Sprint lowered its phone as a modem (PAM) option to $15/month from $50/month. PAM options allow customers to use 3G enabled handsets as Internet modems for laptops and PCs. In effect, the PAM replaces the need for a broadband data card. The service has specific requirements including the use of qualified handsets and qualified data plans. Customers must subscribe to a Sprint data plan of $30/month or more to qualify.

Nielsen Mobile released a revealing study on mobile broadband which may offer some insight into the future of broadband and wireless. The study results reveal that there were 13 million users of 3G mobile data cards in the U.S. as of the end of 2Q08. Mobile data cards connect to laptops and PCs, allowing access to mobile broadband services over a cellular network. The cards come in a variety of formats, including PCMCIA cards, USB cards, and even come embedded in laptops. The study also revealed significant momentum, citing that 55% of these cards were purchased within the last twelve months. One of the more revealing findings indicated that this mobile broadband product is increasingly being used by everyday consumers, not just traveling professionals, or “prosumers” as they are often called. “It’s clear that data cards aren’t just for business travelers but are an increasingly popular choice for in-home, personal Internet access, too” said Nic Covey, director of insights at Nielsen Mobile. “Data cards aren’t just for road warriors—but also for couch and kitchen warriors.” Other interesting findings include:

• 43% of mobile data card users report they most often use their data card at home
• 15% say they typically use the card at work
• 9% say they use the card while commuting to/from work
• 40% of card users also have cable broadband and 34% also have DSL in their home
• 59% of mobile data card users say they might cut their wireline Internet service for data card use exclusively

The threat to wireline broadband service is fairly obvious. There will be a segment of mobile broadband users who will go exclusively wireless, just as they’ve done with voice. The advent of 4G wireless in coming years will certainly accelerate that trend. But I also believe there will still be significant opportunity to leverage both wireline and wireless broadband together. I interpret the findings of this study to also support the notion that broadband carriers who augment their wireline broadband with a wireless value add option can gain competitive advantage. If your value proposition to customers communicates a robust wireline broadband option, complemented by a broadband “lite” wireless option, at an acceptable price point, you may have a winner. Indeed, some leading companies are already executing such a vision. This strategy is exactly what Cablevision has in mind with their pending Wi-Fi mesh network in New York. The idea that I can buy a service that will seamlessly extend my broadband experience, both inside and outside of the home, is quite compelling. As the Nielsen study reveals – compelling to not only prosumers, but soccer moms too.

The FCC released results from the 700 MHZ auction and it looks like the pre-release consensus was right. Verizon Wireless and AT&T were the big winners, with Verizon gaining a national 700 MHz footprint. They both bid a combined $16.3 billion, with AT&T bidding $6.64 billion for 227 B-block licenses and Verizon Wireless bidding $9.63 billion for the large C-block regional licenses. An additional 99 bidders won 754 licenses, including familiar names like Echostar (DISH Networks) and Cox. The outcome of the auction did not produce a viable national wireless competitor, as many had hoped, but there are some interesting twists.

Echostar bid $711 million for 168 E-block licenses, which covers a large portion of the U.S. Cox bid close to $305 million for 22 licenses in the A and B blocks. Their licenses will include areas of California, Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma. These two winners will probably be the most interesting to watch from a competitive angle. Echostar now has a conceivable way to offer broadband, although speculation is that they have their eyes on mobile video, which the E-block spectrum is much better suited for. Among smaller service providers, CenturyTel won 69 B-block licenses for $149 million, raising the potential for CenturyTel to launch its own wireless service. Several tier 3 carriers won licenses including Horry Telephone of South Carolina, Pioneer Telephone in Oklahoma, and PVT Networks in New Mexico. While the auction failed to bring a competitor to the national stage, and may have fallen somewhat short from an overall competitive standpoint, it did empower several entrants into the wireless space. Time will tell whether those entrants can actually have a competitive impact in their respective territories, but it will be interesting to observe over the coming months and years.

