Well, it's now moot, but if Q! had charged the right amount, we'd be rolling in it!
CDMA has got a beach-head in Europe and Europe will go CDMA, just as USA is going CDMA. But spectrum was expensive in the USA too! Check out the reauction of NextWave's spectrum for example, not to mention the original bids by NextWave.
Q! has foregone $100bn on royalties. Which is not to say that they could do much about it because way back when they agreed to terms with Motorola and others, they were little, struggling, unproven etc and beggars can't dictate terms. Plus nobody understood what value there was in CDMA because the internet was barely underway!! Mobile internet access is the driver of 3G spectrum prices. Now, it's too late to charge newcomers the right rate because that would just leave the newcomers out of the game.
I KNOW I'm right on this one! I think...
Yes, I agree that the increased spectral efficiency means more people at lower prices can fit in, but the TOTAL revenue goes up. That was the point of 10,000 people at $10 a megabyte [with other air interface options] compared with 1,000,000 at $1 a megabyte. Yes, the $1 is less than the $10, but the TOTAL value of the spectrum is much greater with CDMA and hence the total bids for control of that spectrum.
Mq |
