Softbank - New Sprint - Discussion

[WiWavelength]

The ambiguities in that article are massive.  I still expect Network Vision 1.0 to be 95 percent complete by this time next year, and progress points toward that end.  But TD-LTE 2600 taken in house -- now that the SoftBank-Sprint-Clearwire tie up is final -- is a whole new ball of wax.  And that is what I think the article may reflect.

 

AJ

[Nickel]

 Band 3 is actually a superset of band 4 so it's useful for Verizon (I think).

I don't see how this could be true. band 3 is commonly referred to as 1800 with the upload at 1710 - 1785 and download 1805 -1880 whereas band 4's upload is within band 3 it's download is ~300 MHz off. A more accurate description would be band 4 is a mismatch of bands 1 and 3.

[maximus1987/lou99]

iPhone 4 does not support LTE.

 

AJ

Oops. The 5.

[maximus1987/lou99]

I don't see how this could be true. band 3 is commonly referred to as 1800 with the upload at 1710 - 1785 and download 1805 -1880 whereas band 4's upload is within band 3 it's download is ~300 MHz off. A more accurate description would be band 4 is a mismatch of bands 1 and 3.

Oops.

[maximus1987/lou99]

Hmmm.

Does softy plan to have 100% of sprint?

 

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSL1N0G70D720130806?irpc=43

 

Maybe it'll use any plunges in sprint stock as buying opportunities.

Edited August 7, 2013 by qpotlk1134

[DaQue]

Hmmm. Does softy plan to have 100% of sprint? http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSL1N0G70D720130806?irpc=43 Maybe it'll use any plunges in sprint stock as buying opportunities.

Hmmm "bought an additional 0.73 percent of Sprint Corp's common stock" Yup looks like they are going all in S L O W L Y.

[maximus1987/lou99]

Hmmm "bought an additional 0.73 percent of Sprint Corp's common stock" Yup looks like they are going all in S L O W L Y.

The only reason why they'd increase at all from 78% is to buy all of it.

[JeffDTD]

Softbank is taking advantage of cheap stock.  They clearly believe the stock will take a massive jump in the future and Son believes he will make money.  There isn't much to gain in increased ownership other than minimization of opposing voices should they decide to chase some big endeavor with Sprint.   Still, doesn't much matter. 

 

Sprint's NV schedule has always poured into 2014.  This is an industry that will use the word "summer" when talking about August and September.  Anyone who thought Sprint meant "January or February" of 2014 when they said "early 2014", well, they got you.  I would expect to see them working through the entire year just to get through NV 1.0.  Even then, we will still have customers who wander here to ask us why there is no 800mhz voice or LTE on their nearby site or ask why they haven't gotten the super fast data sprint is talking about on TV once they start marketing Clear's deployed spectrum.  There is no panacea of network glory waiting for sprint , no giant red button to push and announce "we're done!"   When you consider the active number of LTE devices on the network in comparison now to the number of 3G only devices and then contrast that against the time it will take to get tri-band device saturation, the NV relief is even more metered.        

 

 My point is this:  I don't like ambiguous expectations that press releases about being "finished" at any point in the next two years set for customers, the media, competitors, or care/sales people.  

 

Ahhh... and Dish.   Charlie can't possibly believe that after his xenophobic, anti Asian rants against Son that Son will for some reason be CALLING HIM to discuss a deal that is slanted in Charlie's favor (the only one he would sign) and offers Sprint peanuts?    I suspect the Captain has sent some vague memo over to Hesse "lets discuss our mutual goals" and been absolutely ignored, else Ergen wouldn't be saying such rosy things now.  Hell, he wouldn't be talking about Sprint at all since he has such an aversion to admitting failure.    The ONLY reason a deal with Ergen would remotely make sense is if it keeps him away from Tmobile, should that really be where sprint's eye is in the future.  If Charlie becomes fuhrer of Tmobile, he becomes Captain Wacko and enemy #1 for Sprint.  He would probably even keep that magpie Legere  just to work the crowds. Now simmer on that duo. 

[linhpham2]

 

 

Ahhh... and Dish.   

 

Found an in-depth interview with Ergen and his options from the Denver Biz Journal: http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/boosters_bits/2013/08/dishs-thwarted-sprint-bid-made-money.html?page=all

 

"But forging partnerships with wireless companies is another a way for Dish to build the mobile network it wants. On that front, the SoftBank-controlled Sprint appeals to Dish for its network — largely due to the Clearwire frequencies it owns — and because of SoftBank’s “tremendous expertise and creativity. They seem very innovative and very creative, and they seems they’re more aggressive than others in the wireless industry,” Ergen said, adding SoftBank seems like a kindred spirit to Dish in how it does business. 

