 | | July 15, 2009: 4G TRENDS WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
| |  | | | | | | THIS WEEK'S FEATURED ARTICLES: | | | | | |  | | 4G TRENDS:
SPRINT OUTSOURCES NOW NETWORK OPERATIONS TO ERICSSON, WHILE COX AWARDS WIRELESS NETWORK CONTRACTS TO HUAWEI, STARENT NETWORKS AND BRIDGEWATER | | | By Berge Ayvazian  After months of speculation, last week Sprint finally announced an agreement to turn over day-to-day operations of its networks to Ericsson. Under the agreement, Sprint will retain ownership and control of the network assets, while Ericsson will take over responsibility of network maintenance. The potential benefits to both companies are substantial. Sprint will be liberated from technical maintenance concerns while retaining control of the customer experience, and Ericsson will manage day-to-day operations of Sprint’s CDMA/EV-DO, iDen and wired networks as it gains a larger foothold in the US market and non-GSM network management. As part of the agreement, 6,000 Sprint employees will be employed by Ericsson at the end of the third quarter, and neither company expects any force reductions in the near term.
The Sprint-Ericsson “Network Advantage” deal is valued at between $4.5 and $5 billion over the next seven years, and as a result Sprint expects to significantly reduce its annual operating expenses associated with network operations and management. J.P. Morgan estimates this savings to be between $35 million and $260 million over the next seven years, which could provide modest improvement in Sprint’s profitability. Sprint has begun to emerge from financial problems as it reduces its debt burden, but needs to expand its coverage as if it hopes to start adding new subscribers and further reducing its roaming and access expenses which are currently among the highest in the mobile industry. Ericsson will incur the risk and expense of taking over Sprint’s workforce and operating costs, and will expect a return on this investment during the second half of the contract period. The potential downside is that if Ericsson found the deal was not profitable in 2-3 years or if Sprint found that network performance declines, it would be complicated to unravel this agreement. This agreement will have little or no effect on the original suppliers for Sprint’s mobile network, Nortel and Alcatel Lucent, and Ericsson has limited experience managing a CDMA/EV-DO network. This deal also does not impact Sprint’s plans to use Clearwire’s WiMax network for 4G, under this new agreement Ericsson will be responsible for the migration and provisioning of more cost-effective Ethernet backhaul as Clearwire builds out its overlay network using Sprint cell sites.
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| | | |  | | | | | MOBILE INTERNET TRENDS:
MOBILE INTERNET AND WIFI - BANE OR BENEFIT? | | | | | By Andrew Mitchell Depending on your perspective, WiFi and mobile Internet may go together as well as oil and vinegar or as poorly as oil and water. Initially accepted with cautious hesitation and skepticism, WiFi connectivity has arguably found its way into homes, offices, coffee shops, trains and aircraft with such success that both wireline and wireless carriers are being forced to examine how to leverage the technology to avoid it eroding revenues in their aging business models. WiFi, it’s not just for laptops anymore. Frank Dickson, Vice President of Research, In-Stat recently stated that “By 2010, In-Stat anticipates that 20% of the total WiFi chipsets will be used in mobile phones as manufacturers, currently led by Nokia, continue to ship an increasing number of WiFi enabled handsets.” While VoIP handsets employing 802.11 wireless technologies have become commonplace in enterprise PBX environments the shift to integrating WiFi into 3G and 4G handsets and mobile Internet devices and the ever increasing availability of WiFi connectivity presents both challenge and opportunity.
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| | | | | | WIMAX TRENDS:
NOKIA AND RIM USE SOCIAL NETWORKING TO LURE US CELLCOS | | | By Caroline Gabriel  The shift of the social networking craze to cellphones shows no signs of abating, and is a key theme of the US cellcos’ autumn plans, even giving Nokia a boost in its bid to improve its north American performance.
Nokia and RIM, both battling to get visibility under the Apple and Palm spotlights stateside, are heavily focused on tapping the social networking trend. The Finnish giant is launching another handset with AT&T, part of its slow but steady progress in establishing a foothold in the once hostile carrier. The companies have launched the Surge, a “socially supercharged smartphone”. Continue Reading… | | | | | | | UPCOMING EVENTS:
STAY AHEAD OF THE INDUSTRY - KEEP CURRENT | | | | | Telebriefing: July 21, 2009
Mobile Internet Applications in the Transportation Sector
Monica Paolini, Founder and President, Senza Fili Consulting 
| | | | Telebriefing: July 30, 2009
4G Femtocells Beyond Voice
Nate Dyer, Yankee Group
Learn More | | | | | Telebriefing: August 6, 2009
World Open Mobile Applications Development
Gene Signorini, Yankee Group
Learn More | | | | | Conference: 4G World Conference and Expo 2009: September 15-18, 2009 Register today and save $200 off full conference fees. Use priority code: 4GWBRO2
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