AT&T announced earlier this week that the company is buying the wireless licenses of privately held Aloha Partners for about $2.5 billion. The licenses for the largest U.S. mobile service will allow coverage for a potential 196 million customers in 281 markets, including 72 of the top 100 U.S. markets.
The question remains, what will AT&T to do with this 700-megahertz chunk of spectrum?
AT&T spokesman Michael Coe told Reuters that AT&T had yet to determine what services it would run over the airwaves.
"We'll look at which option makes sense for AT&T and our customers," he said. "We'll either use the spectrum for broadcast video or two-way communication like voice, data or on-demand content."
My guess is the latter seems like the most likely use. Silicon Alley Insider has a similar theory:
"Carriers, which need to sell more data and entertainment services to make up for declining phone-call revenue, often tout broadcast-quality mobile TV as one of the next big things."
But Scott Wills, senior executive at Aloha and president and chief executive of its HiWire broadcast mobile-TV subsidiary, said the company initially bought the licenses thinking that wireless broadband would be the best use for the spectrum, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Consumers don't just want to watch YouTube on their phones. While fun and a novelty, it's the convenience of having a mini-computer in your pocket that really serves value. Check your email, surf the web, and access some streaming content (be it video or audio).
I guarantee that it's not just "access" that the wireless companies are looking at. Eventually all the carriers will provide nationwide broadband wireless access, and we're reaching saturation in the wireless U.S. market. So they need differentiation. And the best differentiator would be providing exclusive on-demand content through these high-speed services. People already pay $40+ a month for high-speed internet at home, they will want more if they want to pay for that capability in their pocket.
As Sirius and XM can attest to, spectrum is only half of the equation.
How did they get it i thought the auction was next year.
Sad thing is a upstate NY channel was told to go to 54 and they did transmitter and antenna and now are told they have to give it up and find another channel.
I wonder who pays for that?
Anybody? How did they get what are now TV cHANNELS?
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