Originally Posted by
LaserEyeKiwi
Epiphany.
Random thought popped into my head this morning while reading about the 2degrees founders attempt to start a new supermarket chain.
So starting a new mobile network is incredibly hard, due to the fact that customers on a mobile network are by definition “mobile” - which means creating a new network requires it to cover the vast majority of the country to be viable. This is widely understood and not a surprise to anyone.
However, this is NOT the case for the relatively new “fixed wireless broadband” market, currently only being operated by the three major wireless networks. But the “FIXED” in fixed wireless broadband refers to the fact that all of the customers using this service are NOT mobile.
Therefore it would be possible for a new entrant to create a mobile network that only serves the fixed wireless broadband market in chosen locations, without a need to build a national network from day one. The major asset needed would be frequency allocation. So if a company could get there hands on access to a frequency, the cost of deploying mobile network towers is relatively small when only deploying them in specific target markets which would likely see a good return on investment. After a significant period of time, said company may have deployed towers in enough areas (say every metropolitan center) that they may consider the viability of a nationwide mobile phone network as also being a possibility in due course.
Too long; didn’t read version: It’s potentially far easier to launch a fixed wireless broadband network than a mobile phone network.