Sprint tries to eat MetroPCS

[pyroscott]

I still think an acquisition of Leap Wireless is better than MetroPCS since they have better spectrum assets IMO. Based on Wiwavelength's spectrum chart comparison in the first page, it looks like Leap has more AWS and PCS spectrum holdings in more markets than MetroPCS. Not to mention that I think an acquisition of Leap would be cheaper than MetroPCS.

 

It depends on what they are looking for. If they are looking to acquire cashflow from MetroPCS' prepaid section and mainly want more customers, Metro may be the better buy. If they are looking for PCS spectrum in certain markets, in the top 100 markets, Metro has 3 markets with 30 mhz, 5 with 20 mhz and 10 with 10 mhz. Leap has 2 markets with 20 mhz, 10 markets with 15 mhz and 19 with 10 mhz of PCS. I don't know which carrier (if either) is more complimentary to their current PCS spectrum holdings or if they are already sitting good in the markets in which they hold PCS spectrum... As others have said, I don't think Sprint is interested in deploying anything on AWS spectrum now, so they might try to divest that and make some of their money back.

 

You would also need to look at how profitable Leap is in comparison to Metro, whether Sprint would use the towers that the carriers have or try to sell them, and the cost of the spectrum that they hold. Leap holds a lot more spectrum in general, which could price them out of Sprint's price range in comparison to what Sprint is looking for in purchasing one or the other...