Sprint Reportedly Bowing Out of T-Mobile Bid (was "Sprint offer" and "Iliad" threads)

[caspar347]

And AT&T would not be doing this if it wasn't for Google Fiber.

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

And that's the point. A lot of people around Charlotte don't get that. Google doesn't want to be your ISP. They want to force your ISP to be better.

[lennyj17]

Looks like the end of the road:  http://online.wsj.com/articles/sprint-abandoning-pursuit-of-t-mobile-1407279448

 

Masa, now it's time to take Sprint to the next level on your own!

 

Robert

 

Thanks Neal for the heads up!

 

 

Like I was telling Deval this morning. If Masa want scale and larger nework, I honestly believe Sprint needs to focus on the CCA as they complete the build out of NV. They (Sprint) need to strategize and and laser focus on buying up the CCA partners slowly and strategically and fold their network architecture into NV along the way.  

 

The CCA agreement buys Sprint time, since the roaming will be treated as Native Coverage. Make no mistake however, it is not an end all solution. Once the political climate changes Verizon will start eating away at the CCA partners and Sprint will be left with the "WTF" look on their faces, AGAIN, just like when Verizon ate Alltel. Masa/Sprint must play Verizon's game, if he was willing to buy TMO, the resources are there to do this very calculating. I believe this approach would have much easier time passing DOJ and FCC hurdles as the Gov seems mostly focused on keep 4 national carriers, little guys are up for grabs especially since Sprint would be able to make the same case about needing more "scale".  

 

Sprint can easily still win here, in my book... but they need to execute and remain focused on fixing the Network.

 

EDIT: Come to think of it.... If these guys were smart, I would divide and conquer... with Masa handling the CCA and starting the talks of acquiring the partners. While Claure focuses more on Sprint itself and fixing the brand. 

 

 

 

[cletus]

And AT&T would not be doing this if it wasn't for Google Fiber.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

Oh absolutely. They were perfectly happy being #2 in speed but slightly cheaper when bundled than TWC for about 15 years. Considering they had a nearly 30% revenue gain from Uverse last year I am not surprised they are fighting to keep competitive. It won't work though. 

 

Anyways, I am happy the bid fell through even though it would have been pretty awesome for Nexus 5 users like myself. I hope Sprint goes back to the drawing board with their framily plans and either makes the $25 threshold lower or makes the whole process less weird. I also wish corporate discounts were applied differently rather than just to the extra data portion. 

[centermedic]

Not Correct.   You will not be able to provide any proof of this.   Sprint did not ever own Embarq and they were not required to sell their local division to create Embarq.  They sold off their local division because they wanted to.

Already did my mea culpa on that one.

[centermedic]

They also lost a metric shit ton of debt.

whenthey spun off Embarq they saddled them with debt?

[S4GRU]

I know . In other news FCC chairman Wheeler had to have his two cents in:

 

"Four national wireless providers is good for American consumers," Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said in an emailed statement. "Sprint now has an opportunity to focus their efforts on robust competition."

 

This is highly unusual for an FCC chairman to comment on an unannounced merger. Good job chairman! The two smaller ones can drive each other into the ground with lower prices and not have enough money to bid on your auctions so that AT&T and Verizon can again dominate the spectrum wars. Yep, let them split the 20% of EBITDA that the Big Two don't already claim.

 

Although I wasn't really for the merger, waffling between hell no and it wouldn't be the end of the world, your post was excellent. I'm disliking Chairman Wheeler more and more. His moves have mostly done more to ensure the Duopoly to reduce competition.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

[mhammett]

And the caveat is AT&T doesn't want you having unlimited use on U-Verse with out paying a hefty fee. SO what good is a 1gb connection if you can't use it to it's fullest extent with out running into a AT&T cap?

 

Or there being any use for a gigabit...  or 100 megabit...  or 50 megabit...

