AT&T says plans to participate in wireless auction
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AT&T Inc  said on Friday it  plans to participate in an upcoming government auction of  airwaves in the 700-Megahertz spectrum band, but it is still  deciding whether to bid for a portion of the spectrum reserved  for open access.
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New broadband providers should be given a better chance of winning pieces of valuable wireless spectrum to be auctioned by early next year, several groups said Friday.
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The head of the Federal  Communications Commission wants to require the winning bidder  in an upcoming auction of valuable wireless airwaves to make  them accessible to consumers using any device or software  application, an FCC source said on Tuesday.
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Blog: Government officials are writing rules to determine how to use extremely valuable wireless spectrum that will be auctioned in September to the highest bidder.
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The two vendors are reportedly in talks to combine their wireless infrastructure units.
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On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission will auction off what industry observers call the "sweet spot" of the wireless spectrum -- the 700-MHz block formerly occupied by television broadcasters. Among the bidders are some 214 companies, including Verizon, AT&T and, most famously, Google.
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AT&T Inc. has backed away fromÂ earlier complaints about proposed open-access rules on parts of theÂ 700MHz spectrum to be auctioned by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission by early next year.
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AT&amp;T hasn&#39;t decided whether it will bid for the highly desirable 700MHz band because it doesn&#39;t know if it can build a profitable business, given the open-access rules set for the wireless spectrum by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission in July.Calling the rules &quot;interesting,&quot; AT&amp;T&#39;s CEO Randall Stephenson said the company is hard at work crunching numbers and analyzing business scenarios, but hasn&#39;t reached a conclusion yet.&quot;Is there a business model there? I&#39;m not sure if there is or not,&quot; he said Friday at the&#160;Web 2.0 Summit, where he answered questions from conference chair John Battelle and from audience members.The FCC conditions, which include&#160;open-access rules on a third of the spectrum, have been a major source of controversy.The winner of 22MHz of spectrum must allow any wireless devices to connect to the network, permitting wireless telephone customers to use handset devices from other carriers. The winning bidder also can&#39;t block or slow down wireless and Web content from competitors.Some telecom carriers wanted no conditions, while some consumer advocacy groups and Google wanted the FCC to require that winning bidders also resell the spectrum at wholesale rates to competitors, something the FCC didn&#39;t adopt.The FCC is scheduled to auction 62MHz of spectrum in the 700MHz band beginning in January. The spectrum is ideal for long-range wireless telephone and broadband services, with signals that travel up to four times farther than in higher spectrum bands.&quot;It&#39;s a huge opportunity. It&#39;s beachfront property. When it comes to buying spectrum, it&#39;s the best you&#39;re going to find for a long time,&quot; Stephenson said.Data consumption on wireless networks is growing fourfold year over year, so a company&#160;such as&#160;AT&amp;T needs to bulk up on spectrum to keep up with the demand, he said.&quot;It&#39;s very obvious we&#39;re going to have to add to our spectrum holdings,&quot; he said.That&#39;s why AT&amp;T earlier this month reached an agreement to&#160;buy 12MHz of high-speed wireless spectrum&#160;in the 700MHz band from Aloha Partners for $2.5 billion.&quot;It&#39;s the first time, I think, that we&#39;ve ever paid $2.5 billion for a company that had no revenue,&quot; Stephenson said.The Aloha spectrum covers 196 million U.S. residents, including 72 of the 100 largest markets in the United States.In other matters, Stephenson said he was very satisfied with the&#160;iPhone deal between his company and Apple.&quot;I&#39;m not sure I could have asked for much more out of it than what we got,&quot; he said.Asked to comment on the decision to use the slower EDGE network for the iPhone, Stephenson said it was a request from Apple CEO Steve Jobs.&quot;He wanted a broad ubiquitous data network. The EDGE network is the only data network that covers the entire United States,&quot; he said. The situation will improve as AT&amp;T upgrades markets to 3G, he said.Stephenson acknowledged that AT&amp;T&#39;s directory assistance business is being challenged by ad-supported options from Internet companies&#160;such as&#160;Google.&quot;We better get our advertising-supported [directory assistance] model up fast,&quot; he said, adding that AT&amp;T is building such a service internally.On a lighter note, he said he&#39;s &quot;envious&quot; of Google and the success it has had with its business model. &quot;It&#39;s a great gig if you can get it,&quot; he said.(Grant Gross in Washington, D.C. contributed with this story.)
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Cingular Wireless LLC&#39;s $41 billion buyout of rival AT&amp;T Wireless Services Inc., approved Tuesday by the Federal Communications Commission, is expected to give customers
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The Federal Communications Commission is set next month to decide how to auction spectrum to wireless carriers to bring high-speed Internet service to  airlines as early as next year. But, regulators have been boxed into a corner: promote low prices and great features, or ensure the service works reliably.
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U.S. regulators are set to give Cingular Wireless final approval for its &#36;41 billion purchase of AT&T Wireless Services Inc.  on Monday, on condition that it sells assets including wireless airwaves in more than 16 markets, according to a source close to the deal.
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Google says it will compete in an upcoming wireless spectrum auction, if the government agrees to certain rules.
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The FCC releases names of 266 companies officially planning to bid in the government's upcoming 700-MHz-spectrum auction. More than half those botched their initial applications, including big names like Verizon, AT&T,  Qualcomm and Alltel. They have until Jan. 4 to qualify for the auction.
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U.S. regulators are set on  Monday to  give Cingular Wireless final approval for its $41 billion  purchase of AT&T Wireless Services Inc. AWE.N, on the  condition it sell assets, including wireless airwaves in more  than 16 markets, according to a source close to the deal.
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Cingular Wireless, the nation&#39;s largest mobile-telephone operator, said that it would sell some airwave rights and customers to the Alltel Corporation for $170 million to satisfy government conditions on its purchase of AT&amp;T Wireless Services.
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You buy a cell phone, load any software you want on it, then choose your carrier. This vision of expanded consumer choices in the wireless world might be a little closer today than it has ever been, especially with reports that the chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is circulating an &quot;open platform&quot; proposal for the upcoming auction of the 700-MHz band.
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US regulators are set to give Cingular Wireless final approval for its $41 billion purchase of AT&amp;T Wireless Services Inc. (AWE.