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

[RedSpark]

I believe the main reason that Marcelo is so quiet about NGN is because of the network equipment leasing vehicle.  It is very likely network equipment vendors will likely accept some cash as payment for sprint's capital expenditure but also accept some of the payment as long term lease.  Both vendors and Sprint have every incentives not to reveal the vendors because they don't want other providers especially Tmobile (who does not have that much cash either) to request vendors to extend them similar treatments.  

 

Back on January 7, 2015, Sprint posted the following:

 

Sprint Closes on $2.1 Billion of Financing with Three New Vendor Financing Agreements and Existing Loan Expansion

 

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), January 07, 2015 - Sprint Corporation (NYSE: S) announced today that it has signed three new vendor financing facilities totaling $1.8 billion to purchase 2.5 GHz network equipment and related services from key suppliers. Sprint also amended and expanded by $300 million its credit relationship with Export Development Canada (EDC) as well as amended the terms of its existing secured equipment credit facility.

“These deals provide Sprint with greater flexibility and liquidity options as we focus on growing the business and investing in our network,” said Joe Euteneuer, Sprint’s Chief Financial Officer.

The three new vendor financing agreements are:

• A secured facility for up to $800 million from Nokia Networks maturing in June 2021. It is backed by credit insurance provided by Finnvera plc, the export credit agency of Finland.
• A secured facility for up to $750 million from Samsung maturing in Dec. 2022. It is backed by credit insurance provided by the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (Ksure), the export credit agency of Korea.
• A secured facility for up to $250 million from ALU maturing in Dec. 2021. It is backed by credit insurance provided by Delcredere | Ducroire (D/D), the export credit agency of Belgium.

[RedSpark]

Apparently, it's not all good news. This Verified Care Rep said his entire call site is closing down on February 5th.

 

Via the Sprint Subreddit

[S4GRU]

Apparently, it's not all good news. This Verified Care Rep said his entire call site is closing down on February 5th.

 

Via the Sprint Subreddit

This is all a part of their cost reduction strategy already announced. Nothing new here. They are doing it in stages.

 

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[laqn1283]

 

Back on January 7, 2015, Sprint posted the following:

 

Sprint Closes on $2.1 Billion of Financing with Three New Vendor Financing Agreements and Existing Loan Expansion

 

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), January 07, 2015 - Sprint Corporation (NYSE: S) announced today that it has signed three new vendor financing facilities totaling $1.8 billion to purchase 2.5 GHz network equipment and related services from key suppliers. Sprint also amended and expanded by $300 million its credit relationship with Export Development Canada (EDC) as well as amended the terms of its existing secured equipment credit facility.

“These deals provide Sprint with greater flexibility and liquidity options as we focus on growing the business and investing in our network,” said Joe Euteneuer, Sprint’s Chief Financial Officer.

The three new vendor financing agreements are:

• A secured facility for up to $800 million from Nokia Networks maturing in June 2021. It is backed by credit insurance provided by Finnvera plc, the export credit agency of Finland.
• A secured facility for up to $750 million from Samsung maturing in Dec. 2022. It is backed by credit insurance provided by the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (Ksure), the export credit agency of Korea.
• A secured facility for up to $250 million from ALU maturing in Dec. 2021. It is backed by credit insurance provided by Delcredere | Ducroire (D/D), the export credit agency of Belgium.

 

These vendor financing are debts.  If they utilize these financing, they will increase their net debts which management trying to avoid.  The network equipment leasing vehicle works as if the vendors still own the equipment and Sprint leases these equipment from them.  The difference between the two is one Sprint owns the equipment but its net debts will increase, and other one Sprint does not own the equipment but leases them from vendors and has no effect on debts.  

[RedSpark]

These vendor financing are debts.  If they utilize these financing, they will increase their net debts which management trying to avoid.  The network equipment leasing vehicle works as if the vendors still own the equipment and Sprint leases these equipment from them.  The difference between the two is one Sprint owns the equipment but its net debts will increase, and other one Sprint does not own the equipment but leases them from vendors and has no effect on debts.  

 

Appreciate the explanation on that!

[JThorson]

It read in an article that sprint could mimic 5G speeds with opening all of there carrier aggregation pipes...any truth to this?

 

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3xCA, and 4x4 MIMO is probably more than capable.  Sprint mentioned late last year they plan on experimenting with up to 5xCA soon, so we'll see what happens as it gets closer.  If it's as simple as adjust backhaul and installing a carrier card, it may be an easy transition, especially if they have NGN going full throttle.

While Sprint could come up with 5XCA I didn't think there was a true definition of what 5G is yet or the speeds it could produce?

[JossMan]

Sad news for the City of Bristol, Sprint is closing its customer care facility next month , more than 400 people will be effected by the closure.

 

New article ----> http://m.wcyb.com/news/Sprint-laying-off-hundreds-in-Blountville/37580010

[nexgencpu]

Sprint closed nearly 15% up.

[RedSpark]

So do you think they will continue to offer it?

 

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I think they will.

[tyroned3222]

How many markets are there in total, that Sprint would have to cover with LTe+?

 

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[Dkoellerwx]

How many markets are there in total, that Sprint would have to cover with LTe+?

 

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Depends on how you measure "markets."