In what is surely a sign of things to come, Sprint will provide an EVDO Rev. A software upgrade for its HTC Mogul handset, making it the first mobile broadband enabled handset. Upgraded Mogul’s will have true broadband wireless access, with download speeds ranging from 600 kbps to 1.4 Mbps, and upload speeds of 350 to 500 kbps. Previous speeds available to the Mogul before the upgrade, range from 400 kbps to 700 kbps downloads and uploads of 50 kbps to 70 kbps. Prior to the Mogul, mobile broadband has been limited to laptops which utilize either a laptop card or a built in wireless modem. Broadband enabled handsets have been in play for some time, but have used primarily Wi-Fi for their broadband access. The Mogul will now have true broadband anywhere there is EVDO Rev. A coverage (BTW, don't you love our industry’s acronyms – try explaining EVDO Rev. A to a lay person).

Mobile broadband should see considerable expansion in the months and years to come. Wireless carriers are positioning it as a differentiated and value add service. A knock on the popular iPhone is its lack of a true mobile broadband option. Sprint seems like an unlikely first to market candidate given their troubles of late. But they may prove to be a big early player in mobile broadband with the Mogul and with promised WiMAX enabled handsets due by the end of this year. It may prove to be one of the few competitive bright spots available to Sprint – one that they would be wise to exploit.

According to comScore, access to the Internet through mobile broadband connections grew by 157% in 2007. Mobile broadband technology includes EV-DO Rev. A which is offered by both Verizon and Sprint. Mobile broadband connections are achieved through PC/laptop cards, built-in adapters, or by tethered smartphones. comScore pegs the number of unique mobile broadband users at 2.1 million. “Though mobile broadband access is currently used by about 1 percent of the total U.S. Internet population, it is poised for significant growth over the next few years,” said Serge Matta, senior vice president of comScore.

Mobile broadband will certainly increase dramatically, especially if Sprint’s Xohm gets off the ground soon. In fact, mobile broadband will increasingly impact the competitive landscape as more and more users find its convenience appealing. Mobile broadband has the potential to have a similar impact on landline broadband that cellular has had on landline voice. Additionally, telecom carriers will increasingly add mobile broadband to quad play bundles to create differentiation and competitive advantage. The numbers are low today because we are just leaving mobile broadband’s "embryotic" stage. But we will soon see "hockey stick" type growth and its competitive impact will be undeniable.

AT&T announced an expansion of their 3G network, that will bring coverage to 80 additional markets. The expansion will involve 1,500 new cell sites. AT&T claims its 3G network delivers typical downlink speeds ranging between 600 and 1,400 Kbps, and uplink speeds ranging from 500 and 800 Kbps. AT&T says the expansion includes migration to a GSM based High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) network.

Let the speculation begin. Microsoft’s unsolicited bid for Yahoo has the tech world abuzz. There are numerous implications if such a merger were to materialize. We’re far off from that happening - it will take some time to shake everything out. There are already rumors that Yahoo is exploring other options, including an alliance with Google to either thwart the Microsoft bid, or try to extract a bigger selling price. Perhaps one of the more interesting implications centers on wireless. Both Yahoo and Microsoft have impressive wireless strategies. Among the more obvious goals of this Microsoft bid, it may also be an attempt to head off Google advances into the coveted wireless space.

Yahoo and Microsoft have some pretty impressive wireless forays already. Microsoft’s mobile operating system, Windows Mobile, is on 150 handsets and is available from over 100 different wireless operators from across the globe. Windows Mobile will ship on about 20 million handsets this year alone. Yahoo has struck wireless alliances with the likes of AT&T, Vodaphone, T-Mobile, and Rogers to feature Yahoo mobile wireless applications, including ad and search capabilities. A combined Microsoft-Yahoo could create a compelling integrated suite of services for wireless operators and consumers that may trump anything Google tries to do with Android. Mobile wireless represents the next big growth engine for broadband. Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google understand that, and they are now positioning themselves to take full advantage of it.

Recent announcements by Alltel about EV-DO launches in Montana and North Dakota illustrate the maturation of mobile broadband wireless beyond downtown urban clusters. Much of the attention around 3G deployments focuses on Sprint and Verizon Wireless’ EV-DO strategy of blanketing urban markets. But Alltel claims the largest EV-DO footprint (geographically speaking), and much of it is well beyond urban cores. Alltel’s latest announcement says they’re bringing mobile broadband to “Helena, Missoula, Billings and communities along Interstates 94 and 90” in Montana. That follows on the heels of similar moves by Alltel in North Dakota. Mobile broadband and the competition it empowers has arrived in rural America.

