Can you guess which countries’ citizens have the greatest access to cell phones? It’s an odd list. The United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, and Italy are near the top—no surprise, since they’re all rich. But middle-income countries Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Brazil …
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By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: Kenya, M-PESA | Category: Telecommunications Regulation |
 Leave a commentIt’s official: The era of salad bar style mobile data plans is almost over. AT&T has joined Verizon and T-Mobile in slowing download speeds for its remaining customers with unlimited data plans, once they reach set (albeit generous) limits. Among the national mobile carriers, only Sprint, which is struggling to compete … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: AT&T, FCC, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon | Category: Telecommunications Regulation |
Leave a commentWho says Congress never does anything? In what amounts to the legislative equivalent of a multi-carom trick shot in billiards, the House and Senate have cobbled together a complex deal in which a hefty chunk of airwaves now controlled by television stations will be auctioned off to wireless telecom carriers for … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: FCC, Spectrum, unemployment | Category: Telecommunications Regulation |
Leave a commentThe world is an amazing place. You can sit in a Starbucks in Malibu while I’m sipping tomato soup at a Pret a Manger in London, and we chat for free using Skype or Viber or Rebtel. Or how ‘bout this one: You can pull a smartphone out of your … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: AT&T, FCC, Ronald Coase, Spectrum, Verizon | Category: Telecommunications Regulation |
Leave a commentVerizon, America’s largest wireless network, pulled a rabbit out of its corporate hat last month, announcing a multi-billion dollar deal to buy spectrum from cable-TV giants Comcast and Time Warner and the smaller, Syracuse, NY-based Bright House Networks. Sound familiar? AT&T, number two in wireless, made a similarly surprising move … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: AT&T, Ronald Coase, Spectrum, Verizon | Category: Telecommunications Regulation |
Leave a commentThe trend toward wireless voice calling at prices more akin to data plan pricing continued this week with the unveiling of AT&T’s Call International App. The free app (which works on most of AT&T’s smartphones) dramatically cuts the cost of voice rates when the phone is connected to … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: apps, AT&T, smartphones | Category: Quick Takes, Telecommunications Regulation |
Leave a commentHeard about Viber yet? It’s an app for the iPhone and for Android smartphones, the neatest means yet for making virtually free phone calls and sending free text messages to anyone, anywhere, anytime. Oh, and did we mention that the voice quality is typically superior … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: Android, FCC, iPhone, Viber | Category: Telecommunications Regulation |
Leave a commentThe Department of Justice has come out with guns blazing in an effort to stop the $39 billion AT&T/T-Mobile USA merger. But is it really in the interest of either the antitrust bureaucracy—or the consumers they are supposed to represent—to put the kibosh on this one? There’s a legitimate dispute here. … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: AT&T, Mergers and acquisitions, T-Mobile, United States Department of Justice, wireless | Category: Telecommunications Regulation |
2 commentsCalifornia’s Public Utilities Commission has decided to investigate the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger, making no bones about the PUC’s concern that the merged companies’ combined market share in the state (47 percent) would be anti-competitive. Maybe, but there’s an irony here. AT&T’s goal is to use T-Mobile’s surplus spectrum … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: Antitrust, AT&T, California Public Utilities Commission, merger, Spectrum, T-Mobile | Category: Quick Takes, Telecommunications Regulation |
Leave a commentEverybody agrees that distracted drivers are bad drivers, whether the source of the distraction is a cell phone or a Double Whopper with Cheese. The issue is what to do about it. The Economist suggests that distracted driving should be treated like drunk driving with a mix of tough … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: distracted driving, drunk driving, Google, The Economist | Category: Quick Takes, Telecommunications Regulation |
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