Wi-Fi

Sprint’s femtocell wholesale move – hoping for wireless for all takers

For an interesting spin on who sells services to whom, Sprint will begin wholesaling femtocell solutions to wireless resale partners that include mobile virtual network operators (MNVOs), as well as its wireline brethren, which means landline telecom service providers and particularly cable companies that want to offer quadruple-play services and provide wireless coverage inside customer’s homes.

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Wi-Fi: You can take it with you

Being neither 3G nor 4G, Wi-Fi, with its “no G” status, is much in the news these days, which goes to show that beyond the next-gen hype, there’s life (and competition) in Wi-Fi yet.

First let’s look at Qwest, which is offering its high-speed Internet customers a good deal — free Qwest Wi-Fi access at 17,000 hot spots nationwide. Qwest Wi-Fi is actually rebranded AT&T Wi-Fi, so there’s no doubt a wholesale deal in place. Some years ago, this deal would have been unthinkably anti-competitive, but both of the former Baby Bells operate in completely separate wireline territories, and Qwest doesn’t own any wireless assets. So why not?

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