Sprint Partnership with Airgate Wireless, LLC on Track to Win PCS Spectrum Licenses in Five Markets During FCC Auction; Provides Adequate Capacity For Sprint PCS Services for the Next 10 Years
--From AOL. This is a good article!-- Cooters
Combination of PCS Spectrum Apparently Secured in FCC Auction and PCS Spectrum Exchanged with AT&T Strengthens Sprint PCS' Clear Path to Implementing Third
Generation (3G) Technology
KANSAS CITY, Mo., Jan. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- SVC BidCo, L.P., a partnership formed between Sprint (FON/PCS) and AirGate Wireless, LLC, announced today that the partnership was the apparent winning bidder for PCS spectrum licenses covering five BTAs (Basic Trading Areas) in the FCC spectrum auction, as it concluded January 26. The partnership combines the strengths of AirGate Wireless, a small business that successfully participated in the FCC's past PCS auctions, with Sprint PCS' brand product offerings. SVC BidCo and Sprint have agreed that, upon licensing by the FCC, the additional spectrum will be used by the Partnership to offer Sprint PCS products and services.
In the FCC spectrum auction, SVC BidCo ended as the high bidder for licenses for 10 MHz blocks of PCS spectrum in the BTAs of Tampa, Orlando, Cincinnati, Dayton and Norfolk, which together contain a population of more than 8.3 million people. Prior to the start of the auction, Sprint had announced a definitive agreement with AT&T Wireless to exchange PCS spectrum covering a licensed population of approximately 18.5 million people. In that exchange, Sprint secured 10 MHz blocks in each of seven BTAs: Houston, Atlanta, Cleveland, Charlotte, Memphis, Raleigh and Greensboro, N.C., subject to regulatory approval.
The additional spectrum and Sprint PCS' clear path to Third-Generation (3G) Technology using cdma2000 strengthens the company's spectrum holdings by providing adequate capacity for the next 10 years. Sprint PCS plans to invest between approximately $700 million to $800 million to introduce wireless high speed packet data (3G 1X) nationwide in 2002 -- a fraction of the amount some competitors spent simply to acquire spectrum in the City of New York. 3G 1X technology will increase network data speeds 10-fold from 14.4Kbps up to 144Kbps, provide up to a doubling of voice capacity, and improve standby battery times for handsets by approximately 50%. The high speed packet data capabilities offered by 3G technology will further position Sprint PCS as the leader in the mobile wireless Internet arena, leveraging from its pioneering Wireless Web products and services.
"Sprint PCS was well positioned entering the FCC spectrum auction as we already held 30 MHz blocks of PCS spectrum in the majority of our markets and had strengthened most remaining key markets through our agreement to exchange PCS spectrum with AT&T Wireless. This enabled the partnership to spend a fraction -- under 2 percent -- of the total spent in the auction," said Charles Levine, chief operating officer for Sprint PCS. "The spectrum held by our partnership with AirGate Wireless enables us to complement our already- strong spectrum holdings. With SVC BidCo's operations, Sprint PCS services could be offered on at least 20 MHz of PCS spectrum in all markets with more than 1.2 million people. This will enable us to bolster the coverage we offer customers and improve Sprint PCS' ability to implement and offer 3G services nationwide."
By apparently winning the most recent spectrum holdings in partnership with AirGate Wireless, Sprint PCS has once again acquired spectrum at an attractive price, Levine said. For all of its spectrum holdings -- including those gained in the most recent auctions as well as in previous auctions and exchanges -- Sprint PCS has paid an average price of less than $5 per 10 MHz pop.
Sprint PCS built the nation's largest single-frequency, all-PCS network from the ground up based on CDMA, the premiere global digital wireless technology standard serving more than 90 million customers in 38 countries around the world. Sprint PCS' single-frequency, CDMA platform provides significant efficiencies and advantages over other wireless technologies and enables the most economic and efficient foundation for deploying today's cutting-edge services quickly on a nationwide scale. These same attributes also provide Sprint PCS with a significant competitive advantage for the deployment of 3G services. Network voice capacity, data speeds and handset battery life will increase with 3G deployment. In the initial rollout, data speeds will be up to 10 times the current rate of 14.4 Kpbs, with future data speeds reaching up to 5 Mbps. In addition, the voice capacity of the network will approximately double.