[tyroned3222]

Depends on how you measure "markets."

Im sure not every single market will get lte plus..

 

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[Dkoellerwx]

Im sure not every single market will get lte plus..

 

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But what is a market? A town? A city? A metro? Sprint has just under 100 markets. That is how they divide their network. But, the latest announcement has over 100 markets with LTE plus. So, again, what is a market? There is no way to answer your question.

[spotmeterf64]

Sad news for the City of Bristol, Sprint is closing its customer care facility next month , more than 400 people will be effected by the closure.

 

New article ----> http://m.wcyb.com/news/Sprint-laying-off-hundreds-in-Blountville/37580010

According to the Reddit thread on this topic, 6 call centers are closing and 2000 people are losing their jobs. Sprint is apparently going to go "all-in" on vendor-provided customer care which I'm sure will be top tier! /sarcasm

[chamb]

According to the Reddit thread on this topic, 6 call centers are closing and 2000 people are losing their jobs. Sprint is apparently going to go "all-in" on vendor-provided customer care which I'm sure will be top tier! /sarcasm

Every company that goes this route soon finds out it does not work.  The vendor will hire anybody and everybody and none of then will have a clue. You will get transferred around, lied to, and whatever it takes to just cover up your issue.

Sprint even tried it in the past and it failed. It will fail again.

[spotmeterf64]

From what I've seen when companies go to vendor-provided customer care (aka outsourcing), the company requires certain metrics from the vendor (call answer time, time on phone, CSAT, etc). The vendor does anything possible to meet the requirements: as you said; lie to the customer, transfer them when the time on the phone gets higher than target, etc. By the time the company knows what's really going on, they have a bad reputation and are barely 1 year in a 5 year contract with the vendor.

 

Source: a company I worked for prior tried outsourcing phone support. They maintained an escalations desk in-house. Shortly it was apparent only the escalations desk actually solved any customer problems, so the vendor was fired shortly thereafter.

 

This being said, Sprint has used vendor-provided care for a long time (a Xerox-owned company, I forget the name, was their vendor at least as of 2013) so maybe this will be more successful. At least, successful for people other than the 2000 being laid off.

[EvanA]

According to the Reddit thread on this topic, 6 call centers are closing and 2000 people are losing their jobs. Sprint is apparently going to go "all-in" on vendor-provided customer care which I'm sure will be top tier! /sarcasm

Every company that goes this route soon finds out it does not work. The vendor will hire anybody and everybody and none of then will have a clue. You will get transferred around, lied to, and whatever it takes to just cover up your issue.

Sprint even tried it in the past and it failed. It will fail again.

The $2.5B in cuts has to come from somewhere and execs have said many times that everything is on the chopping block.

 

I don't think you can make the jump that Sprint will outsource a lot of their customer care. They might outsource some, but I don't think they'll go 1 for 1. They may have found they can provide customer care with fewer call centers.

[MacinJosh]

From what I read in the Reddit thread, these are IL call centers, aka, most of us. The CL call centers, aka business or Corporate Liable, are still staying open. Playing favorites with business customers is not a smart move, especially when a large majority of customers are most likely individuals. I sure hope this announcement of the closing call centers doesn't make investors mad come morning, prompting a large sell off like we just started getting out of.

 

 

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[Ascertion]

From what I read in the Reddit thread, these are IL call centers, aka, most of us. The CL call centers, aka business or Corporate Liable, are still staying open. Playing favorites with business customers is not a smart move, especially when a large majority of customers are most likely individuals. I sure hope this announcement of the closing call centers doesn't make investors mad come morning, prompting a large sell off like we just started getting out of.

 

 

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Actually, it'll be good for the investors to know that costs are going down, in my opinion. 

[gusherb]

Good phone care was one thing sprint had going for it, they weren't perfect but they were the most consistent of any company I've had to call into several times and the most polite. If that goes by the wayside that would be quite a shame considering corporate retail as a rule of thumb has been horrendous. (Though I do acknowledge that some have reported good experiences). I won't jump to any conclusions, but this sounds bad.

[lafester]

Haven't called Sprint in 10 years... chat works just fine for the occasional phone swap.

[WillM]

Haven't called Sprint in 10 years... chat works just fine for the occasional phone swap.

Whenever I try to use chat it always says it's unavailable.

[JossMan]

According to the Reddit thread on this topic, 6 call centers are closing and 2000 people are losing their jobs. Sprint is apparently going to go "all-in" on vendor-provided customer care which I'm sure will be top tier! /sarcasm

Employees of the Bristol Sprint call center thought their jobs would have been safe, apparently its the only call center in the country that handles calls from other Sprint employees. 

 

Its a shame too because Sprint just built that facility about 3 or 4 years ago in Bristol, TN when they re-located from Bristol, VA, what will they ever do with the road they named "Sprint Dr"

 

Updated news article regarding the Bristol Sprint facility 

[Johnner1999]

Well a $2.5b cut is huge and closing call centers won't even touch that $2.5b figure.

 

I have a feeling things will get crappy here soon.

 

 

 

 

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[llm5505]

Whenever I try to use chat it always says it's unavailable.

The chat works very well, but I have the same problem. Last two times I needed something had to keep checking back all day until it was available.

 

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