The Week with Roger

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss the prepaid landscape, including the moves cable is currently making within the segment. 00:23 Prepaid deals show competition is alive and well 02:42 Prepaid as a transitional product 04:30 Who needs an unlimited plan? 06:43 Cable is taking advantage of plan shakeups 09:54 Cable & FWA 12:38 Episode wrap-up Tags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Verizon, Visible, Cricket, Mint, churn, MobileX, AT&T, Cricket, cable, Charter, FWA, DOCIS 4.0, net promoter scores, convergence, T-Mobile

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner examine the current state of Mint Mobile as well as where the company may be headed following its recent acquisition by T-Mobile. 00:24 Mint has been a success story overall 02:07 Mint's D2C model yields high satisfaction 04:23 Which consumers choose Mint? 05:39 Mint as a price and value leader 06:42 Episode wrap-up Tags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Mint, T-Mobile, Consumer Cellular, D2C, Total, Metro, Cricket

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss earnings from three major companies, issues surrounding fold and flip phones, and some key executives departing the industry. 00:25 T-Mobile's earnings overview 01:12 T-Mobile and pricing parity with other carriers 05:34 T-Mobile's perception vs. reality 08:23 Dish is still struggling 11:14 Altice is persevering despite challenges 12:18 Google Pixel 9 Fold release controversy 14:24 Flip and fold phones have a major flaw 17:07 Executive turnover in the industry Tags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, earnings, T-Mobile, 5G, Dish, Altice, ACP, net adds, churn, parity, interest rates, fiber, Comcast, Charter, Google Pixel 9 Fold, AT&T Enterprise, Cricket, Stetson Doggett, Rick Welday, Melissa Arnoldi, John Dwyer

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss who will win in the ongoing competition between cable and wireless. 00:23 Innovation in the telecom industry 04:59 Initial un-carrier disruptions 05:57 Recon Analytics data facilitates innovation 06:54 Cable has taken the lead at innovation 10:04 FWA looms large for cable 12:38 Cable's leadership is slow to take action 13:17 Episode wrap-up Tags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, cable, wireless, innovation, Verizon, Dennis Strigl, iPhone, AT&T, T-Mobile, John Legere, Un-carrier, Charter, FWA, convergence, net promoter scores, DOCSIS 4.0, routers

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner examine insights gained regarding Starlink's operation and make predictions for its future as a service provider. 00:25 Survey results for Starlink 04:34 Starlink's router is top quality 05:28 Survey cNPS (net promoter) scores reveal a new hierarchy 09:24 Starlink's website and gaming performance 10:20 Starlink's value for price 11:02 Comcast Business will offer Starlink to enterprise customers 12:31 Episode wrap-up Tags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Starlink, cable, fiber, Verizon, DSL, FWA, router, AT&T, cNPS, net promoter scores, Comcast

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner break down Q2 earnings from Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, and Charter. 00:44 Verizon's Q2 earnings 03:09 AT&T's Q2 earnings 04:48 Comcast's Q2 earnings 05:53 Charter's Q2 earnings 07:40 Industry Q2 earnings overview 08:30 Convergence is happening 08:57 Episode wrap-up Tags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, earnings, Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Charter, FWA, fiber, net adds, ACP, churn, convergence

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss the FCC's new plan that may require carriers to unlock devices much sooner rather than later. 00:25 FCC plan details and carrier implications 03:11 Most people don't understand unlocking 03:44 Why are devices locked anyway? 06:03 Predictions if implemented 07:26 Carriers differ greatly on the issue 10:22 Episode wrap-up Tags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, FCC, unlocking, spectrum, D Block, Google, Verizon, net neutrality, Chevron deference, T-Mobile, Mint, AT&T, phone trafficking, subsidies, TracFone, Peter Adderton, MobileX