With the introduction of 3G packet-switching technology into Sprint PCS' seamless CDMA network, the company expects to realize three major competitive advantages over other wireless carriers, who plan to deploy WCDMA and other less efficient technologies. First, the all-digital, all-PCS nationwide wireless network enables Sprint PCS to use existing licensed PCS spectrum in the deployment of 3G -- eliminating the cost to acquire substantial blocks of additional spectrum specifically for 3G.
Second is the relative ease at which Sprint PCS will deploy 3G technology over its CDMA network. "As we move to 3G, we don't have the need for any 'forklift' changes. The vast majority of our current base stations can be upgraded by simply changing out channel cards and installing new software," stated Levine. "We built the Sprint PCS network with the 3G evolution in mind. Regardless of their technology choices, the majority of our competitors will essentially be rebuilding their entire network from scratch in order to offer 3G services. "The bottom line is," Levine said, "we believe that cdma2000-our technology path from our existing cdmaOne base-offers Sprint PCS significant economic and competitive advantages over WCDMA. These advantages include time to market; the ability to provide the same or better data performance in only one-quarter the spectrum (2.5 MHz for cdma2000 vs.10 MHz for WCDMA), and cost of deployment."
The third major competitive advantage is backward and forward compatibility between current (2G) and new (3G) CMDA technology and handsets. While other wireless carriers may be forced to introduce new phones to users -- making current models obsolete -- Sprint PCS customers will continue to enjoy their current PCS phone and seamless service even as the 3G technology is deployed.
"We are thrilled with our success in the FCC's auction, and are delighted to embark on our partnership with Sprint," said Shelley Spencer, manager of AirGate Wireless, the general partner in SVC BidCo. "Together, we are planning to offer consumers an exciting array of services in our licensed areas."
AirGate Wireless
AirGate Wireless is a privately held company active in wireless auctions since 1995, and is not related to AirGate PCS, Inc. a public company operating as a Sprint PCS Network Partner.
Sprint PCS
Sprint PCS operates the largest 100 percent digital, 100 percent PCS nationwide wireless network in the United States, already serving the majority of the nation's metropolitan areas including more than 4,000 cities and communities across the country. Sprint PCS has licensed PCS coverage of more than 280 million people in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For more information, visit the Sprint PCS web site at www.sprintpcs.com . Sprint PCS is a wholly-owned tracking group of Sprint Corporation trading on the NYSE under the symbol "PCS."
Sprint is a global communications company -- at the forefront of integrating long-distance, local and wireless communications services, and a large carrier of Internet traffic. Sprint built and operates the United States' first nationwide all-digital, fiber-optic network and is a leader in advanced data communications services. Sprint has $20 billion in annual revenues and serves more than 20 million business and residential customers.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
This press release includes certain estimates, projections and other forward-looking statements. Future performance cannot be ensured. Actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Some factors that could cause actual results to differ include:
-- the effects of vigorous competition in the markets in which Sprint
operates;
-- the costs and business risks related to entering and expanding new
markets necessary to provide seamless services and new services
-- the ability of the PCS Group to continue to grow its market presence;
-- the risks related to Sprint's investments in joint ventures;
-- the impact of any unusual items resulting from ongoing evaluations of
Sprint's business strategies;
-- regulatory risks, including the impact of the Telecommunications Act of
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The words "estimate," "project," "intend," "expect," "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. Sprint is not obligated to publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this release. Sprint provides a detailed discussion of risk factors in periodic SEC filings and you are encouraged to review these filings.
SOURCE Sprint PCS
CO: Sprint PCS; Airgate Wireless, LLC; SVC BidCo, L.P.
ST: Missouri, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, New York
IN: TLS
SU: CON LIC
01/26/2001 15:27 EST prnewswire.com |
