Softbank - New Sprint - Discussion

[koiulpoi]

Customers with low ARPU that Sprint didn't really mind losing.

[Moropo]

This is the last time Sprint gets to blame Nextel

[irev210]

Customers with low ARPU that Sprint didn't really mind losing.

 

That's just silly.  Sprint minds losing EVERY customer.  Keeping old customers is a lot cheaper than finding new ones.

 

You don't think those low ARPU legacy nextel users became higher ARPU sprint customers?  Sadly, instead of sticking with Sprint, they became higher ARPU AT&T or Verizon customers.

 

It's not like these customers had anywhere cheaper to go - I am surprised you feel that Sprint wouldn't mind losing customers that could be higher ARPU Sprint users.

[miguell2]

That's just silly.  Sprint minds losing EVERY customer.  Keeping old customers is a lot cheaper than finding new ones.

 

You don't think those low ARPU legacy nextel users became higher ARPU sprint customers?  Sadly, instead of sticking with Sprint, they became higher ARPU AT&T or Verizon customers.

 

It's not like these customers had anywhere cheaper to go - I am surprised you feel that Sprint wouldn't mind losing customers that could be higher ARPU Sprint users.

 

I know some of the customer left because they felt they were treated poorly during the migration. I disagree but this is what I am hearing from some guys around here who went to Verizon after the shutdown.

[koiulpoi]

That's just silly.  Sprint minds losing EVERY customer.  Keeping old customers is a lot cheaper than finding new ones.

 

You don't think those low ARPU legacy nextel users became higher ARPU sprint customers?  Sadly, instead of sticking with Sprint, they became higher ARPU AT&T or Verizon customers.

 

It's not like these customers had anywhere cheaper to go - I am surprised you feel that Sprint wouldn't mind losing customers that could be higher ARPU Sprint users.

It's not silly, you're silly! Losses were expected and planned for. The recapture rate was made as high as possible through offers to existing customers and active customer support. I can safely say they don't mind because they knew it was coming, planned for it, expected it, did everything they could to negate it. When they only got a small recapture rate, well, it's not like they wringed their hands over it and cried over lost low-ARPU Nextel subs. They instead focused on growth and moved forward.

 

So yeah. Of course they mind, but they don't really mind. Hesse has said it in the past couple quarters earnings calls. It's just not a huge deal.

[irev210]

It's not silly, you're silly! Losses were expected and planned for. The recapture rate was made as high as possible through offers to existing customers and active customer support. I can safely say they don't mind because they knew it was coming, planned for it, expected it, did everything they could to negate it. When they only got a small recapture rate, well, it's not like they wringed their hands over it and cried over lost low-ARPU Nextel subs. They instead focused on growth and moved forward.

 

So yeah. Of course they mind, but they don't really mind. Hesse has said it in the past couple quarters earnings calls. It's just not a huge deal.

 

Yeah, I know what you mean.

 

It's impossible to recapture every iDEN subscriber but it still is cheaper keeping these very loyal (lazy?) customers.  I would suspect that once they've moved to AT&T or Verizon, they'll never move back.

 

Obviously, it's all said and done at this point but any customer who stuck with nextel till the last day will probably stick with whatever carrier they moved to for the foreseeable future, making them very attractive subs.

[koiulpoi]

Yeah, I know what you mean.

 

It's impossible to recapture every iDEN subscriber but it still is cheaper keeping these very loyal (lazy?) customers.  I would suspect that once they've moved to AT&T or Verizon, they'll never move back.

 

Obviously, it's all said and done at this point but any customer who stuck with nextel till the last day will probably stick with whatever carrier they moved to for the foreseeable future, making them very attractive subs.

I somewhat disagree with the loyalty statement. Mostly because these customers were loyal to Nextel, and nothing else. Many, many of them simply didn't want change. So while I agree that they likely won't move again, I'd say it's more from general stubbornness than anything else. Going off of anecdotal experience dealing with Nextel subs. I could give you quite the "stereotype"...

[WiWavelength]

Put it this way. The customer is not always right, and it is often better to dispose of disgruntled customers than to continue to serve them. Let them go be another business' potential problem.

 

AJ

[WiWavelength]

This is the last time Sprint gets to blame Nextel

Not exactly. Recovering from surgery after having the Nextel tumor removed takes time, and the tumor is still to blame for the pain of recovery.

 

AJ

[marioc21]

This was a good writeup on the earnings call.  One interesting nugget noted.

 

 

Steve Elfman, president of network operations at Sprint, gave a hint of that long-term strategy when he noted during the call that Sprint now plans to deploy Clearwire's 2. 5 GHz spectrum on all 38,000 of its planned Network Vision cell sites and even more sites than that in a nationwide rollout. Previously, Sprint had said it would use Clearwire's spectrum as a "hotspot" LTE network to offload traffic in urban markets. Now, it appears Clearwire's spectrum will become a much more integral part of Sprint's long-term plans to boost overall capacity on its network. The expanded deployment of Clearwire's spectrum will continue through next year. Clearwire commands around 160 MHz of spectrum in the top 100 markets. 
 

