Marcelo Claure, Town Hall Meetings, New Family Share Pack Plan, Unlimited Individual Plan, Discussion Thread

[JosefTor]

I agree. I immediately thought the same when I looked at the envelope. If a sports team is tied for #1 in a poll, people still say, "We're #1!" They do not say, "We're #1 -- in a tie." The same holds true for two Olympic gold medalists who tie. Each rightly can present himself as "Olympic gold medalist" or "Olympic champion" -- no "in a tie" disclaimer necessary.

 

But there is more to this Sprint story. I listen to a lot of AM talk radio, which is known for running numerous promo spots per hour. Shortly after the RootMetrics Kansas City testing was released a few weeks ago, the Sprint promo spots started. The voiceover made no mention of "in a tie." However, that was changed. It does now, as does the marketing collateral that I received from Marcelo in the mail.

 

My guess is that VZW's legal team threw a hissyfit. Or VZW pouted and leaned on RootMetrics to force Sprint to clarify its claim. Any way you cut it -- even if the directive came independently from RootMetrics -- it is silly.

 

VZW, though, has not taken well to Sprint reassuming the top spot -- in a tie -- in KC. VZW put together some sort of press kit, trumpeting its LTE coverage across the state of Kansas, and leaked it to a KC Star business writer, Mark Davis, whom Robert and I have personally assisted in prior stories that he has written. Mark is not that well versed in wireless, so he bought the VZW spin hook, line, and sinker.

 

The sad part is that VZW has relatively low market share in KC, so that inflates its data speeds. And VZW has extensive coverage around KC only because it bought out what Alltel and predecessors actually built. Without those factors, VZW could not compete with Sprint in KC.

 

AJ

I hope the marketing works and I'm glad sprint is doing it. My real estate agent in Kansas City was in mid to upper management in Sprint (quit or pushed out a few years ago) . I asked him who he uses and he said Verizon because Sprint sucks. I'm hoping their image will turn around.

[WiWavelength]

I hope the marketing works and I'm glad sprint is doing it. My real estate agent in Kansas City was in mid to upper management in Sprint (quit or pushed out a few years ago) . I asked him who he uses and he said Verizon because Sprint sucks. I'm hoping their image will turn around.

 

I suspect that "Sprint sucks" speaks more to your real estate agent's feelings toward Sprint employment than it does to Sprint network performance.  Anyone who quits or gets pushed out of a job tends to harbor ill will toward the former employer.

 

From a network standpoint, Sprint has long been good in the Kansas City metro -- even well before LTE.  The network has almost always been usable, so subs in this area have had little legitimately to complain about.  Sure, some might gripe that they have weak service at home or work, but that is in building location luck of the draw.  Every wireless operator faces that issue.  The biggest challenge Sprint has in KC is market share.  Sprint is the top dog locally, so at big events, Sprint gets swamped more so than the other operators do.

 

AJ

[EvanA]

Puerto Rico getting the Spark treatment

 

https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/620425988187357184

[smooth25]

Nice

 

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[Arysyn]

I was searching on YouTube for new videos on wireless tech and carriers, which I found a great, very informative video from Sprint about their leasing plans. Sadly, it got a lot of down votes, though likely most of them from T-Mobile fans.

 

Anyways, here is a link to the video : https://youtu.be/Z2hgiPm8hqU

 

Edit note :

 

Off-topic addition, I just looked outside the window, and I've never seen storm skies quite like this before, other than in tornado videos, just not in real life before now, if this is that. To anyone reading this in Chicago around now, hope everything is safe. I'm a bit nervous about this myself.

[shaferz]

Off-topic addition, I just looked outside the window, and I've never seen storm skies quite like this before, other than in tornado videos, just not in real life before now, if this is that. To anyone reading this in Chicago around now, hope everything is safe. I'm a bit nervous about this myself.

 

I know they are calling for some wicked weather here today.  (Livingston County.)  Stay safe!  Looks like that line that rolled through your area is headed down here right now.  Very odd to see storms move almost straight south.  

