Helping businesses grow for more than 25 years

Mobile Deals

Since the first cellular applications were filed at the FCC more than 25 years ago, Whitey Bluestein has been involved in more than 100 deals involving mobile applications and wireless services. As an advisor and principal, he has taken companies to market, developed business plans, negotiated company-making deals, and participated in IPOs, mergers, acquisitions and deals of all descriptions with brand name companies in the mobile space. Bluestein’s mobile experience and impact on the industry includes:

In 1982, Whitey Bluestein joined MCI’s Corporate Development group and worked on the first round of cellular filings for markets 1-30. He then managed preparation and prosecution of cellular filings for markets 31-90 in 1983.
He managed the nation’s first and, at the time, largest cellular resale operation, in Los Angeles, including an extensive agent distribution network in 1983-84.
Bluestein developed and managed MCI’s nationwide paging partnership with American Express, Metromedia and Communication Industries.
He developed, negotiated and managed more than 30 cellular joint ventures in 1983-85.
Bluestein negotiated the Minneapolis-St. Paul cellular settlement, prepared the initial business plan, negotiated operations and marketing agreements for the MCI-led partnership, which then built the cellular system in seven months. He also negotiated a first-of-its-kind regulatory “cease-fire” with New Vector, the other cellular licensee in Minneapolis, to speed competitive service to the Minneapolis and Denver markets that MCI was building.
He was MCI’s sole negotiator in the cellular market settlements of 1984. His role and success in the negotiations and cellular market consolidation of 1984 is described in Wireless Nation: The Frenzied Launch of the Cellular Revolution in America, by James B. Murray (Perseus, 2001). As a result of Bluestein’s success, he assembled mobile assets which were later valued at $4 billion of a larger transaction.
Bluestein returned to MCI at the urging of the CEO in 1994 to lead the due diligence, and negotiate marketing and resale agreements for MCI’s planned Nextel investment.
Following a high-level strategy session, he developed the first MVNO architecture (before the term was coined) in 1996.
Bluestein then presented MCI’s mobile strategy, including the MVNO, to a joint meeting of the MCI and British Telecom board of directors, also attended by Rupert Murdoch and several of his News Corp. executives, in 1996. Ten years later, BT launched its own MVNO.
He led and managed MCI’s investment in US AirWaves, a leading bidder in the FCC’s PCS C-Block auction, then sat on the Board of Directors and Auction Committee of the young company. When spectrum prices climbed to unsustainable levels in the auction, he made the tough decision to exit the auction.
Following the conclusion of the PCS auction, Bluestein negotiated a ground-breaking airtime deal with spectrum winner NextWave. That agreement became the model for subsequent MCI deals with several network and service providers.
As part of MCI’s wireless operation, he negotiated wholesale agreements with most of the nation’s wireless operators, including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, BellSouth, PacBell Mobile, VoiceStream, Frontier, Ameritech, Bell Atlantic, GTE, NYNEX, Los Angeles Cellular and others. Based on these agreements, and the MVNO architecture Bluestein (and the engineers) developed, MCI launched the first bundled wireless service in MCIone.
When British Telecom was in the process of acquiring MCI, Bluestein led the MCI team on the global mobile strategy group for the two companies, in 1997.
At Visage Mobile, Bluestein developed key mobile operator relationships with Sprint, VZW and AT&T, and negotiated initial wholesale deals for ESPN, Disney and other MVNOs.
In his strategic advisory practice, he:

Negotiated mobile operator deals for a next generation voicemail company where the operators will use the new service as their default voicemail service.

Developed strategy and negotiated distribution deals for the Jitterbug™ phone geared to seniors and those desiring simplicity.
Represented several MVNOs, and negotiated wholesale agreements with two US mobile operators.
Helped a mobile software company which developed an application for managing chronic diseases like diabetes and asthma, win its first deal, with Kaiser Permanente, within 60 days of the first meeting. He then introduced the company to Qualcomm, which awarded them an innovation award with cash grant.
Helped a young company with a mobile imaging application develop a strategic relationship with Nokia, which is putting the app on high-end handsets.

Based on his deal experience, US mobile operators including Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel have recommended Bluestein to prospective wholesale customers.
Bluestein maintains strong relationships with senior management at all of the leading US operators as well as other mobile industry players.
Bluestein is a regular contributor to Telephony magazine on mobile topics, and has written about mobile innovation, social networks and the mobile address book, MVNOs and unlimited rate plans.
A European company seeking to do business in the US recently sought Bluestein out, telling him that they had asked 10 mobile experts in Europe whom they should use to expand their mobile business to the US, and “7 out of 10 recommended Whitey Bluestein,” according to the new client.
When a colleague and telecom industry veteran recently recommended Bluestein to a company that needed help with a mobile contract, he said, “Whitey Bluestein has negotiated more wireless deals in his career than anyone in the US.”