Softbank - New Sprint - Discussion

[utiz4321]

I don't really get the scale argument. Scale would be advantageous when negotiating with handset manufactures for sure but with the move to having the consumer pay for the phones I don't see what this gets sprint. Further it is not as if sprint is having trouble get land set makers to build phones for their uniquic spectrum, they always have the latest handsets.

 

I guess it would give them access to greater amounts of capital at a lower cost but that was the argument behind the SoftBank merger, so did that happen or not? Spectrum is the one place where scale would have a large impact but sprint's problem isn't spectrum it's getting deployed on their network. On the network side 8 billion per year provides a great deal of scale and matches any high year of capex the big two ever spent, so not sure what a merger would bring. But all this is back of a napkin reasoning, just wish sprint or SoftBank would be a little more specific on what scale brings them in such a merger.

[Mercurial1]

I hope you're right but I didn't think they would be able to unless the merger with T-Mobile was to happen? I least that's what I understand from Masa Son during one of his interviews.

Just like At&t saying they needed tmobile to roll out lte...

 

Sent from my LG-LS980 using Tapatalk

 

 

[Johnner1999]

I am most likely wrong. But i feel softbank needs tmo or rather the subscriber count not only to buy phones for less. But to also show dominance which attracts new large company accounts and provides clout.

 

All of which makes a price war possible for the long hall. As i assume softbank can make more money if its margins are smaller but has 20 million more people chipping in.

 

And in reverse for att and vzw ~ the more people that leave helps to fragment their margins.

 

 

 

 

Obviously this is just a high level look.

 

Oh and id just say Son was talking out his ass. But he has a very decent track record. And i think he is a cylon and well we all know they have a plan!

 

Sent from my LG-LS980 using Tapatalk

 

[linhpham2]

Just found this interview with Walt Mossberg at re/code today: http://recode.net/2014/03/12/sprint-chief-says-u-s-internet-speeds-are-awful-even-sprints-but-he-can-fix-that/

 

Quick reason why Son wants T-Mobile: He wants combine Sprint with T-Mobile macro site towers' to provide better 2.5 Ghz coverage for mobile and fixed wireless broadband.

 

If Son want better 2.5 Ghz coverage, can't Sprint just lease new sites from the Tower owners?

[S4GRU]

Just found this interview with Walt Mossberg at re/code today: http://recode.net/2014/03/12/sprint-chief-says-u-s-internet-speeds-are-awful-even-sprints-but-he-can-fix-that/

 

Quick reason why Son wants T-Mobile: He wants combine Sprint with T-Mobile macro site towers' to provide better 2.5 Ghz coverage for mobile and fixed wireless broadband.

 

If Son want better 2.5 Ghz coverage, can't Sprint just lease new sites from the Tower owners?

Yes, they can. However, it better to acquire them with 50M new subscribers.

 

Robert via Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[BenChase7]

 

 

If Son want better 2.5 Ghz coverage, can't Sprint just lease new sites from the Tower owners?

Correct me if I'm wrong, Please, but that can take a long time.  It may be quicker and easier to just buy T-Mo when you got Son money.

[linhpham2]

Yes, they can. However, it better to acquire them with 50M new subscribers.

 

Robert via Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

Agreed. But the FCC isn't likely to approve the merger. Might as well just lease the tower sites and steal customers from the other carriers.

[linhpham2]

Correct me if I'm wrong, Please, but that can take a long time.  It may be quicker and easier to just buy T-Mo when you got Son money.

Just the initial merger/buyout price of T-Mobile is going to cost tens of billions of dollars. Judging from the Nextel fiasco, it's going to costs tens of billions of dollars more to integrate the two companies networks and and corporate cultures.

 

If either Sprint or T-Mobile collapses into bankruptcy, the rest of the industry can buy the company's assets on the cheap at the firesale.

[utiz4321]

I get he is trying to sell a tmobile/sprint merger but I really don't like the fact he keeps implying that he needs tmobile to be a real competitor. It kind feels like he is putting all his eggs in one basket.

 

But I have to say that after hearing him talk and his rational I am less opposed to a merger than I was.

[MacinJosh]

Just the initial merger/buyout price of T-Mobile is going to cost tens of billions of dollars. Judging from the Nextel fiasco, it's going to costs tens of billions of dollars more to integrate the two companies networks and and corporate cultures.

 

If either Sprint or T-Mobile collapses into bankruptcy, the rest of the industry can buy the company's assets on the cheap at the firesale.

Integrating AWS LTE with Sprint's isn't that hard to do. Antennas, RRU's and carrier cards are easy to do, and those are already being produced for T-Mobile, so installation is easy.

 

 

Sent from Josh's iPhone 5S using Tapatalk 2

[Johnner1999]

Is it april 1st yet?

 

http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/BL-268B-164

 

 

 

Sent from my LG-LS980 using Tapatalk

 

[newboyx]

Judging from the Nextel fiasco, it's going to costs tens of billions of dollars more to integrate the two companies networks and and corporate cultures.

 

 

That ⤴ gets said quite often here and elsewhere as if it holds some sort of logic.

 

The the merger with Nextel was an entirely different scenario handled by entirely different people with a much smaller budget. Technology and infrastructure differences were much greater between Sprint and Nextel.

