AT&T-T-Mobile and Digicel-CLARO Comparisons - Alice Through the Looking Glass The Day After

Just for a handful of silver he left us,

Just for a riband to stick in his coat.

R. Browning, The Lost Leader

It seems Americans are still in shock, after the betrayal of the Public Trust. Telecom Provider AT&T, the No. 1 Telecom Provider (American Journalists, I disagree on the No. 2 billing!!) bought Telecom Provider T-Mobile, stepchild of German Telecom giant Deutsche Telecom AG for roughly US$39 billion pieces of silver.

Daggers to the heart as you may peruse my blog article on the subject entitled “AT&T buys T-Mobile - Prince of Persia in A Series of Unfortunate Events”. Not a rumour, it is very true.

So it is not surprising that No. 3 Telecom Provider Sprint struck back with a one-two combo punch of their own by announcing a very deep integration of their Switched Voice Network with Google Voice, effectively making Telecom Provider Sprint phone numbers the Google Voice number.

Like Alice Through the Looking Glass (TV 1998), Google must now go into a parallel dimension in the Telecom Landscape [Telecom Provider T-Mobile] in order to become King. This as Telecom Provider AT&T will surely undo all that the good that Google has done.

So says the articles “Sprint dials up Google Voice for all subscribers”, published March 21, 2011 5:00 AM PDT by Jessica Dolcourt, Dialed In - CNET News and supported by the article “Google voice goes Mainstream with Sprint Integration”, published March 21, 2011, 5:00am PT By Kevin C. Tofel, GigaOM. Extra details are gleaned from the article “Sprint adds Google Voice to Everything”, published March 21, 2011 11.34am EST by Sascha Segan, PCMagazine.

Good at this point to point out that Telecom Provider T-Mobile was the strong Tower for Google and their entry in to the Handset game. Google’s debut of the HTC G1, the Google Android powered smartphone was on Telecom Provider T-Mobile. So too was the MyTouch 3G, also powered by Google Android!

Telecom Provider T-Mobile has been the sole supported supporter of everything Google and Google Android, both in terms of Google Apps, Google Marketplace and even the Google Nexus 1, Google entry into the handset game, which debut on Telecom Provider T-Mobile.

Thus the Telecom Provider Sprint deep integration of Google Voice can be seen as a counter-attack after widespread fears of the Ugly Spectre of monopoly rule the minds of many Americans today. The news of the acquisition announced on Sunday March 20^th 2011 strikes many as mind-numbingly cold.

Telecom Provider AT&T claims that it would benefit LTE expansion as stated in the article “AT&T: Buying T-Mobile speeds up LTE shift in U.S”, published March 21, 2011 6:33 AM PDT by Stephen Shankland, CNET News – DeepTech, playing upon the desires of the US Government desirous of Universal Wireless Broadband access by 2015AD.

Sinister too, how this deal seems to neatly solve the so-called Spectrum crisis, which really does not exist as sniffed out by newshound Stacey Higginbottom of GigaOM in the article “AT&T to buy T-Mobile for US$39 Billion. Here is why”, published March 20, 2011, 1:34pm PT by Stacey Higginbotham, GigaOM.

The demand for Broadband should go soft in a Recession Economy, despite the projected statistics of Cisco as stated in the article “Cisco predicts wireless-data explosion”, published February 9, 2010 5:00 AM PST by Marguerite Reardon, CNET News - Signal Strength. No matter how addicted people appear to be to Zynga’s Farmville and CityVille!

So what Spectrum crisis was there? Upon acquisition of Telecom Provider T-Mobile, due to the difference of frequencies, Chip and Golding Codes of Telecom Provider AT&T WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiplexing) powered 3G Network, changes are inevitable.

Users of Telecom Provider T-Mobile’s HSDPA (3G) and HSDPA+, a bridging technology which Telecom Provider T-Mobile palms off as 4G, will have to be scrapped due to differences in their 3G Technology Chip Codes and Golding Codes that would make it inoperable with Telecom Provider AT&T 3G. The Telecom Provider T-Mobile Spectrum may be reused for deployment of LTE.

To the victor go the Spectrum spoils!!!

As for Regulatory hurdles, albeit they would be a Monopoly able to dictate pricing of handsets, the US Government Regulators cannot resist the argument of Telecom Provider AT&T solving the so-called Spectrum crisis in one fell swoop, thereby improving Network coverage and potentially increasing access to Wireless Broadband via LTE.

 I hate to admit it, but this deal appears solid and legit, through and through, never mind the acrid pungent smell of “monopoly”, despite the simple arguments expressed by CNET News Reporter Marguerite Reardon in the article “AT&T's T-Mobile Deal - Regulatory Hurdles Ahead”, published March 20, 2011 6:02 PM PDT by Marguerite Reardon, CNET News - Signal Strength.

So the Telecom Provider Sprint – Google Voice deal signals a shift in power within Persia [Telecoms Providers], as Google Voice and Telecom Provider AT&T were never friends, having tangled with them before, having blocked Google Voice on their Network as stated in the article “AT&T denies squelching Google Voice for iPhone”, published August 21, 2009 2:34 PM PDT by Tom Krazit, CNET News - Apple.

Truly, VoIP apps from Skype and Fring and Google Voice, a hybrid of Switched voice Network Call Routing and VoIP are the NKOTB (New Kids on the Block) that threaten the International Calling Cash cow of Telecom Provider AT&T as confirmed by the analysis of Christopher Ryan of GigaOM in his article “What AT&T has to fear from Google Voice”, published August 20, 2009, 9:00am PT By Christopher Ryan, GigaOM

Dear Reader, remember it was the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) that forced Apple Inc to approve Google Voice and Telecom Provider AT&T to accept Google Voice. Apps from Google are already in Telecom Provider AT&T’s with most of the functionality of their Android smartphones stripped.

Now that Telecom Provider AT&T empire has grown bigger, they may seek to counter-attack Google’s encroachment on their territory. This spells doom and gloom for Silicon Valley and innovation, which is an anathema to money-making Telecom Provider AT&T. Hence the coincidental announcement of the hastily arranged Telecom Provider Sprint – Google marriage!

Their market size may mean that they can increase the cost of the termination of International Calls on their Network. This is how we Jamaicans come in to the picture.

So just like the Digicel Group and America Movil swap of CLARO Jamaica for Digicel El Salvador and Honduras assets. This being of course the deal that Telecom Provider AT&T copied and took their cues. The customer will not benefit in the long run, as most of the benefits are in hands of the Telecom Providers.

Thus all the above concerns about the Telecom Provider AT&T - Telecom Provider T-Mobile buy-out applies to the Digicel Group and America Movil swap.

Digicel Group will most certainly also, as the biggest GSM Voice Network, ponder the expansion of Telecom Provider CLARO LTE Network, opting to go the WiMaX (IEEE802.16d, e) Route.

Or they may see Telecom Provider CLARO as an opportunity to expand their market dominance by offering choice between two (2) sibling Wireless Broadband Protocols, with an upgrade in speed of Telecom Provider CLARO’s 3G Network to match their WiMaX 4G Broadband Network as possible plus to customers!!!

Already here in Jamaica, Telecom Provider LIME is asking the FTC (Fair Trading Commission) and the OUR (Office of Utilities Regulation) to investigate the deal as stated in the article “LIME wants OUR, FTC to assess Digicel Claro Deal”, published Sunday, March 20, 2011, The Jamaica Observer.

June 2011 is three (3) months away as the mushroom cloud rises up on this The Day After (TV 1983).