Key Points
- AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have entered into a joint venture agreement aimed at expanding mobile and satellite coverage in underserved parts of the United States.
- The venture will initially focus on improving direct-to-device satellite access in areas where traditional terrestrial mobile service is limited or unavailable.
- Long-time wireless industry executive Paul Roth will serve as interim CEO while the venture searches for a permanent chief executive.
The three major wireless networks in the United States have formed a new joint venture that is aimed at eliminating wireless network dead zones across the country.
The move follows an announcement by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon in May to pool resources to help solve the problem of eliminating areas of the country where wireless service isn’t available by pooling their spectrum licenses together to support voice and data delivery over satellite.
The new joint venture, which doesn’t yet have a name, will initially focus on improving direct-to-device satellite connectivity, giving customers another way to access mobile services outside the reach of conventional cellular networks. The companies said the arrangement could also provide redundant connectivity when terrestrial networks are disrupted by natural disasters and other emergencies.
Paul Roth will serve as interim CEO while the companies search for a permanent chief executive. Roth previously held leadership positions at AT&T, Cingular Wireless and Ameritech. The venture will be overseen by a board with representatives from each of the three founding companies.
AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon also intend to develop common technical specifications for satellite-supported mobile services, which the companies say could simplify integration across wireless networks, devices, operating systems and applications.
The venture will be technology-neutral and is intended to allow multiple satellite operators to compete to provide services. Rural mobile network operators will also be able to work with the venture to introduce satellite-supported products for their customers.
The formation of the joint venture comes as some wireless companies — specifically, T-Mobile — have forged individual partnerships with satellite broadband providers to offer connectivity in parts of the country that land-based wireless networks currently do not reach.
Some of those partnerships have ended, with companies like SpaceX increasingly looking at ways to launch their own broadband wireless networks to compete against the major three carriers at some point in the near future.
The joint venture appears to be a way to hedge against a major satellite broadband player, like SpaceX, from entering the competitive land-based wireless space and eventually siphoning off customers from the major carriers.