Rural America is no stranger to broadband wireless. But it’s typically been in the form of fixed wireless, where service providers have used Wi-Fi and other unlicensed spectrum options to expand the reach of their broadband footprints. Alltel, to some extent Verizon, and other smaller wireless players are now using EV-DO to provide more auspicious competitive broadband options to rural consumers, making it more enticing to “cut the chord” entirely. Wireless voice and now wireless broadband is within reach of millions of rural subscribers in much the same way that their urban counterparts have enjoyed it for some time. These mobile broadband solutions will broaden the competitive landscape for rural wireline providers and their DSL offerings. As mobile broadband continues to evolve through upcoming 4G technologies, its competitive implications will only broaden. Some rural service providers who historically have been somewhat shielded from wireless competitive pressures, may start to see the tides turn.

BusinessWeek postulates an interesting theory in a recent article about Asian telecom carriers potentially angling for a presence in the U.S. market. The upcoming 700 Mhz auction is seen as a catalyst for this renewed interest in the U.S. market. Masaki Yoshikawa tells Businessweek.com, "Google is trying to acquire spectrum now. Maybe they will be looking for a partner for their network,” stressing that no talks have been held by the companies. "Perhaps we can be involved in the process." NTT DoCoMo joins other potentially interested Asian carriers, including KDDI, and SKTelecom. The potential investment from these carriers could have interesting implications on the U.S. telecom competitive landscape.

Asian carriers are no stranger to U.S. investment. NTT DoCoMo was a large investor in AT&T Wireless years ago, which they sold at a significant loss. South Korea’s SKTelecom partnered with Earthlink to launch Helio, which they now control. The thinking is that Asian carriers bring a wealth of experience already in the future of the U.S. mobile wireless industry, namely data services. BusinessWeek reports that up to 90% of consumers in some Asian countries subscribe to wireless data plans, vs. 54% in the U.S., according to consultancy IDC. If Asian carriers bring that expertise to the U.S. through partnering with the likes of a Google or someone else, they may prove to be formidable competitors to existing U.S. market carriers. I’m certainly not suggesting a “slam dunk” with such an arrangement, but the possibilities do seem enticing.

Check out more insight on this at FierceWireless.

AT&T’s announced purchase of Aloha Partners 700 Mhz spectrum for $2.5 billion may alter the competitive landscape for both mobileTV and mobile broadband. The implications impact companies like Qualcomm on the mobileTV side as well as smaller regional and rural carriers who intend to participate in the upcoming 700 Mhz spectrum auction (more on this point later). Aloha’s subsidiary, HiWire was poised to be a leading mobileTV operator in the U.S., utilizing the DVB-H standard. AT&T has committed to offering mobileTV as well, but through Qualcomm’s MediaFLO platform, a competitor to HiWire and DVB-H. The question on everyone’s mind is will AT&T forgo mobileTV with its newly acquired Aloha spectrum, and use it instead for mobile broadband purposes. Regardless of AT&T’s intentions, the removal of HiWire from the mobileTV competitive landscape is potentially good news for Qualcomm and MediaFLO.

This development also complicates the already complex jockeying for the upcoming 700 Mhz auction, scheduled to take place on January 24, 2008. This pre-emptive move by AT&T signals they intend to be a major player in 700 Mhz. The 12 Mhz of spectrum (C block of the lower band) the Aloha purchase provides AT&T is not adequate enough for a robust nationwide network. That implies that AT&T intends to gain additional spectrum at the auction, and because of Aloha’s band placement, may “muddy the waters” as to where the players will fall. AT&T is kind of a wild card now, because they may want to expand their holding in the lower 700 Mhz band, which pairs nicely with the Aloha spectrum assets. That would be somewhat of a new development, because previous thinking had the larger players like AT&T and Verizon more interested in the upper band 700 Mhz spectrum. The lower band is attractive to smaller regional and rural carriers because the auction rules has the lower bands broken into smaller geographic regions, whereas the upper band is broken into much larger geographic regions, and thus more attractive to larger national providers. But AT&T may now see the lower band, smaller geographic license areas as attractive, and simply outbid regional and rural carriers. Many of those smaller carriers were looking to the 700 Mhz auction as a way to get a foothold in the mobile broadband arena. There is potential that they may not get that opportunity now. If AT&T does decide to swallow the lower band, they could remove the potential for many additional mobile broadband carriers to emerge after the auction, thus significantly altering the competitive landscape for mobile broadband.