 

Yes it was "Sprint" who botched the Nextel transition, but that Sprint was ran by an entirely different group of people who are no longer in charge of Sprint. The current Sprint does not lack the money to get this done. It is an entirely different culture under Softbank.

 

I personally have not decided how I feel about the T-Mobile merger, but I do know that how the Nextel merger went has absolutely nothing to do with how a T-Mobile merger would go.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[bigsnake49]

On paper yes. In reality not really. For instance, what happens when the new company needs to expand the network but they do not have the money to do so. Will Softbank be able to under write the expansion? I can not understate just how concerned I am about Softbanks debt load, favorable monetary exchange or not.

 

Sprint, not Softbank had to borrow the money to deploy LTE, so the combined company would have to borrow the money to expand the network or purchase 600MHz spectrum, not Softbank. Softbank would just borrow the money to buy T-Mobile shares from DT.

[CaptainSlow]

Is it april 1st yet?http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/BL-268B-164Sent from my LG-LS980 using Tapatalk

That is a stupid argument. It's like saying, since cheaper cars are available from Scion and Toyota, buying a Lexus from the same company is the worst deal ever.

[centermedic]

Sprint, not Softbank had to borrow the money to deploy LTE, so the combined company would have to borrow the money to expand the network or purchase 600MHz spectrum, not Softbank. Softbank would just borrow the money to buy T-Mobile shares from DT.

As far as i know any debt on Sprints balance sheets before the buyout got transferred onto Softbanks ledgers. In any case debt is debt. It is either going to affect the parent company or the subsidiary.

[dnicekid]

If the merger gets approved, that might put NV on hold.... I am sure they want to figure out which tmo towers to keep/get rid of. They might decide to stop tower upgrades in  certain areas until they actually start merging because tmo has a better site location or whatever. That could make things painful for another couple of years for some of us.

 

I wish we could get inside the war room and see what the plans are whether its successful or unsuccessful.

 

I think the merger will give vzw/att something to worry about, It can force them to drop prices, wouldnt surprise me at all if they brought contracts BACK (att/vzw) just to be able to prevent people from leaving if sprint/tmo merged.

[S4GRU]

If the merger gets approved, that might put NV on hold.... I am sure they want to figure out which tmo towers to keep/get rid of. They might decide to stop tower upgrades in  certain areas until they actually start merging because tmo has a better site location or whatever. That could make things painful for another couple of years for some of us.

 

I wish we could get inside the war room and see what the plans are whether its successful or unsuccessful.

 

I think the merger will give vzw/att something to worry about, It can force them to drop prices, wouldnt surprise me at all if they brought contracts BACK (att/vzw) just to be able to prevent people from leaving if sprint/tmo merged.

 

Not at all.  NV1.0 will likely be nearly done before a deal would be announced.  NV2.0 would be over half done before any deal gets approved and closed.

 

Robert

[utiz4321]

It would probably cost more to put NV on hold than to just finish the project. Not to mention putting them in an awkward spot of have thee new network and legacy sites (which is the cause of many issues for them now) running side by side in many areas.

[dnicekid]

Do sprint/tmo have any bands close enough to share through software update? Or would it just be for certain phones... like the nexus?

[Nickel]

Do sprint/tmo have any bands close enough to share through software update? Or would it just be for certain phones... like the nexus?

Technically, from an LTE standpoint they don't run any of the same bands, but given how many bands current and future phones are capable of, that shouldn't be any technical problem. But it would be a logistical problem of getting everyone the new phones with all five bands.

[CaptainSlow]

Do sprint/tmo have any bands close enough to share through software update? Or would it just be for certain phones... like the nexus?

I think the announced they will be launching LTE in the PCS band as well, so by the time a deal would become official, the PCS band could be common in some areas. This would be one-way though, non-N5 T-Mobile handsets wouldn't be able to use the Sprint PCS band but all Sprint handsets would be able to use T-Mobile's.

[linhpham2]

The only puzzler is if T-Mobile's LTE network is better than Sprint's, why is T-Mobile churn rate so much higher and ARPU lower than Sprint's?

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/special-reports/grading-top-us-wireless-carriers-fourth-quarter-2013

 

AT&T's ARPU is lower than Sprint too...hmm...

[maxsilver]

I'm not sure what network quality has to do with ARPU. I don't see any correlation in particular. 

 

ARPU can be easily skewed. For instance:  

 

- it can penalize carriers who do a good job retaining customers for a long time (grandfathered plans that have lower total costs, lower the ARPU).

- it can penalize carriers who do a good job adding higher margin but lower priced services. (home phone connect boxes or tablet data plans, for instance, often have much higher profit margins, but lower total revenue).

 

Any carrier who's successful at the above, is actually becoming stronger and more profitable, but would be reporting lower ARPU's.

[S4GRU]

Am I the only one who thinks of Pirate Excrement whenever he sees ARPU?  (say it aloud)

 

 

Robert

[WiWavelength]

Am I the only one who thinks of Pirate Excrement whenever he sees ARPU?  (say it aloud)

 

Yes, you are mistaken.  Now, would you like a Squishee?  (Say it with an Indian accent.)

 

 

AJ