45.3% of U.S. Wireless Market Now Foreign Owned

[blackangst1]

:sadface:

Linky

With Softbank's majority stake acquisition of Sprint Nextel Corporation, the amount of foreign interest in the United States wireless market is greatly expanded. On the other side of the coin, wholly-American owned wireless companies are beginning to look like an endangered species.

The two largest US carriers, Verizon Wireless and AT&T are mostly owned by American companies, but based upon first quarter 2012 market share figures (source: Strategy Analytics) and corporate ownership percentages, we estimate that 45.3 percent of the United States' wireless market will be controlled by foreign multinational companies pending the regulatory approval of SoftBank's acquisition of Sprint. As the next four years fan out, we must turn our eyes to the smaller national competitors and regional carriers and see how they merge and change.

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[Red Storm]

I feel like if Verizon and AT&T were entirely American they would actually be worse than they are now.

 

[Mopetar]

The foreign companies that own the American carriers are also multinational companies themselves, which are partially owned by other American companies. This really doesn't change anything.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Maybe they'll put an end to the idiocy that created these American carriers to begin with. Standardization of frequencies perhaps? Interoperability?

 

[Vdubchaos]

We have been selling ourselves out for MANY years now. This is not news AT ALL.

 

[corkyg]

When you say "foreign owned," what does that mean? If the company is publickly traded (Verizon is) then it is owned collectively by the shareholders. The recent deal between Softbank and Sprint was for stock - Softbank bought a controlling number of shares. Markets are international - many foreigners invest in American companies, just as many Americans invest in foreign companies.

Any one of us can buy shares of Softbank.

http://investing.money.msn.com/investments/stock-price?symbol=sftbf

 

[PowerYoga]

Maybe now they can standardize frequencies so I can actually use my phone without flashing a new modem when traveling.

Don't see any problems.

 

[dagamer34]

Maybe now they can standardize frequencies so I can actually use my phone without flashing a new modem when traveling.

Don't see any problems.

The frequency issue is a problem with the FCC, not with carriers. They'll do whatever they want, it's the FCC's job to make sure they have constructive uses with our spectrum.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

The frequency issue is a problem with the FCC, not with carriers. They'll do whatever they want, it's the FCC's job to make sure they have constructive uses with our spectrum.

What does the FCC do? They're ok with AT&T charging you for Facetime. They're ok with Verizon world phones not working with AT&T because they purposely disable the 850/1900 bands. They're ok with Sprint phones not working on Verizon phones despite being physically capable. And why the hell is TMobile on AWS? Did AT&T buy all the 850/1900 rights?

How is it in other countries multiple carriers share the 2100mhz band no problem?

 

[dagamer34]

What does the FCC do? They're ok with AT&T charging you for Facetime. They're ok with Verizon world phones not working with AT&T because they purposely disable the 850/1900 bands. They're ok with Sprint phones not working on Verizon phones despite being physically capable. And why the hell is TMobile on AWS? Did AT&T buy all the 850/1900 rights?

How is it in other countries multiple carriers share the 2100mhz band no problem?

The FCC is only has the powers given to them by Congress. They aren't dictators, as much as we sometimes would like them to be.

As for the last point, AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon pretty much do own all of 850Mhz. The 1900Mhz spectrum T-Mobile does have is just enough for GSM. Check it out on this map: http://specmap.sequence-omega.net/

 

[ElFenix]

45% of cellco is owned by vodafone. that makes vodafone a larger chunk of the US wireless market than softbank's ownership of 70% of sprint.

When you say "foreign owned," what does that mean? If the company is publickly traded (Verizon is) then it is owned collectively by the shareholders. The recent deal between Softbank and Sprint was for stock - Softbank bought a controlling number of shares. Markets are international - many foreigners invest in American companies, just as many Americans invest in foreign companies.

Any one of us can buy shares of Softbank.

http://investing.money.msn.com/investments/stock-price?symbol=sftbf

verizon is publicly traded but verizon wireless is not.

 

[ImDonly1]

45% of cellco is owned by vodafone. that makes vodafone a larger chunk of the US wireless market than softbank's ownership of 70% of sprint.

This, but by cellco you mean verizon wireless. No one here calls it cellco.

I also thought I read Verizon wants to buy out vodafone's shares in the company. They don't like having vodafone as the 45% share holder.