 

If anything, the tussle with SoftBank for control of Sprint left Ergen and Dish more convinced Sprint would be a good fit as a wireless partner. “We actually probably understand Sprint and Clearwire better than we understand any of the other operators,” Ergen said. Ergen admitted to being a little jealous of SoftBank and impressed by it, and he suggested that makes Sprint all the more attractive as a potential partner. “I like people who are better than us,” he said. “I want to hire people who are better than us, and I want to work with people who are better than us."

 

Saying nice things about SoftBank may not smooth over all the ill will Dish Network created trying to break apart SoftBank and Sprint’s merger. Dish Network’s counterbid cost SoftBank and Sprint billions in added costs and delayed infrastructure investment. Dish also made what Sprint considered xenphobic arguments against the SoftBank deal in filings to the FCC and in letters to members of Congress. Dish suggested SoftBank’s business interests in China, and a subsidiary’s past involvement in a U.S. bribery investigation, made SoftBank and its chairman, Masayoshi Son, potential risks to U.S. national security if they controlled Sprint. Dish was the all-American alternative, it argued.

 

So what merger options remain for Dish in the wireless industry?

"That’s really probably only T-Mobile at this time.” Ergen said."

 

More on T-mobile combo at the WSJ: http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/08/06/charlie-ergens-dish-has-long-list-of-potential-ma-moves/

 

"Ergen acknowledged that if he can’t get a partnership with Sprint, the only possible acquisition after all the consolidation in the industry would be T-Mobile. He said the “network upgrade” for T-Mobile would be “much simpler” than what needs to be done at Sprint and that T-Mobile has a “lot of momentum” amid all the industry turbulence.

“I think there’s still a lot of opportunity for us,” he said. “And I think that opportunity – certainly, T-Mobile, you could put that together with Dish in a number of ways, including acquisition and merger, and that’s probably not possible with the other wireless providers.”

[maximus1987/lou99]

Found an in-depth interview with Ergen and his options from the Denver Biz Journal: http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/boosters_bits/2013/08/dishs-thwarted-sprint-bid-made-money.html?page=all

 

"But forging partnerships with wireless companies is another a way for Dish to build the mobile network it wants. On that front, the SoftBank-controlled Sprint appeals to Dish for its network — largely due to the Clearwire frequencies it owns — and because of SoftBank’s “tremendous expertise and creativity. They seem very innovative and very creative, and they seems they’re more aggressive than others in the wireless industry,” Ergen said, adding SoftBank seems like a kindred spirit to Dish in how it does business.

If anything, the tussle with SoftBank for control of Sprint left Ergen and Dish more convinced Sprint would be a good fit as a wireless partner. “We actually probably understand Sprint and Clearwire better than we understand any of the other operators,” Ergen said. Ergen admitted to being a little jealous of SoftBank and impressed by it, and he suggested that makes Sprint all the more attractive as a potential partner. “I like people who are better than us,” he said. “I want to hire people who are better than us, and I want to work with people who are better than us."

Saying nice things about SoftBank may not smooth over all the ill will Dish Network created trying to break apart SoftBank and Sprint’s merger. Dish Network’s counterbid cost SoftBank and Sprint billions in added costs and delayed infrastructure investment. Dish also made what Sprint considered xenphobic arguments against the SoftBank deal in filings to the FCC and in letters to members of Congress. Dish suggested SoftBank’s business interests in China, and a subsidiary’s past involvement in a U.S. bribery investigation, made SoftBank and its chairman, Masayoshi Son, potential risks to U.S. national security if they controlled Sprint. Dish was the all-American alternative, it argued.

 

So what merger options remain for Dish in the wireless industry?

"That’s really probably only T-Mobile at this time.” Ergen said."

More on T-mobile combo at the WSJ: http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/08/06/charlie-ergens-dish-has-long-list-of-potential-ma-moves/

"Ergen acknowledged that if he can’t get a partnership with Sprint, the only possible acquisition after all the consolidation in the industry would be T-Mobile. He said the “network upgrade” for T-Mobile would be “much simpler” than what needs to be done at Sprint and that T-Mobile has a “lot of momentum” amid all the industry turbulence.

“I think there’s still a lot of opportunity for us,” he said. “And I think that opportunity – certainly, T-Mobile, you could put that together with Dish in a number of ways, including acquisition and merger, and that’s probably not possible with the other wireless providers.”

The problem with dish-TMO combo is that TMO doesn't have fiber to tower exactly where Charlie needs it: semi rural areas where people don't have concast, uverse, et al. Putting his 20x20 band 23 on TMO's urban towers and marketing the TV Internet bundle will crash and fail cause even 150mbps per sector OF CAPACITY is not enough for urbania, though it might be for TMO's current 2g 15k rural tower customers who are stuck on 1.5 Mbps dsl if they're lucky.

