the end user. This way the sponsored data will not count towards the users included plan data.

AT&T has been shopping this idea around for quite a while and has so far not presented any customers. Initially this kind of pricing was seen as a direct threat towards the principle of net neutrality which has been endorsed by the FCC. The way AT&T describe their sponsored data program, it now appears as if it will not violate the principles behind net neutrality.