On their 200th episode, analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss T-Mobile's pending auction of 800 MHz spectrum and what entity may ultimately end up purchasing it. 00:27 T-Mobile's forced sale of spectrum 02:28 Potential uses for the spectrum 02:54 Why Dish won't buy 03:37 Auction details 04:08 This band is not particularly useful 05:00 Possible public utility use 06:41 What carriers actually need 07:18 Episode wrap-up Tags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, T-Mobile, spectrum, 800 MHz, Sprint, Dish, Nextel, FCC, auction, throughput, utilities, PG&E, AT&T, Verizon

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss the landmark Chevron deference Supreme Court case and what it means for the future of telecom. 00:23 Chevron deference overview 03:33 Politicization of the process 04:18 Power shifts away from agencies 05:00 Relevance of the Telecom Act 06:19 Settled law is no longer settled 06:55 Predictions for the industry Tags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Supreme Court, Chevron deference, regulation, FCC, net neutrality, telecommunications Act of 1996, Title II

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss Verizon's recent rebranding, complete with a new logo and ad campaign as well as features for both consumers and business. 00:24 Verizon's rebranding overview 1:47 Expanding use case focus 4:28 myHome and bundling streaming 8:05 Handset trade-in program 09:18 Will AI drive phone purchasing again? 11:47 Verizon Access deals and giveaways 12:58 Verizon Business Complete's end-to-end smartphone management 14:30 Episode Wrap-up Tags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Verizon, T-Mobile, myHome, FWA, Fios, AT&T, net adds, churn, streaming, trade-in, AI, iPhone, Android, NFL, B2B

Analyst Don Kellogg receives an update from Roger Entner and Daryl Schoolar, who are attending the Digital Transformation World conference in Copenhagen. 00:25 Overview of the conference 04:06 Practical AI use cases 07:27 Cloud native is crucial for operators 08:24 Corporate culture is a sticking point 09:10 How should outages be treated? 10:22 Event wrap-up https://dtw.tmforum.org/ Tags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Daryl Schoolar, DTW24, AI, OpenAPI, Nokia, simplification, cloud native, corporate culture, outages

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss Microsoft's Azure for Operators shakeup, as well as Carlos Slim's new interest in a European telecom. 00:30 Microsoft to quit Affirmed and Metaswitch 02:20 Comparisons to Google 03:31 Microsoft is usually more persistent 06:09 Predictions for virtualized cores and cloud for telco 06:59 Carlos Slim takes a stake in BT 08:52 Predictions for BT Tags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Microsoft, Azure for Operators, Affirmed, Metaswitch, Etisalat, Dish, Amazon, Google, Deutsche Telekom, Cisco, AT&T, vCPU, cloud for telco, Carlos Slim, TracFone, BT

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss Verizon's recent wireless plan updates, as well as Nvidia's acquisition of spectrum to test Open RAN. 00:25 Verizon's new plan updates may reduce churn 02:11 Prepaid and retail struggles continue 04:03 Verizon's overall strategy 04:28 Nvidia's spectrum acquisition and Open RAN predictions Note: “Roger erroneously added that OpenRAN efforts only began to stabilize once Dish Network brought on established open RAN vendor Samsung, “which took over a lot of that stack.”” Mavenir continues to play a significant role in Dish’s 5G Open RAN network. Tags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Verizon, AT&T, net adds, ACP, churn, retail, TracFone, Straight Talk, Visibile, Total, MobileX, Nvidia, spectrum, Open RAN, interoperability, Dish, Samsung, Ericcson, AI

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss T-Mobile's recent acquisition of most of US Cellular's assets, including what this means for customers and the other carriers as well. 00:24 Roger's overview of the deal 03:53 What the deal doesn't include 07:16 Don's analysis of customer behavior 09:27 Carrier strategies going forward Tags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, U.S. Cellular, T-Mobile, spectrum, HHI, Herfindahl Hirschman Index, Verizon, AT&T, C Spire, rural, Sprint, Metro PCS, Nextel, merger, MNO, net adds, 5G

