Telepocalypse

Update on Nextel

So, Nextel has gone commercial with its Flarion deployment, as previously described here. Here’s the pricing. Similar to normal wired broadband.

This is going to cause an oh f*ck moment at some point in the next two years at the traditional cellular carriers. (I’m assuming the wireline carriers are oh so f*cked already.) The question is will Nextel have the balls to carry the open IP network stance all the way through, and chuck in VoIP PSTN calling for a nominal cost? Will they try to lock down the devices? Can they manage peak usage and contention the right way?

My approach if I ran Nextel would be do an exclusive deal with Flarion, and slowly kill all my regional competitors, one market at a time. No big bang nationwide launch. Buy up their bankrupt spectrum. Repeat until false. Then eat the big guys.

I can see the marketing campaign now. TV ad with woman in shower, lathering hair. Partially draw back curtain, pokes head around. Says “DSL and cellular bills? No way! I just surf and phone with Nextel Wireless Broadband”. (With apologies to Procter and Gamble and those who never saw the infamous original 1980s TV advert.)