Softbank - New Sprint - Discussion

[linhpham2]

Found this form reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/10/us-sprint-softbank-clearwire-idUSBRE9690Y020130710

 

Key notes:

1) "Softbank founder Masayoshi Son told Reuters in April that he was preparing a "secret weapon" to revive Sprint - a "very innovative product, innovative service that no other carriers in the world are preparing."

 

Something related to their new R&D center in California?

 

From a Nikkei/Nasdaq interview: "The two carriers will open a joint R&D center in California as early as this year. It will "give birth to new technology in Silicon Valley, the center of Internet technology," Mr. Son told the Nikkei."

Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/softbank-set-to-invest-16-billion-at-sprint-20130707-00017#ixzz2YgJaJk3Q

 

 

2) "SoftBank executive Ron Fisher, who will become vice chairman of the Sprint board of directors, said the first task was beefing up technology. He added that there will not be any management changes or general layoffs."

 

3) "Integrating Clearwire's spectrum with Sprint's network, and introducing handsets that can take advantage of that spectrum, could take as long as 18 months, said Fisher. But he noted that putting the process in motion is an immediate priority."

 

Sounds about right to develop, test and release Tri-band phones. Just in time for my 2/2015 contract renewal.

 

4) "The area you're likely to see the greatest acceleration is around the 2.5 Gigahertz Clearwire spectrum deployment," Fisher added.

 

After the Clearwire acquisition, hopefully Sprint will be using bigger pipes (IIRC, there's at least 55 mhz contiguous in the 2.5 Ghz spectrum) in most markets. 

Edited July 10, 2013 by linhpham2

[vtimmy13]

i kinda like the new plans as they seem as long as they do NOT throttle! THROTTLING is bad might as well give me a cap!

[supert0nes]

Sounds about right to develop, test and release Tri-band phones. Just in time for my 2/2015 contract renewal.

 

Tri-band phones will see light of day this year.  They were going to use TD-LTE 2600 long before they were approached by Softbank and thought about buying Clearwire.  As AJ has pointed out in another thread, Tri-Band devices (not phones yet) have already passed through the FCC.

[Rocket87]

Sprint has already committed to a Samsung and LG tri bad phone. So probably the note 3 and optimus g2.

 

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

 

[DaQue]

Could one of the mods put a link to this at the end of the closed old dish and clearwire threads?

[DaQue]

I wonder what Son it working on, he said no one else is so video like Dish probably isn't it. Let's hope its not 3D video chats or telepresence. 

 

I do hope he puts a fairly fast 2.5Ghz TDD on most sites sooner than 18 months but that would be a big job.

 

 

Also its after 5 and I have not seen anywhere that the Softbank deal actually closed today.

 

Update:

Ask and ye shall... ahem well I looked again just now.

 

http://www.fortmilltimes.com/2013/07/10/2814046/sprint-and-softbank-announce-completion.html

[lilotimz]

Softbank merger is complete.

 

 

 

July 10, 2013

Sprint and SoftBank Announce Completion of Merger

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. & TOKYO (BUSINESS WIRE), July 10, 2013 - Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) (“Sprint”) and SoftBank Corp. (TSE: 9984) (“SoftBank”) today announced the completion of their merger whereby SoftBank has invested approximately $21.6 billion in Sprint, consisting of approximately $16.6 billion to be distributed to Sprint stockholders and an aggregate $5 billion of new capital ($1.9 billion at closing) to strengthen Sprint’s balance sheet. Sprint stockholders voted to approve the transaction at a special meeting of stockholders held on June 25, 2013.

Through this transaction, approximately 72 percent of current Sprint shares are being acquired by SoftBank for $7.65 per share in cash, and the remaining shares are being converted into shares of a new publicly traded entity named Sprint Corporation. Each Sprint stockholder had the option to elect to receive one share of common stock in the new company or to elect to receive cash, subject to proration, for each share of Sprint common stock owned by that stockholder. A stockholder who made no election was deemed to have elected cash.

Based on the elections made by Sprint stockholders, each stockholder that elected to receive stock will receive one share of stock in Sprint Corporation, and each stockholder that elected (or was deemed to have elected) to receive cash will receive a combination of $5.647658 in cash and 0.261744048 of a share of stock in Sprint Corporation. As a result of the transaction, the ownership of current Sprint equity holders in a stronger, more competitive Sprint will be approximately 22 percent, while SoftBank will own approximately 78 percent, both calculated on a fully diluted basis.

Sprint Corporation will be listed and traded on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the ticker symbol, “S.” Sprint Corporation has been advised by the NYSE that it is expected that Sprint Corporation will continue to trade on the NYSE’s “when-issued” market on July 11, 2013 and regular trading under the ticker symbol “S” will commence on Friday, July 12, 2013. Sprint Corporation stockholders should contact their brokers for instructions on trading in the NYSE’s “when-issued” market.

Dan Hesse has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Sprint Corporation and will serve on the board of directors. Masayoshi Son, founder, Chairman and CEO of SoftBank will serve as Chairman of the Sprint Corporation board of directors and Ronald Fisher, director of SoftBank and president of SoftBank Holdings Inc., has been appointed Vice Chairman. Admiral Michael G. Mullen, Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, has been named to the Sprint Corporation board of directors as Security Director. Robert Bennett, Gordon Bethune and Frank Ianna, who are currently members of the Sprint board, will also serve on the Sprint Corporation board of directors. SoftBank and Sprint have not yet determined the remaining members of the Sprint Corporation board of directors. The company’s headquarters will remain in Overland Park, Kansas.

