Dish Network + T-Mobile + Light Squared

I really like the idea of mega merger / distribution deal between Dish Network + T-Mobile + Light Square's GPS spectrum could be a great deal for investors as well as consumers.  A combination merger / distribution deal would finally be an company that might have the ability to compete with Verizon & AT&T which have a combined 180+ million customers.  T-Mobile still has 30 million happy wireless customers in the US which makes it the 4th largest carrier but has a owner Deutsche Telecom who wants to sell and needs spectrum to compete in the future. T-Mobile customers are price sensitive and typically save hundreds of dollars per year on comparable wireless coverage. However, most industry analysts "poo poo" T-Mobile and think the company is dead without new spectrum becoming available or without being purchased another viable entity because of its need for wireless spectrum to compete.  This 

What companies are capable of doing this? Google, Apple, Dish Network, DirectTV or Comcast who have complimentary interests in the TV business. Dish Network recently purchase Sling Box which is a phenomenal product for viewing your home live TV from on your phone. I use Sling Box with Verizon FiOS on my T-Mobile 4G phone currently and love it. Watching and controlling your TV from your phone is a great experience even from the moving car. Especially, when you are grandfathered into an unlimited data plan. 

Is the AT&T + T-Mobile merger about scarcity of spectrum or do they really want T-Mobile price sensitive customers who will likely leave? The spectrum allocation scarcity issue has been wildly mismanaged and created by the FCC. In other countries around the world spectrum is shared and works much better. However, spectrum hoarding has become a business to fend off competition and keep prices artificially high. Thus the reason why the U.S. needs 4 large carriers to keep the industry competitive and price sensitive. Having two CDMA (Verizon & Sprint) and two GSM carriers (AT&T & T-Mobile) is the key to making competition thrive and without this consumers will lose. 

If you are a customer on T-Mobile using their HSPA+ network the experience is quite good if you live in an area that has coverage. The fewer people around you competing for coverage at the tower means the better bandwidth and coverage you have on your phone. As a T-Mobile customer you are competing against 30M people vs AT&T or Verizon who have 90M people. More people = more spectrum required to make all of your data hungry users happy. 

Enter Light Squared into the carrier equation in the last few years which is trying to build out a satellite network that would provide 4G LTE coverage. Light Squared is a dramatically new way of thinking for a telecom industry which seem incessant on resisting change and protecting their turf. The turf they are protection are the billions invested into tradition cell phone tower networks. Light Squared is disrupting the traditional cellular network by deploying 4G LTE coverage via satellite networks. In theory, this means better coverage in remote areas that traditionally not reached by cell phone towers.


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