Bloomberg says Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha is out, Google's Dennis Woodside in

When Google announced its purchase of Motorola Mobility, the cell phone and tablet portion of the company, in August of last year no one quite knew exactly what they had planned for the originator of the RAZR and more recently the OG Droid, which helped popularize the Android platform. It was made clear that the purchase was largely a means of attaining pertinent Intellectual Property rights held by the company in order to have some ammunition to use against patent attacks from Apple, Microsoft and others. It was also assumed that at least some jobs at Motorola would be lost through the process, as they often do during mergers and acquisitions.

That premonition came true in October 2011 when Motorola announced the termination of 800 jobs worldwide, as a cost saving effort in departments that Google considered to have redundancies. Bloomberg reported yesterday that the next step in the process is underway, claiming that multiple sources familiar with the matter are stating that current Senior Vice President of Google Dennis Woodside would be replacing Sanjay Jha as Motorola Mobility CEO. While we haven't heard official word Motorola or Google regarding the intended roster change, it is expected that over the next few months more information about Google's part in Motorola's operations will come to light.

Source: Bloomberg
Via: The Verge

T-Mobile USA to launch LTE in 2013

In an earnings report last night, Deutsch Telekom made it clear that they have developed a new approach for how to go forward with T-Mobile USA. The German parent company of T-Mobile officially unveiled its plans to begin development of an LTE network on AWS spectrum beginning in 2013. This will come as the second punch of a two-move combo, beginning with a strengthening of HSPA+ markets with 37,000 new cell sites, utilizing its PCS (1900) spectrum holdings.

Deutsch Telekom is very up front about that fact that it is the AWS spectrum it received after the unsuccessful acquisition by AT&T that will allow them to being deploying Long Term Evolution, which has been widely accepted as the standard for next generation wireless networks around the world. They explain that “the spectrum gained through the breakup fee empowers T-Mobile USA to start LTE-based services in key US markets.”

It makes perfect sense that the spectrum from the breakup fee is more important that the $3 billion in cash they received, as analysts calculated that the money would only allow them to cover operating expenses for 12 to 24 months, and that a different solution would need to be found.

It now becomes apparent the Deustch Telekom was protecting its own interests in urging the FCC to block the Verizon Wireless AWS spectrum purchases from the cable consortium. If so much AWS spectrum is controlled by Verizon, T-Mobile USA will have a very difficult time accumulating what it will need to build out its LTE network into new markets once launched.

I would really like to see T-Mobile get access to some of the AWS spectrum stockpiled by the cable companies. I think it can only do the consumer and the entire US wireless market good to allow a fourth carrier to come in and be competitive with Verizon, AT&T and Sprint, as more consumer choice forces the carriers to be more innovative and try to compete on price coupled with quality of service.

Source: BusinessWire
Via: AllThingsD

T-Mo says No-No to Verizon spectrum purchase

Late last night T-Mobile USA filed with the FCC in an attempt to block Verizon Wireless from acquiring spectrum from Comcast, Time Warner, Bright House, and Cox Communications. T-mobile is arguing that if allowed the transfer would allot an “excessive concentration” of the wireless spectrum in the US to Big Red, who already has a considerable amount of spectrum holdings. The purchase of $3.9 billion of unused AWS spectrum held by SpectrumCo, a joint venture of the aforementioned cable companies, was announced in December of 2011.

It is interesting to see T-Mobile putting up a fight over spectrum consolidation when just last year they were a part of an attempted merger with the nation’s #2 carrier, AT&T. If not pushed into withdrawal by antitrust regulators from the Justice Department, that acquisition would also have consolidated a large portion of wireless spectrum under a single carrier’s control.

This flipflopping may signal a change of approach by Deutsche Telekom, the parent company of T-Mobile USA, who had seemingly no interest in holding onto Big Pink and were more than willing to sell off to AT&T for the agreed upon $39 billion back in March of 2011. They received $3 billion in cash and stock from AT&T (in addition to $1 billion in spectrum) as a part of the agreement when the acquisition failed. Originally they stated that “there is no plan B” for operating the carrier here in the States, and it was widely rumored that they would attempt to find another buyer to take T-Mobile USA off their hands. However, their recent attentiveness to the US wireless spectrum situation with regards to the Verizion purchase could indicate that they’re going to do what many people would argue they should have done from the beginning: innovate and strive to be profitable instead of rolling over and accepting its “fate” as AT&T’s $40 billion lunch.

Source: The Associated Press (Greenville Online)
Via: PhoneScoop