Now that Nextel has gone and dashed Flarion's hopes for a nationwide deployment, there are signs that T-Mobile USA's parent might be seriously considering using Flarion for a 450 MHz deployment in Germany. Unstrung has the details here. So don't count out Flarion just yet.

Siemens is already onboard to produce equipment and T-Mobile has a stake in Flarion so it's hard to see how this deployment won't happen. But after the Nextel/Sprint deal, anything is possible.

The 450 MHz band in Europe has to be driving the major cellular vendors crazy. Just when they thought they had their carrier customers locked into a nice GPRS/UMTS/HSDPA upgrade path, another swath of spectrum opens up allowing another technology (a potentially better technology) to take hold.

If there is one certainty in the years ahead it is that there is no certainty about which cellular technology will dominate. Every new band of spectrum that opens up promises new opportunities and new threats. This is great news for consumers (and industry analysts) but not the best news for the large vendors who must keep a hand in every new wireless technology and standard.