Telecom Daily
Welcome to Faulkner's Telecom Daily. We publish Monday through Friday, updating top stories as events warrant.
Thursday, April 2...
T-Mobile Finally Completes Merger with Sprint
Following years and years of failed attempts and regulatory blockades, the plan
to merge T-Mobile and
Sprint has finally succeeded, with the
official
completion of the combination. The new company will continue to operate
under the T-Mobile brand name, and will be led by new CEO Mike Sievert, with the
combined carrier deciding to move forward with its transition from current CEO
John Leger to the new Chief Exec ahead of schedule. The combined company issued
several claims and predictions upon its merger completion, including a promise
to have 14 times more network capacity within the next six years; a commitment
to reaching 5G speeds of eight times current LTE download rates in "just a few
years," and 15 times current speeds in six years; and a plan to reach 99 percent
of the US population with 5G speeds in excess of 100Mbps within six years, and
90 percent of the rural US population with speeds of at least 50Mbps within that
same timeframe. On the financial side of things, T-mobile has committed to $40
billion in network investments in the next three years to power the previously
mentioned coverage proliferation, while it has promised $43 billion in
additional value to shareholders through "synergies achieved from the
integration." As of today, the newly combined company will trade on the NASDAQ
under TMUS, while Sprint's shares will no longer trade on the NYSE. Sprint
investors will receive 0.10256 shares in the new T-Mobile for each owned share
of Sprint.
FCC Pegs Official Deadline for
STIR/SHAKEN Compliance
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
announced
an official deadline of June 30th, 2021 as the date by which all carriers in the
US must implement the STIR/SHAKEN call verification standard. The standard in
question was adopted by the FCC in order to combat unwanted robocalls,
particularly those that use call spoofing to make recipients erroneously believe
the incoming call originates from somewhere other than its actual source. The
regulator believes the standard, which has already been adopted by several of
the largest carriers in the US, will reduce the effectiveness of illegal
spoofing, help law enforcement officials track down call spoofers, and help
carriers more effectively filter out spam calls. The FCC claims the
implementation could save Americans as much as $3 billion annually by reducing
funds lost to fraudulent callers.
BlackBerry Suffers Losses for Q4, FY 2020
on Growing Operating Expenses
BlackBerry posted its financial results
for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2020. For the quarter, the company's
revenue reached $282 million, up from the $255 million posted for the same
period in 2019. Despite the rise, it suffered a net loss of $41 million, or
$0.07 per share, due primarily to a $75 million year-over-year uptick in
operating expenses. This is a significant drop compared to profits of $51
million, or $0.09 per share, posted one year ago. For the full fiscal year,
BlackBerry took in revenues of $1.04 billion, up from the $904 million reported
for 2019. However, it suffered a net loss here as well, dropping $152 million,
or $0.27 per share, compared to 2019's net income of $93 million, or $0.17 per
share. This decline was also the result of spiking operating expenses, which
rose by almost $300 million over the prior year.
....Michael Gariffo, Faulkner Information Services
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