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FCC approves AT&T's acquisition of Leap Wireless, with some strings attached
AT&T's buyout of Leap Wireless is clearly going more smoothly than its failed bid for T-Mobile. The FCC has just approved the Leap acquisition, leaving only the Department of Justice's A-OK between AT&T and its dreams of additional spectrum. However, the carrier will have to abide by some conditions if it wants all that extra bandwidth. AT&T will have to launch LTE on Leap's unused airwaves no later than a year after the deal wraps up; the provider must also roll out LTE in parts of Texas within 18 months, offload some spectrum in the state and maintain roaming deals while Cricket's network is running. These kinds of requirements are par for the course in wireless mergers, though, and we suspect that it won't be long before AT&T has yet another company under its belt.
AT&T to buy Leap Wireless for $1.19 billion
AT&T dropped an interesting bit of news this afternoon: it's going to purchase Leap Wireless in its entirety for $15 per share, which translates to roughly $1.19 billion in cash. For many, Leap is best known by its consumer-facing brand, Cricket, a prepaid wireless provider that holds nearly 5 million subscribers. In exchange, AT&T will acquire Leap's customers, retail stores and network licenses, which span 35 states across the PCS and AWS bands. Leap's stock closed at $7.98 today, but shot past $16 in after hours trading. The transaction must still be approved by Leap shareholders, and then both the FCC and Department of Justice. As it stands, 29.8% of Leap's outstanding shares are in favor of the transaction, and ever optimistic AT&T expects to wind up the deal within six to nine months. Better luck this time?
Leap Wireless struggling to sell off-contract iPhones
Leap Wireless took a gamble when it started offering the iPhone at almost full retail prices in a US market that is dominated by inexpensive phones with high carrier subsidies. This is one bet that may not be paying off for the wireless carrier, says a report in the Wall Street Journal. Leap Wireless, which owns and operates the Cricket brand, confirmed in an annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this week that it was struggling to sell the iPhones it had committed to sell. The carrier is offering the latest model iPhone for $449 without a contract, but customers are not buying it. If sales don't improve, Leap could be left holding the bag on $100 million worth of unsold iPhones. Leap is in discussions with Apple and is working to improve marketing efforts to get people to jump on the Cricket/Leap bandwagon. It's not a lack of demand for the iPhone that is hurting Leap. It's the lack of demand for an almost $500 iPhone on a network that doesn't have a robust nationwide presence. At least in the US, customers are accustomed to buying a phone for $200 or less along with a two-year contract. It'll be a difficult task to wean customers off that purchasing model and persuade them to spend more money up front on a phone, especially when the ability to switch carriers at the drop of a hat is not valued in the US.
Cricket and MetroPCS now offering financing on select smartphones
Taking a very "un-carrier" approach, Cricket and MetroPCS recently introduced financing programs that allow prepaid customers to purchase high-end smartphones with a reduced upfront cost. Cricket has partnered with Progressive Finance to cover the cost of its devices, while Metro is using Billfloat as its lending option. Keeping things unconventional, these new programs do not use credit checks and instead only require that customers have a valid checking account. Cricket customers whose purchase exceeds $200 can apply for financing at retail stores and authorized dealers. The program covers up to 90 percent of the premium with the upfront charges being the remaining balance and the first month of service. Loans are amortized for up to nine months, with interest waived on accounts paid off within the first 90 days of financing.
Cricket announces LTE-capable LG Optimus Regard, Galaxy S III coming later this month
CDMA-based Cricket has announced its first LTE smartphones, launching the Optimus Regard this week, while that rather popular Samsung Galaxy S III will shake hands with the carrier's new 4G network on November 23rd. The Optimus Regard features a 1.2GHz processor, Android 4.0, 3.5-inch screen and 5-megapixel camera, with that humble spec sheet setting you back $250. Meanwhile, a few weeks later, Samsung's flagship will land priced at $550 off-contract. Cricket is offering both devices on its new Double Data plan that offers (for now, at least) double the monthly data allowance of its 3G plans. The $50 plan nets your 2GB of data, while $60 gets 5GB and $70 will offer 10GB of data. If you're mildly tempted by either the Galaxy S III or the humbler (cheaper) Optimus can read up on the full offering at the sources below.
Cricket brings 4G LTE to Las Vegas, outs new Huawei Boltz modem in celebration
Cricket's parent company, Leap Wireless, announced earlier last week its intentions to start blanketing more customers with LTE service, though it didn't say which markets would be the ones to get the same experience as folks in Tucson, Arizona. Today, however, Cricket's claiming that subscribers in the Las Vegas area can finally get a taste of savory Long Term Evolution, making this the second market where the newfangled network's now present. To go along with this, Cricket has said a revamped, LTE-ready version of that $150 Huawei Boltz modem will be available online and at retail stores around Sin City (and Tucson) for customers eager to try out the new service. No word on when the carrier plans to bring its "true 4G" network elsewhere, but, according to Leap CEO Doug Hutcheson, the idea is to have "approximately 21 million covered POPs by the end of the year." [Image credit: Cricket Wireless Premier Dealer]
Leap finally gets LTE, rollout starts next week
Leap customers, go ahead and jump for joy. The CDMA-based carrier is finally rolling out its first LTE market next week after about a year of testing it in Tucson, Arizona. (The first official market has yet to be named, however.) With its spectrum swaps finally complete, Leap hopes to spread LTE to around 21 million POPs by the end of this year and to around two-thirds of its current network by the end of 2015. Its only LTE offering is a Huawei Boltz mobile hotspot, but it promises LTE-capable smartphones soon. Curiously, the carrier does offer the LTE-capable iPhone 5, but there's no word if Leap's LTE network will support it. The only nationwide carrier without LTE at this point is T-Mobile, though it has promised rollouts starting next year; here's hoping that merger with MetroPCS (which already has LTE) will hurry that along.
