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Tuesday, June 18 ...

President Obama Authorizes New Program to Free Up Federal Wireless Spectrum 
President Obama signed a new Executive Memorandum clearing the way for the US regulators to free up additional wireless spectrum currently restricted to use by the federal government. The lengthy order includes multiple measures designed to free up federal spectrum without disrupting the needs of government users. These initiatives include the formation of a "Spectrum Policy Team," to examine methods of freeing up the aforementioned spectrum; the facilitation of inter-agency cooperation to " identify opportunities for agencies to relinquish or share spectrum"; a reassessment of the spectrum currently being used by multiple government agencies; and a plan to incentivize the process of agencies relinquishing spectrum for public use, as well as several other programs. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to be heavily involved in the execution of this memo, and has already praised its signing.

Sprint Launches LTE in 22 New Markets
Sprint announced its first major LTE expansion in some time with the launch of its 4G network in a total of 22 new markets. Highlights on this long list of new coverage areas include Miami and Tampa, Florida; New Orleans, Louisiana; Raleigh, North Carolina; Napa, California, and Lansing, Michigan. This rollout raises the total number of markets covered by the carrier to 110. Although this is a milestone worth noting, it still leaves Sprint as a distant third-place finisher in LTE coverage behind current leader Verizon Wireless, and the rapidly expanding AT&T. None the less, Sprint said it is still on track to bring its 4G LTE network to a total of 200 million US citizens before the end of 2013. A full list of new coverage areas is available within Sprint's press release.

T-Mobile Ahead of Schedule on Metro PCS Transition  
T-Mobile US announced that it has completed its first round of customer transitions from the former MetroPCS network to its own airwaves ahead of schedule. The transition is designed to bring MetroPCS customers onto T-Mobile 4G LTE and HSPA+ networks by making compatible devices available to them, while also allowing them to bring their own network-compliant handsets. Although T-Mobile praised the rapid transition of this first wave of MetroPCS users, the company admitted that there was still a long road ahead, and pegged 2015 as the time when it expects to have completed the transfer of all former MetroPCS customers onto its own 4G network. The company has reason to rush the process, apparently. It noted in its press release that any spectrum freed up by MetroPCS customers no longer using it will be immediately added to its LTE rollout. T-Mobile did not provide any exact figures on how many customers were included in this first wave of transitions.

CenturyLink Acquires AppFog to Expand Savvis' Platform-as-a-Service Capabilities
CenturyLink announced the acquisition of AppFog, a company specializing in Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offerings for more than 100,000 developers. According to CenturyLink, the acquired firm will be used to enhance the Savvis Cloud suite offered by its eponymous subsidiary. In addition to bringing PaaS capabilities to Savvis, the acquisition will also allow the company to offer AppFog's existing products via its savvisdirect online channel, as well through more traditional variety of private, dedicated deployments. No financial terms for the acquisition were disclosed.

... Mike Gariffo, Faulkner Information Services

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