Cases > Mobile - Wireless
We have successfully completed more than 100 mobile - wireless cases in over 50 countries on six continents on behalf of operators, governments and other clients. These cases have involved market studies, development of competitive strategies, license bid support and bid evaluations, auction team training, consultation of interconnection fees, tariff plans, marketing audits, survey research and focus groups, technology option assessments, and litigation support cases. We have also conducted due diligence and provided valuations using DCF, benchmarking and other approaches.
Impact Assessment of Proposed Annual Spectrum Fees Increase
For a major incumbent mobile operator we prepared an assessment of a government proposal to dramatically increase annual spectrum fees, demonstrating that the operators impacted by the proposal were already paying among the highest fees across OECD countries as well as demonstrating the shortcomings of the methodologies being considered for assessing the new fees. The government has withdrawn the proposal.
Expert Witness in Mobile Operator License Case
We provided an expert witness on behalf of the government licensing authority in Ireland (ComReg) during a Supreme Court review of an appeals court decision that upheld a challenge of how the government issued the third mobile operator license. The review resulted in the Supreme Court reversal of the lower court decision and citation of the supporting role of the expert witness.
Wireless Spectrum Auction Support
With our support our clients have won spectrum auctions in Brazil (new entrant), Canada (new entrant), Israel (new entrant), Italy (incumbent), and Taiwan (incumbent)—in fact, they have won spectrum in every auction we have participated in as advisors, often for relatively low prices.
Our clients have also won “beauty contest” licenses in Canada (new entrant), Hong Kong (new entrant), Malaysia (incumbent), and the United States (new entrants), with our help in market assessment and forecasting, financial modeling, network planning, and the preparation of executive summaries and organizational capabilities statements.
The auction values ranged from tens of millions to more than two trillion dollars—one of the beauty contest winners is now generating in excess of six billion dollars of annual revenues from the licenses we helped them win, serving as the principal mobile consultant.
Development of Rural Mobile Access Strategy
In Tanzania we helped the government establish the Universal Communications Access Fund by designing a financing and project implementation strategy, drafting an organizational and HR plan, identifying rural areas without mobile coverage, and providing a “reverse auction” tender framework for launching the Fund’s initial rural access projects. The mobile coverage pilot tenders are being launched.
Assessment of 3G Equipment Sales Drivers
We provided several European mobile operators and two major technology suppliers with advance warning on the slow take-off of 3G services based on our market forecasts that departed from the highly optimistic projections of other consultants and research organizations. This limited premature network deployments and capex expenditures in the case of the operators and provided the technology suppliers with a better understanding of what would drive equipment sales during the initial period of 3G network deployment.
Structuring of Competitive Licensing Tenders and Reverse Auctions
We helped regulators structure competitive licensing tenders and reverse auctions and/or evaluated applications and bids for mobile service licenses in several countries. In two cases we indicated how the respective applicants scored on technical, financial, market and other criteria, which resulted in dramatically reduced service prices in one case (developed economy) and expanded coverage in the other (frontier market).
Mobile Competitor Containment
We helped the incumbent mobile operator in New Zealand develop a strategy for containing their initial competitor based on how this competitor had entered and succeeded in penetrating other markets. As a result the second mobile operator’s subscriber share was limited to under 20% during first five years of competition—a world record.
Mobile - Wireless Knowledge Bank
We have developed a series of case studies on mobile competition strategies across a wide range of markets, including Algeria, Chile, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Venezuela, UK and US that have provided a broad understanding of the factors that enable effective competitive positioning. In addition, we have benefitted from extensive research on the demand- and supply-side factors that drive the adoption of mobile phones as well as mobile usage, some of which is summarized in the report prepared by Kas Kalba on The Global Adoption and Diffusion of Mobile Phones released by Harvard University.
Mobile - Wireless Management Resources
Our consultants have managed mobile network deployments, acquisitions and marketing campaigns in a wide range of countries, including Australia, Congo, India, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Thailand and United States. They have also been responsible for managing satellite operations, developing related marketing programs, and ascertaining landing rights arrangements in Brazil, Indonesia, Japan and Ukraine.