Leap Wireless swaps spectrum with T-Mobile, buys all of Savary Island
Leap Wireless can go ahead and pop the champagne, as it has just completed the spectrum transactions announced earlier this year that will hopefully lead to larger LTE growth. Leap's own Savary Island Wireless exchanged spectrum with T-Mobile USA and Cook Inlet/VS GSM VII PCS LLC (itself a T-Mo business), resulting in Cricket's parent company acquiring 10MHz of additional AWS spectrum in Phoenix, AZ and Houston, Galveston and Bryan-College Station, TX, among others. In return, T-Mobile received spectrum in various markets in Alabama, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota and Wisconsin. There are also several intra-market exchanges in Philadelphia, Wilmington, Atlantic City, New Mexico, and Texas. In addition to the spectrum exchange, Leap also formally acquired the entirety of Savary Island Wireless for around $5.3 million (It previously only owned an 85 percent share) so the company has even more cause for celebration. Just don't overindulge on the Cristal, okay Leap?
ZTE Engage cleared to land at Cricket on October 2nd for $250
We recently caught first sight of the ZTE Engage at a press event in New York, but while Cricket was more than happy to let us play with its latest smartphone, the carrier stopped short of providing us with its pricing or arrival date. All of that changed this afternoon, as we now know that the ZTE Engage will become available on October 2nd with a no-contract price of $250. As a quick refresher, the handset will feature a near-stock Android 4.0 environment and a Snapdragon S2 SoC with a CPU that's clocked at 1.4GHz. Other relevant specs include a 4-inch WVGA (800 x 480) TFT-LCD display, an 8-megapixel rear camera with a VGA front-facing counterpart and a 1,900mAh battery. For complete details, you'll find the full PR right after the break.
Cricket and RadioShack confirm No-Contract Wireless, ship two Huawei phones to celebrate
RadioShack might have had a difficult time keeping a lid on its partnership with Cricket, but that doesn't mean we aren't interested in the official news. Launching under the expected RadioShack No-Contract Wireless banner, the unfettered phone service includes lets shoppers pick either $25 or $35 plans for basic feature phones or, more importantly, some tempting $50 and $60 smartphone plans. On top of unlimited domestic voice and messaging, these last two rates offer a respective 1GB and 2.5GB of data before throttling kicks in, with hotspot support, international text messaging and visual voicemail reserved for the highest-end tier. You'll find just two Huawei phones if you wander into a RadioShack store for the Wednesday launch: the $40 Pillar, a keyboard-touting basic phone, and a white-tinged, $150 Mercury Ice that iterates on the Android 2.3-toting Mercury only in the change of color. We're promised two additional, unnamed phones before the end of the month, and smartphones on the No-Contract service will be the only Cricket devices shipping with 8GB microSDHC cards to feed that Muve Music habit. The nitty-gritty of the hardware and plans await after the break.
Cricket now including Muve Music on all new Android smartphone plans
From today, Cricket is bundling its all-you-can-listen Muve Music service as a standard part of its Android smartphone plans. The offering gives users unlimited text, picture and video messaging, mobile web and a big catalog of banging beats you can pull down to your phone for those impromptu tap dancing sessions. The plans start at $50 a month, and you can access the sonic buffet if you pick up the Huawei Mercury, Ascend Q and Ascend II, HTC One V, Samsung Vitality or the ZTE Chorus. After all, if it's included in the price, you might as well, eh?
Verizon and Leap Wireless announce $120 million spectrum swap in wake of FCC approval
Go ahead and put a bow on it, as Verizon Wireless and Leap Wireless (the parent company of Cricket), have announced a successful spectrum swap. The agreement follows the recent stamp of approval from the FCC, which was issued as part of a larger deal between Verizon Wireless, SpectrumCo and Cox. For its part, Leap will divest itself of excess AWS and PCS spectrum across the US; in exchange, Verizon will pay $120 million to Leap and provide it with 12MHz of A Block 700MHz spectrum in Chicago. Leap will use the new holdings to supplement its existing 10MHz of the A Block within the Windy City, and will use the cash to build up its LTE infrastructure across the US. The company currently expects to provide LTE coverage to at least two-thirds of Cricket's current footprint over the next three years -- or, maybe sooner. Just check the PR to watch the company waffle.
