The U.S. telecom market continues to witness intense pricing competition, as success to a great extent depends on technical superiority, quality of services and scalability. Additionally, the U.S. wireless industry is likely to become competitive in 2018 with the entry of cable MSOs (multi-service operators) in this space.

Entry of New Players in the Wireless Space

Comcast Corp. (CMCSA – Free Report) has already entered this field with its Xfinity Mobile offering. Presently, the company is using its MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) agreement with Verizon to use the latter’s wireless network coupled with its own WiFi network to offer mobile services. Importantly, the company acquired 73 licenses in the band of 600 MHz auctioned by the FCC. We believe that in the future Comcast will deploy this spectrum for extensive wireless coverage.

Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR – Free Report) has reiterated its plans of launching wireless service in the first half of next year. Much like Comcast, the company has an MVNO agreement with Verizon as well as its own WiFi network to offer mobile services. Charter Communications has also launched experimental field trials of the 5G wireless network.

These trials follow spectrum test licenses granted to the company by the FCC. The company is actively testing licensed small-cell technologies and has petitioned the FCC to release 3.5 GHz spectrum, popularly known as the CBRS band, for both licensed and unlicensed use.

DISH Network Corp. (DISH – Free Report) has created an extensive portfolio of spectrum, the most important component of wireless networks. The company boasts a portfolio of 80 MHz of radio frequencies of different bands, which will be utilized to deploy 4G LTE wireless network in top 100 U.S. markets. DISH Network’s CEO Charlie Ergen has hinted that the company is interested in the potential deal-making to enter the wireless industry. At the same time, Ergen also stated that DISH Network has a clear plan of building a wireless network on its own.