Mixed Signals
Any sufficiently advanced information is indistinguishable from noise
Monday 6 October 2008, 5:36 PM
xG update - money, mystery and more
Today was going to be my lunch appointment with xG, but we've had to cancel due to creative differences - the company wanted it off the record, I wanted to be able to write about what it told me, so it's ended up with me having an on-the-record debate with a sandwich at my desk. (In the spirit of full disclosure, it was a BLT.)
No reply to the list of questions I've sent either - why has nobody independently seen xG in action, who's responsible for QoS, what are the statistics for cell bandwidth and number of users, etc: I've asked for that by Friday, but the director of communications is a bit tied up with 'real media' at the moment, so no real idea when they'll get around to me.
Nonetheless, xG has been busy. It announced its unaudited half-year results to 30th June 2008: it's got around $23 million in cash and equivalents, it made $3 million before interest and share based payments, $46,000 afterwards. And it's collected $6 million since that period for base stations. There's no mention of any details of any deals, except that one with Treco - about whom nothing substantial is known.
But Treco has now decided to become the "exclusive infrastructure partner" to xG (well, seeing as it's buying enough base stations to carpet the US, it's hard to see what else they/he/she/it could do), and xG "expects [to] begin deploying next month in the southern Florida market. [...] xMax's superior technology capabilities mean that data and modem services will be added on early in 2009".
And Treco speaks! "In a statement, Treco Group said: “We have many years of experience backing successful entrepreneurial ventures and are in a unique capital position, free from external financing for any present or future obligation. We are now thrilled to be a part of something which will have such wide ranging global impact and our involvement will assist in delivering the xMax service more efficiently and profitably for all concerned".
In lieu of lunch, I popped an email off to xG, saying "Still no clue who Treco is, who the other partners may be, or how a service can be deployed before handsets are available. And what on earth is a ‘modem service’? How does that work on a digital system? And can any of the statements in that release be corroborated by the partner deploying the South Florida service, or Treco, or anyone other than xG?"
And back comes the answer:
"Treco is a private investment vehicle put together by some high worth individuals for the purpose of this deal. They wish to remain anonymous and we have to respect that. The base stations ie the network have to be deployed before the handsets rather than the other way round. What's the point of handset you can't use? The modem refers to the modem device which should be ready for home and business deployment 2009. Treco won't comment so no to that final point. I am unsure whether we are allowed to name our partners yet. I'll have to get back to you on that one."
In further email conversations (it would have been quicker to have had lunch!) it transpires that the South Florida deployment will not produce telecoms user revenue next month - I asked, because xG has previously rolled out services that never turned into commercial operations. As yet, I don't know when xG expects to host its first paid-for end user call.
Still, keep those eyes peeled on the real media - and, as always over the past three years, the moment I get anything that can actually be checked I'll be sure to let you know...
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Rupert, you are making a grave error when discussing xG. The xG rollout is completely different than the dealer rollout which will result in telco customers.
How can you have phones tested without the base stations?
This is not magic Rupert.
Did the BLT ever stand a chance?
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Rupert, you need to stop browbeating xG because their first potential dealer could not come up with the cash to fund their rollout.
I love the "real media" line xG gave you.
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Rupert - don't know if this adds any more info, but this was on El Reg today...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/08/xg_technology/
Anonymous - well, it's good to know who's behind Treco.
Doesn't answer any of the questions I've been asking for all these years, though, and it doesn't read as if Bill talked to any of the people from various operations who have come into contact with xG and decided not to advance that relationship.
Who said they decided not to advance that relationship?
Could it be that they are waiting for commercial products?
Has a billionaire ever backed you, Rupert?
Why not make a big deal over the fact that financially xG has not a worry in the world?
Your reporting is horrific, Rupert, I can see why you need someone to take you out to lunch.
So Rupert, xG wanted to tell you what you wanted to know, but because they had to protect their entire business plan, they wanted it off the record, and that wasn't good enough for you.
Rupert, wake up, you're a blogger...you should have taken what you can get.
I wonder if the phrase "vapourware" means anything in Russia? 'Cos that is for sure what this firm is offering. Nobody in the telco business here in "south Florida" knows anything about this - not surprising really when a huge "investment" in base stations has (a) no business plan (b) no proposed users and (c) nothing to talk to these base-stations...
If only there was a single verifiable fact in anything xG ever claimed, I'd be a much happier person - as it stands, the only things I can think of where independent confirmation was possible was when they announced some form of commercial relationship with third parties. That there was a relationship - yes, the third parties would agree. More than that? Nothing.
Has there been anything else that could be checked? What have I missed?
As I repeated to the company the week before last, they are extremely welcome to take part in the conversation we're having here, or ask me anything they like about my misgivings, or - well, anything.
I went looking back (for other reasons) through my diary entries, and found my first mention of xG back in mid 2005. I was enthusiastic then, took their claims at face value, and said that this was just the sort of innovaqtion that made the job worthwhile.
Three years of unanswered questions later, what's a man supposed to think?
ceebee, lol, nobody heard of them in South Florida...let me list then proof that you are misinformed, unaware and out of touch...Ready???
http://www.cba.ufl.edu/purc/docs/presentation_2008Cox.pdf
You haven't been paying too much attention since their rollout has been known worldwide to take place in Florida...
Cambridge is making the phones, when they are fully commercial after testing they will be mass produced.
(a) no business plan (b) no proposed users and (c) nothing to talk to these base-stations...
These points are dumb. The company is listed on a public exchange, the LEAST they have is a business plan, or maybe you thing ING doesn't require one. They have proposed users, it's called EVERYONE WANTING TO NOT GO BROKE ON THEIR PHONE BILL. Cambridge is making the phones, when they are fully commercial after testing they will be mass produced.
Really silly, Ceebee...Rupert, is this an indication of your reader intelligence level? I hope not. xG will never talk to you if it is.
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Rupert, you could have talked to Cambridge, you could have talked to Stu Schwartz, you could have talked to the company if you really wanted to know, but you decided against it.
You checked 3rd parties, they admit to be reviewing the tech....why the need to do anything at all??? Obviously the company has nothing to verify, and until they do, why regurgitate the same thing for years?
Why not mention the fact that xG NEVER has to go to the capital markets again?
Just for everyone's information, the last time I talked to Cambridge Consultants about xG was in April - when CC said that it couldn't talk, but would get back to me when it could.
I asked again yesterday, and had the same reply. There won't be an update 'for a while'.
And that's all they - and I - have to say.
Probably not able to say anything. Why should they comment when xG won't?
Whatever you are trying to accomplish, Rupert, you are failing.
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This comment has been deleted at the users request
This comment has been deleted at the users request
This comment has been deleted at the users request
Fair Enough Rupe.
I apologize for revealing "Telco Destroyer"'s name. But the sheer volume of responses from him clearly shows his MO. And I trust they were liberally sprinkled with invective before they were deleted.
Either way, xG may have stepped in it this time. There is much suspicion that this Treco deal is just another insider job. And if we don't see verifiable deliveries of large numbers of base stations by early 2009 that would only reinforce the suspicion. And now xG is also planning a deployment of xMax in southern Florida starting next month, with data and modem services to follow in early 2009. If this deployment flops like last year's Far Reach rollout, xG may be finished.