 

Now headed off to watch that video you posted!

[jonathanm1978]

In Alabama, the news just mentioned Chicago weather and how bad it was, plus showed a photo that was tweeted . Said 100 flights cancelled at O'hare and trains stopping on track due to 80mph wind and golf ball size hail

[kyle_4thousand]

In Alabama, the news just mentioned Chicago weather and how bad it was, plus showed a photo that was tweeted . Said 100 flights cancelled at O'hare and trains stopping on track due to 80mph wind and golf ball size hail

The storms didn't seem too bad in the NW suburbs. I have a 10x10 ft Coleman shade tent set up and tied down on my deck and the thing didn't budge at all. We did get like 2.75 inches of rain though. It's been a really wet summer so far and my grass has never been greener. [emoji6]

 

My uncle is trying to fly out of Midway this morning. Lots of cancellations and delays but it appears his flight out to Raleigh is still on track for 10:30am.

 

 

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[Dkoellerwx]

In Alabama, the news just mentioned Chicago weather and how bad it was, plus showed a photo that was tweeted . Said 100 flights cancelled at O'hare and trains stopping on track due to 80mph wind and golf ball size hail

 

I think they were confused. The storms this morning were not nearly that strong, just a good squall line. Not even strong enough for a severe thunderstorm warning. The storms this afternoon will have the *potential* for 80mph winds and golf ball sized hail.

[Rickie546]

I suspect that "Sprint sucks" speaks more to your real estate agent's feelings toward Sprint employment than it does to Sprint network performance. Anyone who quits or gets pushed out of a job tends to harbor ill will toward the former employer.

 

From a network standpoint, Sprint has long been good in the Kansas City metro -- even well before LTE. The network has almost always been usable, so subs in this area have had little legitimately to complain about. Sure, some might gripe that they have weak service at home or work, but that is in building location luck of the draw. Every wireless operator faces that issue. The biggest challenge Sprint has in KC is market share. Sprint is the top dog locally, so at big events, Sprint gets swamped more so than the other operators do.

 

AJ

On sporting event side at Kaufman stadium, the new system they have in is awesome. Could use data perfectly all over the stadium and parking lot.

 

Rickie

 

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[Steve Dean]

I think they were confused. The storms this morning were not nearly that strong, just a good squall line. Not even strong enough for a severe thunderstorm warning. The storms this afternoon will have the *potential* for 80mph winds and golf ball sized hail.

 

Let us hope that it does not become that severe this afternoon.

[Paynefanbro]

I'll happily trade some of our sunshine and 86℉ for some of your rain and wind.

[Deval]

Disappointing, shares are still trading below 3.80, at 3.74 right now.

[marioc21]

Disappointing, shares are still trading below 3.80, at 3.74 right now.

 

Not going to get better until they start showing positive financials or at least large subscriber additions. 

[Deval]

Not going to get better until they start showing positive financials or at least large subscriber additions. 

 

Was perfectly fine above $4 till recently.

[JimBob]

Was perfectly fine above $4 till recently.

Marcelo Claure is coming up on his 1-year anniversary as CEO, and the company has not fundamentally turned around (with some arguing it has gotten worse).  Sprint is burning through billions of dollars in cash with no end in sight, has no clear path towards paying off the current $33 billion+ in debt or financing the more debt needed, lags in subscriber numbers, and still suffers from relative network weakness.

 

That does not mean the stock is a sell, but other shareholders and industry followers have clearly lost patience.  I am surprised that Claure has not yet come under strong criticism.  Masayoshi Son trumpeted Claure's hiring last year (and paid him a crapload of money), but seems to have since gone silent in praising the young CEO.

[greenbastard]

Marcelo Claure is coming up on his 1-year anniversary as CEO, and the company has not fundamentally turned around (with some arguing it has gotten worse). Sprint is burning through billions of dollars in cash with no end in sight, has no clear path towards paying off the current $33 billion+ in debt or financing the more debt needed, lags in subscriber numbers, and still suffers from relative network weakness.

