Metro PCS 2009 Annual Report Download - page 46

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Our continued success will depend, in part, on our ability to anticipate or adapt to these and future technological
changes and to offer, on a timely basis, products and services that meet customer demands. For us to keep pace with
these technological changes and remain competitive, we may continue to make significant capital expenditures in
our networks, acquire additional spectrum, and design and offer new services. Customer acceptance of the products
and services that we offer will continually be affected by technology-based differences in our product and service
offerings and those offered by our competitors. We cannot assure you that we will obtain access to new technology,
such as LTE, on a timely basis, on satisfactory terms, or that we will have adequate spectrum, or be able to acquire
additional spectrum, to offer new services or implement new technologies. If we do not offer these services, we may
have difficulty attracting and retaining customers. Further, we cannot predict the effect of technological changes on
our business. We also cannot be certain that the choices we make regarding technology and new service offerings
will prove to be successful in the marketplace or will achieve their intended results. All of these factors could have a
material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.
We are dependent on certain network technology improvements, which may not occur or may be materially
delayed.
Most national wireless broadband mobile carriers have greater spectrum capacity that can be used to support 3G
and 4G services. These national wireless broadband mobile carriers are currently investing substantial capital to
deploy the necessary equipment to deliver 3G enhanced services, and have invested in additional spectrum to deliver
4G services, and some have announced plans to deploy 4G technology in their networks. Two of our national
wireless broadband mobile competitors acquired a significant portion of the 700 MHz spectrum auctioned by the
FCC. The national wireless broadband mobile carriers in many instances on average have more spectrum in each of
the metropolitan areas in which we operate, or plan to operate, than we and Royal Street have combined, and may
have spectrum with better propagation characteristics. We do not plan to invest any further capital into 3G
broadband technology and will instead develop 4G technology to enable us to offer customers new and advanced
services. We are planning to design, roll-out and begin selling LTE services in most of our currently served
metropolitan areas by the end of 2010. Our decision to develop 4G technology will require significant capital
expenditures. In order to meet this objective, we are required to deploy LTE equipment at a substantial number of
our existing cell sites. In some cases, because of the limited amount of spectrum available to us in certain
metropolitan areas, we will be required to deploy LTE on 1.4 or 3 MHz channels adjacent to our existing CDMA
network in those metropolitan areas. This deployment will require engineering solutions, which may not work as
anticipated, or which may take longer to deploy than anticipated. We currently are dependent on a limited number of
infrastructure and equipment providers to assist us in the development and deployment of our 4G network and to
manufacture equipment for use on our network. Our plans to move to 4G technology may result in additional risks
and expenditures such as, among other things:
• inability to timely develop and engineer design and network changes for the launch of 4G services;
• reliance on existing engineering staff in each of our metropolitan markets to oversee our LTE deployment;
• delay in the development and deployment of our 4G networks due to lack of necessary equipment and
products being designed and manufactured or due to limited staffing resources and lack of proper
coordination across all our markets;
• network and system compatibility issues;
• unanticipated and unforeseen costs or higher costs attributable to the lack of experience with 4G technology
and the implementation of the deployment of 4G technology and the maintenance of the 4G technology and
network;
• inability to acquire or lease additional cell sites or lease additional space at existing cell sites needed for
expansion;
• obtaining necessary permits and regulatory approvals or third-party approvals for network construction,
implementation and deployment;
• possible quality and reliability issues of the 4G network once deployed due to integration, compatibility or
coverage concerns; and