Sprint/Nextel Facing Rough Waters, Tough Times

For those wondering just what is and has been happening with Sprint/Nextel the last several years, here's a good review of the mess they've managed to get themselves into.

Excerpt:

"It was supposed to be a formidable competitor in the mobile wireless industry, leading the industry in key financial metrics and in innovative services. But less than three years after Sprint and Nextel merged their operations in a $36 billion deal, the company is now trying to stop the bleeding."

The bleeding has resulted in an extraordinary loss of several hundred thousand subscribers in the last quarter, whose care has been badly neglected primarily due to internal culture conflicts associated with the failed integration of both company's business processes and their incompatible networks.

New CEO Dan Hesse certainly has some challenges ahead of him.

Worth a read....


NR

U.S. Spectrum Management according to Wikipedia.....

The folks at the Portals (FCC) and the NTIA might be interested in this....

Current Spectrum Management in the United States

Wireless (RF or radio) spectrum management in the United States should be a cooperative exercise in balancing disparate stakeholder interests through effective user education and the enforcement of regulatory policies and rules that reflect practical reality, political responsibility, economic common sense, and, an understanding of the laws of physics. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

There is no concise, up-to-date, national radio/RF/wireless spectrum management policy practiced by the FCC and/or the NTIA in the U.S today. In addition, either very out-dated, convoluted, complex or very lax or non-existent regulation (often determined by the agendas of political and special interest groups more than by anything else) is the norm, with little effective enforcement of spectrum use rules.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectrum_management

It looks like the word is beginning to get out to the general public if one takes Wikipedia's definition at face value....although, when one thinks about it, the definition really isn't that far off the mark - is it?

NR

FCC's Strategic I.T. Plan - FY 2008-2012 - Ver 1.0

The Federal Communications Commission's 2008-2012 IT Strategic Plan (ITSP) sets forth the current and future foundation and guidelines that direct Commission-wide IT (information technology) activities for building an information systems architecture that is increasingly interoperable and migrates toward a single vision of IT at the FCC.

The ITSP is a five-year look at managing IT at the FCC. To prevent obsolescence of the information contained within the ITSP, periodic verification and validation activities will occur.

An annual validation of the information contained in the ITSP will be performed and updates will be made accordingly. A shift in Commission goals will trigger a review and update to the ITSP to reflect evolving FCC IT objectives

This ITSP is used in conjunction with the FCC's IT Tactical Management Plan which is an evolutionary document that maps out and schedules all IT initiatives and guides IT projects and activities. The Office of the Managing Director maintains and performs frequent updates to the IT Tactical Management Plan.

Examples of activities in the ITTMP include:

• Hardware Life Cycle Replacement Projects/Initiatives
• Application Software Projects/Initiatives
• Telecommunications (Data/Voice) Life Cycle Projects/Initiatives
• Infrastructure Consolidation Projects/Initiatives
• Federal Compliance Reporting Activities



You'll note that this plan is dated October, 2007 -- but is also labeled Version 1.0 -- something I'd think many would find rather interesting, considering that information technology (and the use and distribution of it) in the private sector is much further advanced.

Hmmm.....could this be part of why the Commission is struggling in so many ways when it comes to the allocation, management, and regulation of the radio spectrum?


NR

Wireless Spectrum Links & Resources

Those concerned or interested in learning more about U.S. spectrum regulation and frequency allocation policies and their impact on radio and wireless communication devices may want to begin paying very close attention to the Notices, actions and decisions made by the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB), the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHS), and, their Office of Engineering and Technology (OET). More background information on spectrum policy, including the latest on the 700 MHz proceeding, can be found on the FCC's Spectrum Policy Task Force site. And, there's always the FCC's Daily Digest which provides a brief synopsis of Commission orders, news releases, speeches, public notices and all other FCC documents (with links to the full text of each) that are released each business day.

Finally, this 2006 paper Regulating Spectrum Management: Overview and Trends is intended to provide readers with a broad overview of wireless communications spectrum management concepts and issues, including a review of differences between traditional spectrum management methods and policy and recent innovations and practices due to technology advances. The approach taken is more descriptive than prescriptive, allowing readers to make up their own mind on various perspectives. It's interesting to note that the authors have found that there are no standard solutions that fit every situation.

Additional reading:

Spectrum Management Overview

Spectrum Policy and Planning

An introduction to spectrum management including best practices and considerations involved in the use and regulation of radio frequency spectrum. An outline of policy and planning considerations including technical standards and the allocation of spectrum.

Authorization

An overview of the processes by which users gain access to the spectrum resource.

Spectrum Pricing

A review of the role of spectrum pricing and economics as it relates to the method of spectrum authorization being employed.

Spectrum Monitoring and Compliance

An overview of how spectrum monitoring and compliance can help users by avoiding incompatible frequency usage through identification of sources of harmful interference.

International Affairs

An overview of international harmonization of spectrum utilization.

Developing Spectrum Management Capacity

An overview of the strategies for organization, function, process development, staffing, staff retention and training for spectrum regulators.

Oh yes.....I almost forgot; here's how you can "express yourself" should some of the Commission's activities or policies stir you to speak up about spectrum matters.


NR
(Repost)