History of Summit Ridge Group, LLC

Summit Ridge Group, LLC today announced that it provided mobile wireless industry and financial analyses for the US Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding the $26 billion merger between T-Mobile and Sprint. 

New York, NY April 21, 2020 — Summit Ridge Group, LLC, a leading provider of valuation and financial advisory services in the media, telecommunications and satellite sectors, today announced that the Company provided mobile wireless industry analyses for the US Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding the proposed $26 billion merger of T-Mobile and Sprint.

The DOJ investigated the merger over concerns that it would lessen competition and result in consumers having fewer competitive options and paying higher rates. On July 26, 2019, the DOJ announced a settlement agreement that required T-Mobile and Sprint to divest Sprint’s prepaid business, including Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, and Sprint Prepaid, to Dish Network Corp. The settlement also provided for the divestiture of certain spectrum assets to Dish. Additionally, T-Mobile and Sprint must make available to Dish at least 20,000 cell sites and hundreds of retail locations. T-Mobile must also provide Dish with robust access to the T-Mobile network for a period of seven years while Dish builds out its own 5G network. T-Mobile and Sprint announced that their merger closed on April 1, 2020.

The Summit Ridge team, working on behalf of the DOJ analyzed a variety of financial, spectrum, network, mobile wireless industry, and company-specific issues related to the merger.

Summit Ridge’s President and CEO, Armand Musey, said, “Summit Ridge is pleased to have provided to the DOJ our knowledge of the mobile industry and wireless spectrum, as well as our financial expertise, for the DOJ’s investigation of the T-Mobile and Sprint merger.”

Mr. Musey, Managing Director Barlow Keener, and Director John Tardio were involved in the matter supporting the DOJ investigation.

Summit Ridge Group, LLC announced today that William “Bill” Redpath has joined the firm today as a Managing Director. Bill will augment Summit Ridge’s media and telecom valuation and financial consulting practice. Bringing more than 30 years of industry valuation experience, Bill will enhance Summit Ridge Group’s growing leadership position in financial and valuation consulting matters including transactional support & opinions, litigation support & restructuring, and valuation advisory services in the telecom, media, and satellite sectors. Prior to joining Summit Ridge Group, Bill was Vice President at BIA Advisory Services, a valuation and advisory services company.

Bill has extensive valuation experience as both an expert witness for media and telecom business litigation and as a valuation consultant. He is an Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) in Business Valuation, Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), and Certified Public Accountant (CPA). He also earned the Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) designation from the American Institute of CPAs. Bill received his MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and BA in economics and political science from Indiana University.

John Tardio is elected to the office of board treasurer of the NYC Chapter of the American Society of Appraisers. Armand Musey remains on the board, having been elected to serve as vice president of marketing.

In October 2017, Summit Ridge Group added its second outside employee, Fan Jia to oversee the television broadcaster reimbursement process. Fan holds a master’s degree in accounting.

The FCBA Chairman’s Dinner is a major annual telecom event and is often referred to as the “Telecom Prom.” In 2016 we began our tradition of table sponsorship with one table. The tradition has grown over time. By 2019, we sponsored five tables at the event, more than AT&T and Verizon (four each).

Armand Musey is appointed board treasurer of the NYC Chapter of the American Society of Appraisers (ASA). The ASA is the leading professional organization for the valuation community.

CommLaw Conspectus- Journal of Communications Law and Policy, Vol. 23, No. 2, 2015, published a paper “Overestimating Wireless Demand: Policy and Investment Implications of Upward Bias in Mobile Data Forecasts.” The paper was co-authored by Summit Ridge Group President J. Armand Musey and Aalok Mehta, a doctoral candidate at the University of Southern California.

The paper examines the provenance, reliability, and uses of mobile demand forecasts and finds that several highly visible spectrum demand estimates over the past several years have exceeded actual traffic, which may have biased spectrum allocation decisions and policies in socially suboptimal ways. These reports include Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) estimates, which are commonly cited in government and industry reports, including the National Broadband Plan, as well as estimates endorsed in ITU’s WRC-07. The paper explores potential technological, economic, and sociological factors that may drive these biases, as well as possible solutions and policy remedies. This paper is not meant to imply any deliberate misrepresentation from any party, although this is certainly possible when billions of dollars are at stake, as with spectrum policy. Rather, the paper investigates various potential sources of bias and methods to mitigate such risks, in the hopes that it might inform businesses, regulators, and the general public about how to better allocate and manage finite spectrum resources.

Needing additional support resources to fill expanding client roster, Summit Ridge Group merged with Goldin Associates LLC, a leading financial advisory firm

The Columbia Science and Technology Law Review published, Mr. Musey’s article “Broadcasting Rights: Ownership Rights and the Spectrum Rationalization Challenge” in its Spring 2012 edition (Vol. 13).

The article examines the showdown between television broadcasters and the government in light of the FCC’s plan to reallocate the currently licensed broadcast spectrum to significantly higher value mobile broadband use. The government seeks to do so in an economically, socially and legally efficient manner and has indicated that it seeks a reallocation via a voluntary reverse auction process. Nonetheless, any spectrum reallocation proceeding raises the question of whether, and to what extent, television broadcasters ultimately possess rights to licensed spectrum, and what type of compensation, if any, they would be owed if the FCC takes their spectrum licenses involuntarily.

This Article finds that broadcasters have a very weak property rights claim over their spectrum licenses. However, broadcasters may be entitled to due process before their licenses can be taken involuntarily; they are almost certainly entitled to seek judicial review of any adverse FCC decisions. Such a review would extend the already lengthy FCC rulemaking and adjudication process, and further delay
spectrum reassignment. For practical political reasons, including maximizing revenue from future spectrum auctions, the most expedient way to reallocate spectrum is to incentivize the broadcasters to voluntarily participate in a reallocation plan by providing compensation beyond the legally required minimum.

The Hastings Communications and Entertainment Law Journal (COMM/ENT) publishes Armand Musey’s article, “How the Traditional Property Rights Model Informs the Television Broadcasting Spectrum Rationalization Challenge” in its Spring 2012 edition – 34 Hastings Comm. & Ent. L.J. 145 (2012).

Mr. Musey’s paper finds that eminent domain may be a reallocation approach that provides a reasonable framework for negotiating a buyout price for television broadcasters. At the same time, the threat of uncompensated rezoning of broadcasters’ spectrum to deprive it of broadcasting use gives the government a “stick” to encourage the broadcasters to agree to reasonable terms to vacate their spectrum. Although the government may not explicitly threaten eminent domain or re-zoning, the availability of these options should the auction process fail are likely to inform the negotiations and help provide an equitable outcome for the broadcasters and the U.S. Government.

Summit Ridge Group president,  J. Armand Musey testified before the Library of Congress’s Copyright Arbitration Royalty Board. His testimony concerns the financial impact of various proposed royalty rates on Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio (now merged to Sirius XM Satellite Radio).