COMET News - September 2014
The biggest acquisition news, however, was Telefónica’s $8.8 billion-pitch to purchase Global Village Telecom (GVT), the most successful and fastest growing alternative operator in Brazil. If the deal goes through, Telefónica’s Brazil brand, Vivo, and GVT would join to form the largest telecommunications operator in Latin America’s largest market.
Satellite poised to boom on marine travel
Satellite connectivity has rapidly advanced and is being used for everything from in-flight Wi-Fi to rural wireless, but the sky is the limit (pardon the pun) for the space-based signaling. Recently published research from NSR predicts that increasing demand from cruise ships, offshore and merchant marine will require 160 additional transponders, generating $2 Billion in revenue by 2023.
Sprint heats up with doubled data plans
It's all about data these days; mobile data, that is. Ever since truly unlimited data plans went the way of the Dodo bird and shared data plans became status quo, mobile data is more closely tied to value. Bigger buckets are considered more valuable, and Sprint just doubled the size of its data bucket.
The Sprint Family Share Pack, offering double the high-speed shareable data for smartphones, basic phones, tablets and mobile broadband devices, became available on Aug. 22.
To kick off Sprint’s “new day for data” campaign, Sprint is offering a limited-time promotion for the Sprint Family Share Pack: For a family with up to 10 lines, get 20GB of Shared Data and
Unlimited Talk & Text for only $100 a month through 2015 – and, as an added bonus, customers will get an additional 2GB per line for up to 10 lines.
“Sprint is offering the best value to data-hungry consumers. Period,” said Marcelo Claure, Sprint CEO. “We are doubling the high-speed wireless data because today’s customers rely so much on their smartphones and tablets. We make it simple and easy for wireless consumers to get the data they need at affordable prices to make their lives easier, more productive and enjoyable. We are so certain that this is the best value on wireless today that for any customer who wants to switch to our new Sprint Family Share Pack, we will reimburse them for the cost to end their contract with another carrier.”
AT&T's high fiber diet
Look out Comcast. Fiber broadband is coming to your neighborhood, and its not Google Fiber.
AT&T is expanding its ultra-fast AT&T GigaPower network to the City of Cupertino. The all-fiber network will bring symmetrical upload and download broadband speeds up to 1 gigabit
per second, and AT&T’s most advanced TV services to consumers and small businesses.
AT&T says it is deploying additional fiber and electronics to the existing network in Cupertino to meet the growing demand for ultra-fast broadband. The network enhancements will enable customers to have access to AT&T’s fastest Internet speeds available to consumers, compared to other options on the market.
“Cupertino is proud to be the first city announced in California set to receive the ultra-high-speed AT&T GigaPower network,” said Cupertino Mayor Gilbert Wong. “Cupertino is leading the way in creating an environment that fosters innovation, and the deployment of ultra-high-speed broadband service will further support innovation in our community, spur our local businesses, and result in even greater economic development in our city. We are very pleased to work with AT&T to offer this unprecedented service to our residents and small businesses.”
Magic Quadrant or Cash Quadrangle?
Is Gartner's Magic Quadrant more like a Cash Quadrangle? One growing tech company seems to believe so, and is willing to go to court to prove it.
NetScout Systems filed a lawsuit against NetScout in Connecticut Superior Court on August 5. In the complaint, NetScout alleges claims against Gartner under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act and for corporate defamation arising out of Gartner’s information technology research business practices.
Specifically, NetScout alleges that Gartner engages in a "pay-for-play" scheme, in which companies who pay for Gartner consulting services receive unfairly elevated promotion in Gartner's Magic Quadrant research reports. NetScout hasn't engaged Gartner for consulting services in five years, and, although NetScout is a recognized leader in performance monitoring, Gartner has since categorized NetScout as a "challenger" company.
