Dish Network entered the retail wireless business after completing its $1.4 billion purchase of Sprint's Boost Mobile (see 2007010017), it said Wednesday. Some 9.3 million customers are involved, T-Mobile said. Dish's buy of Sprint's prepaid business was a government condition for T-Mobile's Sprint acquisition. "T-Mobile followed through on fulfilling one of the most significant commitments we made as part of this merger process," said T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert. "Today’s action is a key step towards promoting vigorous competition in the wireless marketplace, particularly for price-conscious consumers in our nation’s cities," said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. "With this divestiture and its existing spectrum resources, DISH has the potential to make a big impact on a wireless marketplace that is transitioning to 5G." Pai vowed to stay vigilant to ensure "T-Mobile and DISH comply in the coming months and years" with FCC conditions. Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim said: “This deal is a significant milestone in realizing" DOJ’s remedy "designed to strengthen competition for high-quality 5G networks.” Dish said it will keep the Boost brand, and reinstituted a popular payment plan that Boost ended six years ago. Dish said its "$hrink-It!" plan starts at $45 monthly for 15 GB and goes down by $5 after three on-time payments and another $5 after six. Dish is introducing a $35 monthly 10 GB plan. Bill Ho, analyst at 556 Ventures, said he's optimistic about Dish's short-term prospects in wireless provided it spends to keep prepaid customers. Companies "can buy any customer," he said, but it takes subsidies to keep them or gain new ones. Incompas CEO Chip Pickering predicted Dish will price Boost competitively and succeed at keeping and building that customer base and could use the cash flow to help fund its 5G network. Pickering said the prepaid mobile business is more valuable during the COVID-19 pandemic because there's more demand for low-cost service and new public policy in the works to subsidize it. New Street's Blair Levin expected Dish will attempt to "leapfrog" competitors with new technology and spectrum capacity when it transitions to its own 5G network. The Utility Reform Network, "always happy to see a new competitor," remains skeptical whether Dish can competitively affect the facilities-based market, said Managing Director Christine Mailloux.
Customers are seeing speeds on 5G “dramatically faster” than on 4G, except in the U.S., said Ian Fogg, Opensignal vice president-analysis, at GSMA’s virtual China conference Wednesday. 5G won’t replace Wi-Fi in the U.S., he said. Others said Asia-Pacific carriers are adopting many of the same approaches as in the U.S.
The California Consumer Protection Act enforcement kicked off Wednesday. Senate Majority Leader Robert Hertzberg (D) told us he expects Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) to act shortly to enforce CCPA, even with some matters unresolved. Privacy attorneys, consumer advocates and others expect the AG to tackle egregious violations of the statute in enforcement’s early days, they said in interviews.
The FCC is watching the 2.5 GHz tribal window for license applications with an eye on extending it past an Aug. 3 end, Chairman Ajit Pai told senators who raised questions. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel repeatedly urged keeping the window open because of the pandemic (see 2004290055). The window opened Feb. 3. “We are sensitive to the interests of both current applicants and potential ones, particularly given the COVID-19 pandemic,” Pai wrote in letters posted Tuesday. “We continue to monitor the situation as much of the country, including many Tribal Nations, reopens for business, and have yet to make a decision on whether to extend the window. ... Commission staff stand ready to provide assistance to any Tribes seeking to avail themselves of this opportunity.”
Shoppers could be hesitant to visit stores this holiday season, making the buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS) service an appealing option and an opportunity to test “brick-and-click” elements in post-purchases messaging, said retail consultant Monica Deretich. She suggested using parking lots as merchandising locations for last-minute items typically found at the checkout line. Marketing firm Sailthru, in whose Monday report the analyst appeared, singled out Best Buy’s curbside pickup experience (see 2005210037). Best Buy outlines “every step of the process,” provides links to help topics and displays relevant recommendations in post-pickup confirmations, said Deretich. The pandemic's impact is likely to “live on through the holidays,” she said.
Calendar 2020 estimates for “end-unit” sales of smartphones are “meaningfully lower” than pre-COVID-19, “even though estimates for enterprise laptops and Chromebooks have increased,” said Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. “Reduced level of global economic activity has also curtailed near-term demand.” The pandemic's impact on Micron’s production early in Q3, which ended May 28, was limited to two “back-end assembly and test sites” in Malaysia, he told investors Monday. See here for Q3 details.
Global shipments of smartphone battery cells were $1.5 billion in Q1, up 5% from the same 2019 quarter, reported Strategy Analytics Tuesday. TDK-owned Amperex held the top revenue share at 36.5%, with LG Chem at 28.4% and Samsung SDI at 17.5%. SA expects demand for smartphone battery cells to diminish this year with the slowdown in smartphone shipments amid the pandemic.
Groups from the broadcast, MVPD, direct broadcast satellite and submarine cable industry disagreed how the FCC should calculate FY 2020 regulatory fees, in replies posted in docket 20-105 Tuesday. Don’t treat all satellite companies the same on fees, said Astranis and Myriota. “Large 'one-size-fits-all' satellite regulatory fees will limit the expansion of satellite-based Internet access to the most underserved areas of the United States,” said Astranis. Build a contingency in to prepare for agency changes to fees for non-U.S. satellite operators being knocked down in court, said Kineis. “Reject arguments that incorrectly assert that non-U.S.-licensed systems somehow derive materially less benefit from access to the U.S. market than U.S. licensees,” said SpaceX. “It is long past time for the Commission to complete its phase-in of the DBS regulatory fee,” filed America’s Communications Association and NCTA. The proposed unified seven-tier fee schedule would lead to “unreasonably large fee increases,” said AT&T. “Maintain the existing separate [international bearer circuit] fee categories.” Cut "the fees proposed for submarine cables across all tiers,” said CenturyLink. Submarine cable operators are “mistaken” that FCC use of capacity to allocate tiers is improper, CenturyLink added. The Submarine Cable Coalition disagreed, asking the agency to "reassess its methodology for apportioning regulatory fees to submarine cable providers.” Reject broadcaster proposals to assess regulatory fees based on FCC policy objectives such as propagating 5G, suggested CTIA. NAB called the FCC’s regulatory proposal “an abject failure” for not providing a rationale for fee increases, and for raising fees on radio broadcasters during the pandemic. “The Commission’s approach violates the law by not properly explaining the basis for the increases nor tying them to any discernible increase in the work performed on behalf of broadcasters,” NAB said.
GSMA opened its China conference Tuesday with speakers from Chinese companies under fire in the U.S., including Huawei and China Mobile. The conference is completely virtual, which was unimaginable a year ago, said Mats Granryd, GSMA director general. “This pandemic has highlighted to the world what we have all known for decades, the true relevance of robust and resilient mobile networks.”
The pandemic is intensifying media trends toward digital advertising, streaming video and direct-to-consumer offerings, said Wells Fargo analyst Davis Hebert Tuesday during The Media Institute’s teleconferenced “virtual luncheon,” the group’s COVID-19 replacement for its speaker series. There has been “steady leakage” from traditional media to digital for the past three-five years, Hebert said. The pandemic and stay-at home orders enhanced that, he said.