 

That does not mean the stock is a sell, but other shareholders and industry followers have clearly lost patience. I am surprised that Claure has not yet come under strong criticism. Masayoshi Son trumpeted Claure's hiring last year (and paid him a crapload of money), but seems to have since gone silent in praising the young CEO.

There is not much he can do other than to spend money. Both B25 and B26 at 5x5 are not going to be as fast as the competitors. He's on the right path to densify with B41, but it'll likely take more time.

[utiz4321]

Plan A for SoftBank was buy sprint and clear merge with T-Mobile. When this ran into regulatory troubles plan B became just tell regulators it's happening and they'll get on board. They are onto plan C, which is dump a bunch of money into sprint, try and compete for a few years then go to regulators and say we tried it your way America is a three carrier market let us merge. That is my guess as to where they are at.

[jeffcarp]

 

 

Marcelo Claure is coming up on his 1-year anniversary as CEO, and the company has not fundamentally turned around (with some arguing it has gotten worse). Sprint is burning through billions of dollars in cash with no end in sight, has no clear path towards paying off the current $33 billion+ in debt or financing the more debt needed, lags in subscriber numbers, and still suffers from relative network weakness.

 

That does not mean the stock is a sell, but other shareholders and industry followers have clearly lost patience. I am surprised that Claure has not yet come under strong criticism. Masayoshi Son trumpeted Claure's hiring last year (and paid him a crapload of money), but seems to have since gone silent in praising the young CEO.

Wow. That commentary is more short-term-sighted than most Wall Street analysts. There is zero indication that Son is in this for anything other than a long term play. In a year Sprint has had a myriad of plan & feature improvements and developed and received approval for a network densification plan that hasn't even been executed yet. But we're supposed to draw conclusions already? It took my company of 450 people 9 months to plan, deploy and begin operating our last IT software system. It's only been a year at Sprint.

[JimBob]

Wow. That commentary is more short-term-sighted than most Wall Street analysts. There is zero indication that Son is in this for anything other than a long term play. In a year Sprint has had a myriad of plan & feature improvements and developed and received approval for a network densification plan that hasn't even been executed yet. But we're supposed to draw conclusions already? It took my company of 450 people 9 months to plan, deploy and begin operating our last IT software system. It's only been a year at Sprint.

Is your company publicly traded.

[jeffcarp]

Is your company publicly traded.

Nope. And I don't see how that makes a bit of difference in this conversation. The public owns 28% of Sprint. It doesn't really matter what they think about the short term.

[Fraydog]

Nope. And I don't see how that makes a bit of difference in this conversation. The public owns 28% of Sprint. It doesn't really matter what they think about the short term.

More like 20%.

 

 

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[JimBob]

Nope. And I don't see how that makes a bit of difference in this conversation. The public owns 28% of Sprint. It doesn't really matter what they think about the short term.

This conversation started between Deval and I about current Sprint stock price, specifically his disappointment at current declines.  Both he and I are shareholders.  Thanks.

[jonathanm1978]

I see the low price as buy time, though I wish Muppet could be held accountable for his {adjective}, {adjective}, {adjective} of Sprint stock.

 

(Edit)

Shareholder here too, though the recent decline only hit me for around $700 in losses. I fully plan to purchase another (several hundred) shares while the price is skimming.

[S4GRU]

When you have a shareholder who owns 78% who also manages the company directly, he makes decisions based more on his interest than on shareholders in general. The stock price reflects that.

 

Masa is definitely making a long term play here. Not to say that the fundamentals are not improving for Sprint. They are. They stopped hemorrhaging customers. And their network improvements are netting them tangible results against their competitors. And the Next Generation Network Plan is likely going to help them build momentum forward.

 

But that being said, the short term opportunities for Sprint stock are pretty slim. Except for possibly the Moffets of the world who may be able to write a hit piece to artificially drive down the price, buy and make a few bucks on any rebounds. That is my opinion.

 

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