 

So how many billions would it take to bring FTTT to all 15k towers? More importantly, how much time? Even if they started today and used microwave as much as they could -in place of FTTT - is the tv Internet bundle compelling enough for dish to at least recoup its investment in 10 years?

The average speeds aren't gonna be that high but for a rural person, it might be fantastic compared to dsl.

Edited August 7, 2013 by qpotlk1134

[supert0nes]

Certainly a lot less billions than building a whole network from the ground up.  It's not like T-Mobile would make Charlie front the whole bill for something that they have to do eventually anyway.

[IamMrFamous07]

SprintBank has been quiet as of late. Last thing I read about them was NV has been delayed and their deploying 2.5 nationwide.

 

Wonder what their doing behind the scenes

[wyatt:-)]

They have a new commercial.

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

 

 

[maximus1987/lou99]

SprintBank has been quiet as of late. Last thing I read about them was NV has been delayed and their deploying 2.5 nationwide.

 

Wonder what their doing behind the scenes

Buying us cellular.

[HTCandroid]

How about adding enough carriers to finally meet "true 4G" LTE-A standards of peak speeds of at least 100 Mbps? Or raising the data caps on hotspots and tethering beyond the current paltry 12GB?

 

 

"Junk" status, really? If that's true the ratings agencies don't know what they're talking about. If you count wholesale subscribers, their subscriber count is rapidly growing. There seems to be a new Sprint MVNO every other day...

 

 

This is why I've been saying a Dish-TMUS deal is the most likely outcome. It's T-Mo or bust for Ergen, and I don't see the FCC and DoJ turning such a deal down. The feds won't let a Dish-DirecTV merger happen, and there's no love lost between Dish and SoftBank at the moment.

 

With all that spectrum, I would be super happy if they gave hotspots and tether plans that were unlimited and throttled say to 5Mbps. Throttling is not a bad thing if it is not throttled down to 2g/3g speeds like what tmobile used to do. If will keep bandwidth relatively free and keep customers happy with usable speeds.

[gr8nuguy]

Buying us cellular.

. I wish

 

Sent from my HTC ONE from Tapatalk 2

 

 

[maximus1987/lou99]

. I wish

 

Sent from my HTC ONE from Tapatalk 2

The market cap is 3.67 bil.

Doable.

[lilotimz]

The market cap is 3.67 bil.

Doable.

 

90% owned by Carlson family. Good luck. 

[maximus1987/lou99]

90% owned by Carlson family. Good luck.

Don't know the history but it's losing so why should owner ship by one family matter?

 

U.S. Cellular (NYSE:USM) continued on its trajectory over the last several quarters of selling smartphones and losing customers, as the Tier 2 carrier struggles to break out of a pattern that is seeing its subscriber base dwindle.

 

Read more: U.S. Cellular sells more smartphones, still loses 127K subs in Q2 - FierceWireless http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/us-cellular-sells-more-smartphones-still-loses-127k-subs-q2/2013-08-02#ixzz2bt8jApWY

Subscribe at FierceWireless

[maximus1987/lou99]

Sprint has A LOT of excess capacity.

 

Sprint should be able to grow revenue, given that they have 35% of industry capacity in a capacity constrained market with just 15% of industry revenues," wrote New Street's Chaplin. "Sprint will use its capacity and network speed advantage to take share. If they gain 5% of share in five years, they would create an additional $6.92/share in value."

 

Read more: M&A catches fire: 24M wireless subscribers moving from Tier 2 to Tier 1 carriers - FierceWireless http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/ma-catches-fire-24m-wireless-subscribers-moving-tier-2-tier-1-carriers/2013-08-12#ixzz2btDZ48no

Subscribe at FierceWireless

[DaQue]

90% owned by Carlson family. Good luck. 

 

[IamMrFamous07]

Buying us cellular.

That would be awesome, them and Ntelos. But doesn't us cell have the same spectrum as vzw (700/850/1700/1900/2100) so idk how sprint will benefit from buying them. I guess more 1900 will be nice

[Dkoellerwx]

That would be awesome, them and Ntelos. But doesn't us cell have the same spectrum as vzw (700/850/1700/1900/2100) so idk how sprint will benefit from buying them. I guess more 1900 will be nice

 

They have some PCS that would be valuable, the main thing is it would add to Sprint's coverage area. *IF* it would actually happen. Nothing right at this moment is pointing to that as far as I can tell.

[RCM]

Buying us cellular.

How many screen names do you have here???

[maximus1987/lou99]

That would be awesome, them and Ntelos. But doesn't us cell have the same spectrum as vzw (700/850/1700/1900/2100) so idk how sprint will benefit from buying them. I guess more 1900 will be nice

700 is useless A block.

850 is good.

1700/2100 AWS is useful but sprint wouldn't own enough to make it worth it.

1900 pcs very useful.