RadioShack No Contract Wireless rate plans leak, $60 will get you everything
We're just about a week out from the rumored launch of RadioShack's Cricket-based No Contract Wireless plans, and more details are beginning to trickle out about the prepaid service. Specifically, we've just received information concerning how much The Shack intends to charge on a monthly basis, and it's just about what you'd expect: you can choose between featurephone and smartphone options, with the former hooking you up with unlimited messaging and your choice of 300 minutes for $25 or 1,000 minutes for $35. As for the smartphone plans, you'll get unlimited voice, messaging and Muve Music downloads on both selections; the $50 option will get you one gigabyte of 3G data (before throttling ensues), while $60 bestows you with 2.5GB data and mobile hotspot use, Visual Voicemail access, unlimited international text and all-you-can-eat directory assistance. As a comparison, Cricket's $35 featurephone plan will give you unlimited voice and SMS, compared to 1,000 minutes and unlimited SMS / MMS / 1X data on The Shack. The carrier's basic smartphone option is $55 and offers unlimited voice, messaging and 3G data (throttled at 2.5GB); this may seem like the better deal -- unless you're interested in using Muve Music. Since you have to pay an extra $10 to add the unlimited music service into the mix on Cricket, you'll see a monthly savings of $5 if you waltz into The Shack for the top-tiered plan. We're still waiting for RadioShack to come clean and acknowledge the existence of the NoContract service, but we'll continue to reveal more details as they come down the pipeline. Check out the featurephone rate plans after the break. [Thanks, Anonymous!]
T-Mobile urges the FCC to approve Verizon's spectrum deal
It's strange to see another network provider stepping up to the plate for Verizon, but some of T-Mobile's big hitters have visited the FCC to do just that. The company wants Verizon's acquisition of AWS spectrum licenses from SpectrumCo, Cox and Leap to be pushed through as quickly as possible, and its motives are pretty obvious: it comes just a month after the companies agreed to some friendly bandwidth-sharing once the deal's done. T-Mobile has also challenged comments from the Rural Telecommunications Group (RTG), which argues that Verizon's acquisition will hurt competition. Oh, how things have changed since T-Mobile was battling in completely the opposite direction.
Mobile Miscellany: week of July 16th, 2012
Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This past week, the Chief Operating Officer of Leap Wireless made his departure from the company and a new LTE handset was leaked for MetroPCS. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of July 16th, 2012.
Virgin Mobile to carry iPhone from today, Sir Richard does his best Fonz impression
Virgin Mobile is offering the iPhone to its prepaid customers as of today. The Sprint-owned subsidiary is using the event to kickstart a new retail strategy that will see the company open branded retail stores in Chicago -- with a nationwide rollout dependent upon its success. Since all carriers have to make a minimum commitment to Apple in order to receive the handset, it's interesting to see that Virgin's allocation forms part of Sprint's $15.5 billion gamble on the handset that's still yet to pay off. The handset will set users back $650 for a 16GB iPhone 4S, while plans begin at $30 for 300 voice minutes, unlimited messages and data, but only if they commit to automatic monthly payments.
iPhone 4 and 4S now available to purchase outright at Cricket for $399 and $499
There's nothing quite like the pent-up anticipation for an Apple product arrival, and yes, that extends even to customers of Cricket, who lined up this morning for their first chance to score an iPhone from the prepaid carrier. While both the iPhone 4 (8GB) and 4S (16GB) must be purchased outright -- for $399 and $499 respectively -- sales were said to be "brisk" today, which can be partially attributed to Cricket's $55 per month plan. For the monthly layout, customers can take advantage of unlimited calling, messaging and data, although they'll need to contend with throttling for any usage past 2.3GB. Next up, Virgin Mobile is similarly situated to receive the iPhone on June 29th. Think there'll be any lines?
Mobile Miscellany: week of June 11th, 2012
Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This past week, Cricket found a new retail channel at Kmart and we received news that the HTC One S will soon arrive at Cincinnati Bell. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of June 11th, 2012.
Cricket now offers the iPhone with $55 'unlimited' everything plan
Cricket Wireless, the prepaid subsidiary of Leap, has just announced the availability of the iPhone 4 and 4S on its network. When they go on sale June 22nd, a 16GB 4S will set you back $500, while an 8GB 4 clocks in at a slightly more affordable $400. Both are available with Cricket's $55 "unlimited" everything plan, which includes all you can eat talk, text, and data -- provided your idea of "unlimited" data falls within its fair usage policies (in this case, 2.3GB of data). Cricket is hardly alone among America's smaller carriers in offering the iPhone, C-Spire as well as a number of regional carriers all stock Apple's wares. What makes this offering unique, is that Cricket is the first completely prepaid carrier to sell the handset. So, if you want an iPhone, but don't want the contract or the post-paid, usage-based fees? Well then, Cricket might just be your new best friend. Check out the PR after the break and hit up the source for more info.
Mobile Miscellany: week of April 23rd, 2012
Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This past week, we learned that ZTE intends to release a phablet of its own, and Samsung unseated Nokia as the world's largest supplier of mobile phones. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of April 23rd, 2012.