The Raine Group LLC is serving as lead financial advisor to SoftBank. Mizuho Securities, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Credit Suisse also served as advisors. SoftBank’s legal advisors include Morrison & Foerster LLP as lead counsel, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto as Japanese counsel, Dow Lohnes PLLC as regulatory counsel, Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP as Delaware counsel, and Foulston & Siefkin LLP as Kansas counsel.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Rothschild Inc. and UBS Investment Bank are co-lead financial advisors for Sprint. Sprint’s legal advisors include Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP as lead counsel, Lawler, Metzger, Keeney and Logan as regulatory counsel, and Polsinelli PC as Kansas counsel. The Special Committee of the Sprint Board of Directors is being advised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Shearman & Sterling LLP, Bingham McCutchen LLP and Spectrum Management Consulting.

 

[DaQue]

Softbank merger is complete.

http://youtu.be/efFl_EDXCW0?t=22s

[grapkoski]

My brokerage account is now showing the transition to Sprint Corp. I elected to receive new shares in the company... so rally, baby, RALLY!

[linhpham2]

From streetinsider.com: "Standard & Poor's Ratings Services today raised its corporate credit rating on Overland Park, Kan.-based wireless carrier Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) to 'BB-' from 'B+'. The rating outlook is stable."

 

http://www.streetinsider.com/Credit+Ratings/S%26P+Raises+Sprint+(S)+from+B%2B+to+BB-%3B+Removes+from+CreditWatch/8490317.html

Edited July 11, 2013 by linhpham2

[IamMrFamous07]

Ok cool so both clearwire and SoftBank acquisitions are OFFICIALLY completed. What's the next step?

[BenChase7]

Ok cool so both clearwire and SoftBank acquisitions are OFFICIALLY completed. What's the next step?

 Build!

[DaQue]

Ok cool so both clearwire and SoftBank acquisitions are OFFICIALLY completed. What's the next step?

[JeffDTD]

I certainly hope Son has a "nuke" up his sleeve (old Hesse term).  

[Rukin1]

Can't wait. AWesome news

[iansltx]

First LTE-A phone in the US?

 

A huge resurgence in Direct Connect? Maybe via a partnership with Voxer (e.g. offering Voxer Pro Business for $5/user/mo ad infinitum)?

 

New market expansions to further distance themselves from T-Mobile? Remember that Sprint is in a number of smaller markets already, and they already have agreements with cable companies that serve these potential markets for backhaul, and their cost structure with NV will be lower than Verizon or AT&T's. Such that they'd be making money, and killing roaming bills, if they even hit 20% market share...which as the third horse in a duoploly race seems reasonable enough.

 

The economics look even better if Sprint decides to "pull a Verizon in Alaska" and deploy only using low-band spectrum in the new areas. Except they'll have to wait a couple years before enough people have LTE-in-SMR phones to allow wide 4G site spacing to work correctly. Though on the other hand islands of 4G in a sea of SMR 1x is preferable to roaming on 1x (which is what happens if you aren't on an ex-Alltel site at this point).

 

I know we'll be seeing both tri-band LTE phones and sites later this year, I figured I'd go a little on the SWAG (not to be confused with swag, short for swagger) side of things to make forward looking predictions.

 

And I know that Son will try to get TD-LTE 2600 onto as many sites as possible...probably to the point of over-investing in the tech...because that's what he uses back at home in Japan. But hey, I'm not complaining. I'll be a direct beneficiary of that deployment strategy.

[IamMrFamous07]

So ready to experience this new network once everything is done! Hopefully there will be so much improvement by the time the next years iPhone or htc one comes out

[bigsnake49]

Ok cool so both clearwire and SoftBank acquisitions are OFFICIALLY completed. What's the next step?

 

PROFIT????

[irev210]

I really hope to see some new innovative and disruptive services/plans, expanded service with ESMR, and increased capacity in urban areas.

[newgroundsguru]

So what are we going to see right away? How about places with no LTE get some damn LTE or is everything they have been talking about going to take forever?

[ab30494]

So what are we going to see right away? How about places with no LTE get some damn LTE or is everything they have been talking about going to take forever?

It won't take forever. But it will take time. You won't see any big changes overnight

[IamMrFamous07]

PROFIT????

I'm all for that!! But sadly that won't be for a couple years. But they are saving a good amount with the Nextel shut down

[linhpham2]

More details from Softbank:

 

"Sprint's business performance will be consolidated with SoftBank's consolidated financial statements starting July 11, 2013. SoftBank will announce the impact of the consolidation once it is verified."

 

http://www.softbank.co.jp/en/news/press/2013/20130711_01/

[linhpham2]

Softbank's credit rating downgrade explained: http://www.iflr.com/Article/3229892/Capital-markets/How-SoftBankSprint-overcame-rating-uncertainty.html

[linhpham2]

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the Issuer Default Rating (IDR) and long-term debt ratings of Sprint at B+

 

http://geeks.broadwayworld.com/article/Fitch-Affirms-Sprint-Nextels-IDR-at-B-Outlook-Stable-20130711