 

Oh absolutely. They were perfectly happy being #2 in speed but slightly cheaper when bundled than TWC for about 15 years. Considering they had a nearly 30% revenue gain from Uverse last year I am not surprised they are fighting to keep competitive. It won't work though. 

 

Anyways, I am happy the bid fell through even though it would have been pretty awesome for Nexus 5 users like myself. I hope Sprint goes back to the drawing board with their framily plans and either makes the $25 threshold lower or makes the whole process less weird. I also wish corporate discounts were applied differently rather than just to the extra data portion. 

 

Would you rather just have free service? At some point, lower price certainly means worse service.

 

whenthey spun off Embarq they saddled them with debt?

 

Landline operations are VERY debt intensive. VZ has been shedding their more rural landline operations for years to reduce that burden.

[chamb]

whenthey spun off Embarq they saddled them with debt?

Yep, that we can agree on.

[NYC126]

Mr. Son should be talking to the rural partners for a potential sale or Verizon will come from behind, and buy them all one by one.

 

Let the new ceo focus on the company image, marketing, prices and network. John Saw so far has been impressive in charge of the roll out. You got those guys focusing in the company now you can devote your energy buying the rural partners.

Edited August 6, 2014 by SprintNYC

[centermedic]

 

 

Landline operations are VERY debt intensive. VZ has been shedding their more rural landline operations for years to reduce that burden.

Just trying to establish that there was a method behind the madness. So i guess Sprint saddled them with more debt than they could get in a sale. It was probably the right decision at the time but it has come back to haunt them. To add insult to injury, Centurylink is not doing to bad outside of its debt. http://ir.centurylink.com/QuarterlyResults.aspx?iid=4057179

[Johnner1999]

So - do we think Monday will be a status quo type week? Or will he make any customer facing changes.

 

Not saying anything drastic. But it would be "setteling" to see a plan of attack.

 

Maybe by October would be more realistic.

[Mr.Nuke]

So - do we think Monday will be a status quo type week? Or will he make any customer facing changes.

 

Not saying anything drastic. But it would be "setteling" to see a plan of attack.

I don't think you will see any "customer facing changes" this week, but i'd be somewhat surprised if we don't hear from Masa and Claure within the next week or two. After spending the better chunk of this year advocating why a merger was absolutely necessary to take on the duopoly, they need to come out and demonstrate that they have a plan B (and they do). Masa hinted at it in the press release "While we continue to believe industry consolidation will enhance competitiveness and benefit customers, our focus moving forward will be on making Sprint the most successful carrier."

[IamMrFamous07]

I don't think you will see any "customer facing changes" this week, but i'd be somewhat surprised if we don't hear from Masa and Claure within the next week or two. After spending the better chunk of this year advocating why a merger was absolutely necessary to take on the duopoly, they need to come out and demonstrate that they have a plan B (and they do).

They both will probably speak at the Sprint Edge event

[GoBigRed79]

 After spending the better chunk of this year advocating why a merger was absolutely necessary to take on the duopoly, they need to come out and demonstrate that they have a plan B (and they do).

 

I wish the blogs and media would understand this.  Masa and Claure are very successful businessmen.  Dropping the T-Mobile bid and canning Hesse was not a snap decision. My feeling is this has been calculated for some time.  They have known for a while the regulatory climate was leaning against the merger.  My guess the ruling on joint bidding the auction was the last straw that set the plan in motion.  I think they do have a new plan ready to go and we will hear something about it sooner rather then later.

[bigsnake49]

The only reason landline operations have been carrying so much debt is that AT&T, Verizon and Sprint offloaded their debt onto their landline operations.

[SpenceSouth]

Stock is trading at $5.89 a share.  Buy baby, buy!

[bigsnake49]

So is Sprint going to rollout 8T8R faster now? Implement a second PCS channel? Swap some spectrum with Dish? Host Dish's spectrum?

[transitwatch889]

Stock is trading at $5.89 a share.  Buy baby, buy!

