NEW ORLEANS —The CEOs of the top four wireless carriers in the U.S. got together tonight at the CTIA Wireless trade show, and each had a pet theme—the spectrum crunch, privacy and security, data management technologies, and how to use wireless technology beyond phones.
But three of the CEOs all had one thing in common: what sounded like coded quips ganging up on AT&T.
"The industry has confused consumers by taking creative license with the use of the digit '4,'" Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said. "Perhaps LTE can be the one thing we all agree on." That's a dig at both T-Mobile and AT&T for defining HSPA+ as "4G," but more of a slam of AT&T, which magically turned a "3G'" iPhone into a "4G" device by changing an icon in the menu bar.
That iPhone was the subject of a T-Mobile commercial T-Mobile USA CEO Philipp Humm showed, where T-Mobile icon Carly, representing an HTC One S phone on HSPA+ 42 sped past a man poking along on a motorcycle representing an HSPA 14.4, AT&T iPhone.
Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead wanted everyone to know, "Verizon Wireless has the largest LTE network in the U.S." That was a dig at both AT&T's and T-Mobile's claims that they have the nation's largest 4G network—but again, it seemed more targeted at AT&T as an LTE competitor.
AT&T's Ralph de la Vega didn't take the digs without responding, of course. He touted a PC World nine-city study concluding that AT&T's combined HSPA+/LTE network was the fastest in the nation. We're currently in the middle of our own PCMag-conducted 30-city study on the same topic, and we'll have results in June.
"It ain't true," he said of T-Mobile's claim that its network is faster. "That's why this industry has a bad rap, because we take the truth and we stretch it. ... [W]e each try to put our best foot forward and in doing so it confuses the customers."
Humm pointed out that the iPhone shown in the commercial runs at only HSPA 14.4, slower than the maximum speed of either AT&T's or T-Mobile's networks.
"So you're comparing a phone to a network," De La Vega offered as a rebuttal.
What CEOs Want You to Think
So what is each carrier up to?
De La Vega is into "digital life." That's AT&T's new foray into the home security and home automation market, going up against existing providers like ADT. The idea is to tie your smartphones and tablets into not only security, but lights, energy consumption and door locks.
"We have known for quite a while that our customers want more than speed," De La Vega said.
Mead wants spectrum. Lots of it. "There is no disputing that fact that there is an ongoing spectrum crunch," he said, with mobile data usage doubling every year. Verizon will need more spectrum by 2013, so it should be allowed to buy some spectrum from cable companies and sell off some 700Mhz spectrum it isn't using, he proposed.
"We believe both of these initiatives demonstrate that we're responsible stewards of these high-value assets," he said. "We don't have the most spectrum. We have the most efficient use of spectrum, and we have a very clear plan on how to optimize that spectrum for the betterment of consumers."
Humm had some solutions for the spectrum crunch that don't involve buying more spectrum.
"Intelligent rate plans" that throttle speeds rather than charging overage, using small cells to reuse spectrum over space, offloading onto Wi-Fi and pre-loading video at less busy times can help the industry survive data growth, he said. The average T-Mobile smartphone customer now uses 760MB of data every month, he noted.
"In such a spectrum-constrained environment, we need to be as smart as possible an industry to manage capacity," Humm said.
Hesse, meanwhile, said the wireless industry doesn't have the consumer reputation warranted by its innovation and usefulness. "Our reputation falls woefully short," he said.
The best response is to focus on safety, security and privacy, he said. Sprint is creating a new mobile advertising policy which helps consumers understand how to opt in and out of mobile ads, he said.
"I think in a year the dialogue will be dominated by privacy, safety and security instead of speed and technology," he said. "If they trust us, they are going to buy from us."