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner are joined by fellow Recon Analytics analyst Mitch Klaassen to discuss Ericsson's recent smart factory analyst event. Don and Roger then delve into a T-Mobile price increase as well as the increasing focus on convergence within the industry. 00:36 Smart factory overview 03:19 The push for American tech manufacturing 04:14 T-Mobile raises prices on legacy plans 06:28 Carriers have too many plans 08:09 The “march upward” toward premium plans 10:17 Convergence is key as net adds stagnate

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner are joined by fellow Recon Analytics B2B analyst Jake Hawkridge to discuss the results of a recent survey on how businesses use FWA. 00:35 Overview of the survey 03:15 Speed tier FWA focus 04:12 Prioritization FWA focus 04:48 Primary reasons for businesses choosing FWA 07:18 HFC vs. fiber 09:28 Satisfaction with FWA 10:29 FWA bundling 11:26 Episode wrap-up Tags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Jake Hawkridge, B2B, FWA, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, speed tier, data, prioritization, data caps, speed caps, speed, reliability, fiber, cable, HFC, hybrid fiber-coaxial, satisfaction, NPS, bundling

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner are joined by Jonathan Chaplin from New Street Research's U.S. Communications Services Research Team to discuss the current and future states of broadband, cable, Dish, and more. 00:55 Jonathan's take on broadband's recent decline 04:48 Roger's analysis of broadband 06:39 Jonathan's no-growth 2024 outlook 07:36 Roger's slightly optimistic 2024 outlook 09:04 Don's FWA predictions 10:49 Cable's culture is problematic 17:19 FWA's value vs. cable 21:08 T-Mobile's plan to buy parts of U.S. Cellular 24:10 What will happen to Dish's spectrum? 30:26 Episode wrap-up Tags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Jonathan Chaplin, New Street Research, broadband, cable, ACP, Charter, RDOF, BEAD, FWA, spectrum, DSL, T-Mobile, Verizon, DOCSIS 3.1, DOCSIS 4.0, NPS, Comcast, symmetrical service, U.S. Cellular, rural, Dish, AWS-3, FCC, Boost Infinite, AT&T

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss US Cellular's earnings as well as Mint's acquisition by T-Mobile. 00:37 US Cellular's earnings are concerning 02:48 The company's questionable ultra-rural strategy 04:37 Mint's acquisition by T-Mobile 06:20 Mint's customer base may present a challenge for T-Mobile 08:08 The deal by the numbers Tags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, US Cellular, earnings, Mint, T-Mobile, churn, fixed wireless, towers, rural, merger, acquisition

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner dissect the 1st Quarter earnings for both telecom and cable. They also discuss slowing upgrade rates, T-Mobile's entry into the fiber market, and examine the industry's net promoter scores. 00:24 Q1 earnings represent a cooling market 01:18 Handset replacements are cratering 03:05 AT&T's Q1 Earnings 07:06 Verizon's Q1 Earnings 10:50 T-Mobile's Q1 Earnings 12:57 T-Mobile's investment in Lumos Fiber 17:06 Comcast's Q1 Earnings 18:52 Charter's Q1 Earnings 19:42 Industry overview Tags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, earnings, upgrades, AT&T, churn, FWA, cable, broadband, Verizon, T-Mobile, EQT, Lumos, fiber, Cable One, Comcast, Charter, Spectrum, net promoter scores, NPS, DOCSIS 4.0

Ep. 188 Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss T-Mobile implementing a soft data cap for FWA, as well as Comcast's new low-cost prepaid plan and the future of internet providers. 00:25 T-Mobile's changes to FWA service 02:48 Data cap specifics 04:30 Fiber vs. FWA 05:56 Competition in the marketplace 06:34 Comcast's new low-cost prepaid plan 08:01 Trends in the prepaid segment 09:03 DOCSIS 4.0 is crucial for broadband 11:18 Government's big role in shaping the industry Tags: T-Mobile, Fixed Wireless Access, Comcast, Xfinity, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Recon Analytics, Docsis 4.0, broadband, cable, fiber, data caps, network prioritization, Spectrum, Regulation