Moving funds now... just pulled the trigger at 5.84

[cletus]

 

Would you rather just have free service? At some point, lower price certainly means worse service.

 

 

Who wouldn't want free service? Flippant questions aside, I want a competitive Sprint and right now their framily plan loses to the current T-Mobile 4 lines @ $100 for 10 GB data (2.5 GB each line). Even with a 7 person framily you would only get 4 lines @$100 for 4 GB of data (1 GB each line). So in my eyes Sprint either needs to revamp framily or entice users to purchase higher data limits with better pricing/discounts there. In addition to that the burden for a new user to get that $25 line is higher at Sprint than T-Mobile as a direct comparison would have the Sprint customers paying either $160 for 4 lines @ 1GB or $200 for 4 lines @ 3GB each. By some metrics Sprint DOES have worse service already and as a customer I expect pricing in line with T-Mobile rather than the superior networks that AT&T and Verizon offer. 

 

 

The massive profits in the industry will continue to be divided 3/4ths or more between the duopoly and leave Sprint and T-Mobile fighting for the rest until they can offer a truly competitive network. T-Mobile is much further from this than Sprint in terms of a true nationwide network but they absolutely do have a blazing fast network in core metro areas.

[nomoresoupforyou]

So - do we think Monday will be a status quo type week? Or will he make any customer facing changes.

 

Not saying anything drastic. But it would be "setteling" to see a plan of attack.

 

Maybe by October would be more realistic.

 

 

As much as I'd like a quick response and fast action within one week, I don't see that happening. I agree that October would be more realistic. There's more overhead associated with a move like this in a corporation other than coming up with a plan of attack, like assessing organizational structure and current leadership.

[Johnner1999]

http://www.cnet.com/news/sprint-ceo-dan-hesses-farewell-memo-to-employees/

[JeremiahMcCurry]

So is Sprint going to rollout 8T8R faster now? Implement a second PCS channel? Swap some spectrum with Dish? Host Dish's spectrum?

 

It will be interesting to watch.

 

 

"In the short-term, we will focus on becoming extremely cost efficient and competing aggressively in the marketplace," Claure said. http://www.cnet.com/news/sprint-taps-brightstar-ceo-claure-as-new-ceo/

[sbolen]

I wish the blogs and media would understand this.  Masa and Claure are very successful businessmen.  Dropping the T-Mobile bid and canning Hesse was not a snap decision. My feeling is this has been calculated for some time.  They have known for a while the regulatory climate was leaning against the merger.  My guess the ruling on joint bidding the auction was the last straw that set the plan in motion.  I think they do have a new plan ready to go and we will hear something about it sooner rather then later.

 

The thing with Hesse was probably more stability under the new ownership during the transitional period vs. Masa coming right out and installing his leadership.

 

This happens all the time in business and pro sports, with Football being a great example. If a head coach or general manager is fired/quits, the named replacement makes due for a while until he can install his own people to run parts of the organization (in the case of a head coach, naming his coordinators, position coaches, etc).

 

(Yes, I am ready for football to start.)

[Johnner1999]

It will be interesting to watch.

 

 

"In the short-term, we will focus on becoming extremely cost efficient and competing aggressively in the marketplace," Claure said. http://www.cnet.com/news/sprint-taps-brightstar-ceo-claure-as-new-ceo/

Hmm that sounds to be talking out of both sides of the mouth. Isn't it hard to compete with vzw and att on price yet be cost efficient. I suppose maybe I'm thinking margins and efficiency are linked.

 

But I hope they do get better plans.

[S4GRU]

Hmm that sounds to be talking out of both sides of the mouth. Isn't it hard to compete with vzw and att on price yet be cost efficient. I suppose maybe I'm thinking margins and efficiency are linked.

 

But I hope they do get better plans.

Not necessarily. I bet Sprint wastes a lot of money on things with little or no return. Sprint needs to be efficient, especially if it wants to lower prices and continue to move toward a consistent high quality network, nationwide.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro