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To: ronho who wrote (10067)	3/24/2001 6:46:00 PM
From: Eric L	Respond to of 34857

Ron, << decision to allocate spectrum on a local/regional basis. Now these little companies must be consolidated into national footprints >> That was our original nightmare. In 1997 we had only 3 "national" players, AWS, Sprint PCS, and Nextel. If you took all of the 20+ GSM carriers together they didn't come close to a national footprint (until bankrupt DCR/Pocket's licenses were returned to the FCC and reauctioned) and VoiceStream still hasn't opened Chicago. At the conclusion of the A&B/C/D/E/F Blocks of the FCC PCS auctions of 1900 MHz spectrum in late 1996 there were well over 200 licensed cellular and PCS carriers in the US and (only) 113 of those served POPs of over 1M which means 100 + did not. Those numbers have been significantly reduced through M&A but we still have the national footprint of NextWave in suspense. We still have carriers with max 30 MHz in most major markets and will still have if NextWave's claims are upheld. I think this is a MAJOR issue over the long haul. << with all those little countries (is any one of them half as big as Texas) it was very important to have cross border roaming from day one. >> "as big as Texas" ... probably not ... bigger mountains though ... and overall a lot denser, with no deserts. I'm sure Ilmarinen will shed some "cocktail party" illumination on that subject, <g> Cross border roaming from day one for sure ... extending internationally by the beginning of GSM Phase 2 by 1995, driven forward by George Schmidt and John & Gretel Hoffman ... the "stubborn resistance from certain pockets of the mobile industry, particularly the North American GSM operators... that for such a small group ... wield a great deal of influence," that Perry LaForge whines about, for good reason, since global roaming has always been one of the strengths of GSM and the Achilles heel of CDMA. While George, and John, and Gretel, and Rob were doing something about it, Irwin was saying to heck with it, we will worry about it later. Well, later is now. - Eric -