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Technology Stocks : The *NEW* Frank Coluccio Technology Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Charles Brown who wrote (37217)	12/19/2010 6:59:44 PM
From: fred g	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 46821

Charles, >Well, you were there Fred but it is similar in three important reasons: >1) Substantially the same money behind both deals, I was not party to the financial details of Frontline, but I don't think there was a lot of money involved. We had a bunch of investors, some of whom might have been potential MVNOs. I didn't know the whole list, but I never heard of any overlap with M2Z. I was just a measly contractor, doing design work. > 2) Same strategy to acquire spectrum "gratis" Well, sort of, but it was really more of a barter deal. We'd build the public safety network and have some of its capacity available for commercial use. There was an auction involved. Frontline pulled out of the auction -- it was the only serious bidder -- because (I think) specific terms of the deal with PSST were untenable. Frontline's arch-rival for the FCC's attention, who proposed a different scheme, became PSST's hired manager. The deal was that we'd have six months to negotiate a conract with PSST, and if that failed, we'd lose the half-billion or so deposit. And no incentive to PSST to act in good faith. Also, the 99.3% coverage in 10 years requirement was too rigid. > 3) And in my view same anchor tenant - Google. Was there anything to preclude Google from becoming an MVNO? I didn't know the whole MVNO list, but I never heard of Google's involvement. They were toying with other ideas, playing games with Verizon. Nothing would preclude them or anyone else form becoming an MVNO, of course. M2Z's whole concept was different. While Frontline's commercial side was wide open (more so than any other wireless operator), M2Z's was about being closed, a tightly censored jesusly "free" ISP for the religious peasantry.