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-loses-2m-subs-and-16b-nextel-shutdown-plans-nationwide-25-ghz-lte-ne/2013-07-30

 

 

The earnings call recording and presentation materials are here if anyone is interested: http://investors.sprint.com/CorporateProfile.aspx?iid=4057219

 

Edit: Sorry, didn't realize this was already posted in another thread.

[bucdenny]

This was a good writeup on the earnings call.  One interesting nugget noted.

 

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-loses-2m-subs-and-16b-nextel-shutdown-plans-nationwide-25-ghz-lte-ne/2013-07-30

 

 

The earnings call recording and presentation materials are here if anyone is interested: http://investors.sprint.com/CorporateProfile.aspx?iid=4057219

 

Edit: Sorry, didn't realize this was already posted in another thread.

 

Will they keep most of Clearwire's sites that are not co-located with Sprint?  Sounds like it they they planning for 38000 sites.

[S4GRU]

Will they keep most of Clearwire's sites that are not co-located with Sprint? Sounds like it they they planning for 38000 sites.

I didn't listen to the call, but from the writeups I've seen so far, it sounds like they are keeping all Clearwire sites that are not colocated or redundant. They said they would even add additional infill sites with TDD-LTE 2600 where needed between Sprint NV sites. It turns out all the TD-LTE rumors were true.

 

Although I will be a believer when they show up to my rural New Mexico site and install TD-LTE 2600.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 using Tapatalk

 

[bucdenny]

I didn't listen to the call, but from the writeups I've seen so far, it sounds like they are keeping all Clearwire sites that are not colocated or redundant. They said they would even add additional infill sites with TDD-LTE 2600 where needed between Sprint NV sites. It turns out all the TD-LTE rumors were true. Although I will be a believer when they show up to my rural New Mexico site and install TD-LTE 2600. Robert via Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 using Tapatalk

 

Sprint looks to be a monster network! What will the total count be? over 50000 sites?

[lilotimz]

Sprint looks to be a monster network! What will the total count be? over 50000 sites?

At least 8000 new sprint sites as approximately 40% of clearwire sites are colocated with sprint.

 

Sent from my SPH-D710

 

 

[Paynefanbro]

Likely Masayoshi Son's doing! He knows what needs to be done in the U.S.!!!

[DaQue]

Sprint looks to be a monster network! What will the total count be? over 50000 sites?

You will never get caught up on sleep...

 

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

 

[WiWavelength]

I didn't listen to the call, but from the writeups I've seen so far, it sounds like they are keeping all Clearwire sites that are not colocated or redundant. They said they would even add additional infill sites with TDD-LTE 2600 where needed between Sprint NV sites. It turns out all the TD-LTE rumors were true.

 

Neal thinks that TD-LTE 2600 will be the primary roaming band between Sprint and SoftBank, since SoftBank has the equivalent of BRS/EBS 2600 MHz spectrum in Japan.  Lots of infill sites will be required to make that TD-LTE 2600 overlay more consistent here in the US.

 

AJ

[maximus1987/lou99]

Neal thinks that TD-LTE 2600 will be the primary roaming band between Sprint and SoftBank, since SoftBank has the equivalent of BRS/EBS 2600 MHz spectrum in Japan. Lots of infill sites will be required to make that TD-LTE 2600 overlay more consistent here in the US.

 

AJ

Are they gonna target contiguous TD everywhere they have PCS sites? Even on the sites along interstate?

 

I really don't think roaming costs are the reason Softy wants to have ubiquitous TD coverage.

[ChadBroChillz]

Did the earnings call mention anything about expansion? I am still wondering what Masayoshi Son meant about matching Verizon's high speed coverage. 

[maximus1987/lou99]

Did the earnings call mention anything about expansion? I am still wondering what Masayoshi Son meant about matching Verizon's high speed coverage.

They're not gonna announce "we're gonna buy us cellular, Cspire, ntelos" on a conference call.

 

Do you have an article quoting him about matching Verizon's coverage?

I'd like to see that quote.

Edited July 30, 2013 by asdf190

[koiulpoi]

Did the earnings call mention anything about expansion? I am still wondering what Masayoshi Son meant about matching Verizon's high speed coverage. 

Obviously, he's talking about beating VZW in the Speed/Area ratio. Just need to be faster in enough places to say "We've got more megabyte/miles than VZW!"

 

 

(I feel like AJ is rubbing off on me)

 

Edit: Wait, it's Megabits/second * 1/miles so it's really Megabits per second-mile. guh.

[maximus1987/lou99]

Obviously, he's talking about beating VZW in the Speed/Area ratio. Just need to be faster in enough places to say "We've got more megabyte/miles than VZW!"

 

 

(I feel like AJ is rubbing off on me)

That makes more sense than "bring TDD to Montana".

[koiulpoi]

That makes more sense than "bring TDD to Montana".

That's scary, because that post wasn't supposed to make sense.

[Rawvega]

Read a transcript of the earnings call here:

 

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1583562-sprint-nextels-ceo-discusses-q2-2013-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single

[maximus1987/lou99]

That's scary, because that post wasn't supposed to make sense.

The metric would be, as you said, speed/area: megabits/sec/miles^2.

 

Verizon would have more miles^2 but too late to fix that.