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

[nexgencpu]

They should have been allowed to merge with tmobile.

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no..

[payturr]

no..

2006 Sprint & T-Mobile?

[nexgencpu]

2006 Sprint & T-Mobile?

Many reasons why it would have very little immediate benefit, years to merge networks, less competition. I could go on and on..

[utiz4321]

no..

Why? We would have a very strong third player with a killer network.

 

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[NYC126]

Why? We would have a very strong third player with a killer network.

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And killing high prices. Legere and his team wouldn't be needed since a drive for competition would would be gone.

[grapkoski]

Why? We would have a very strong third player with a killer network.

 

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I don't think it would be anywhere as near strong as you think it would be. Sans a Chapter 11, it would still have a boatload of debt, a CDMA network and the expensive transition of 58 million customers. No real efficiency improvements would be seen for a couple of years. T-Mobile is a strong competitor and their financials are turning around. Now we just need Sprint to do the same.

 

We are a large enough country that we can have four strong carriers.

[greenbastard]

I don't think it would be anywhere as near strong as you think it would be. Sans a Chapter 11, it would still have a boatload of debt, a CDMA network and the expensive transition of 58 million customers. No real efficiency improvements would be seen for a couple of years. T-Mobile is a strong competitor and their financials are turning around. Now we just need Sprint to do the same.

 

We are a large enough country that we can have four strong carriers.

Don't forget that both would still lack rural coverage. So while they would become the size of At&t and Verizon via subscribers, they will not have the extensive coverage the Big 2 have.

[Arysyn]

Sprint could arguably be in a much better place if they never bought Nextel and only bought Clear, AWS

 

One good thing though with the Nextel acquisition. Sprint got low-band spectrum from the deal. However fiscally, Sprint would have saved a lot of money in use to purchase Metro and Alltel with, which would have been much better deals than Nextel, earning Sprint more money rather than losses to which they could have used later on to purchase 700mhz spectrum with. T-Mobile would never have recovered after the failed AT&T merger and would have ended up so cheaply to buy with such bad assets, the FCC might eventually have changed its mind in allowing either AT&T or Sprint to purchase T-Mobile.

[dnicekid]

Looking back, the Nextel merger wasn't a bad idea or a bad thing.

It combined the number 3 and 5 together. The issue was how they did it. They kept 2 Corp headquarters basically called it a partnership ... Remember "Sprint with Nextel" ? That's where the screw ups began. The biggest hiccup was the WiMAX experiment. Truth be told if the world adopted WiMAX sprint would be in a much different position. Instead lte became the standard. Which had sprint bought alltel/metro it would have helped the with spectrum and 3G would not have be as bad as it became. Add in the fact there would be more customers more towers and so forth. Sprint could have deployed lte on some of their stuff first, making NV 1.0 an easier transitions!

[Jones]

Life seems so easy when you look backwards.

[Scott]

I have seen ton of permits and info on small cell being installed and going up in many different markets, 2nd carrier+CA got deployed at a pretty fast pace. Finally 3rd carrier has been coming online in many markets. I honestly do not know how much more they can do especially knowing Sprint's financial situation...

How much more can they do? How about launch B41/LTE Plus in markets that don't have it before worrying about deploying third carriers?

[RedSpark]

Marcelo dishing it back to Verizon:

 

https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/729434236801851393

[bigsnake49]

Looking back, the Nextel merger wasn't a bad idea or a bad thing.

It combined the number 3 and 5 together. The issue was how they did it. They kept 2 Corp headquarters basically called it a partnership ... Remember "Sprint with Nextel" ? That's where the screw ups began. The biggest hiccup was the WiMAX experiment. Truth be told if the world adopted WiMAX sprint would be in a much different position. Instead lte became the standard. Which had sprint bought alltel/metro it would have helped the with spectrum and 3G would not have be as bad as it became. Add in the fact there would be more customers more towers and so forth. Sprint could have deployed lte on some of their stuff first, making NV 1.0 an easier transitions!

 

 

The Nextel merger was a disaster from the get go. It cost them $35B, it forced them to acquire Nextel Partners for another $9B and their varied affiliates for another $6B, it forced them to spend money on Wimax. The Nextel customers churned away in droves. They should have merged with all the CDMA carriers besides Verizon and organically grow and densify their network. Instead the merger deprived them of money to grow their network for 10 years. They still have not managed to straighten out the IBEZ and Riverside County areas.

[RAvirani]

Marcelo dishing it back to Verizon:

 

https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/729434236801851393

Goteeem

[dnicekid]

The Nextel merger was a disaster from the get go. It cost them $35B, it forced them to acquire Nextel Partners for another $9B and their varied affiliates for another $6B, it forced them to spend money on Wimax. The Nextel customers churned away in droves. They should have merged with all the CDMA carriers besides Verizon and organically grow and densify their network. Instead the merger deprived them of money to grow their network for 10 years. They still have not managed to straighten out the IBEZ and Riverside County areas.

 

 

I was unaware of the other 15 billion, 50 billion spent and SoftBank acquired sprint for 20 billion and clear was 6/7 billion in total?

 

 

Yeah sprint Nextel was a huge mistake. It all started there.

[NYC126]

This is what is happening to Sprint business now:

 

Acquire customers at lower average per billing than when Hesse was in charge while legacy customers that are in the 69.99 and 79.99 churn away from the back door because their service is a merely 5x5 LTE network in their market. These customers have left due to capacity and spotty coverage. And this is one reason why that 3 billions CAPEX stink.

[Deval]

We should call this what it feels like, this is a Sprint survival move. I don't believe this is under promising and over achieving or some strategic move. PS: I do not want Sprint to fail. No one wins with 3 carriers except big business.

 

Eh, I disagree. Definitely not a survival move. Maybe in 2014 or 2013, but not now.

[payturr]

One good thing though with the Nextel acquisition. Sprint got low-band spectrum from the deal. However fiscally, Sprint would have saved a lot of money in use to purchase Metro and Alltel with, which would have been much better deals than Nextel, earning Sprint more money rather than losses to which they could have used later on to purchase 700mhz spectrum with. T-Mobile would never have recovered after the failed AT&T merger and would have ended up so cheaply to buy with such bad assets, the FCC might eventually have changed its mind in allowing either AT&T or Sprint to purchase T-Mobile.

The low band Sprint got was plagued with issues due to rebanding for public safety which Sprint had to pay money for, and it didn't save their network because it's congested to hell. On top of all this, Nextel lost goodwill almost instantly so Sprint had to write off a lot of assets. Had they not bought Nextel, they could have densified for PCS LTE in the get go or had simply participated in Auction 73 to get 700MHz, and they wouldn't be using boutique LTE bands.

[Ascertion]

The low band Sprint got was plagued with issues due to rebanding for public safety which Sprint had to pay money for, and it didn't save their network because it's congested to hell. On top of all this, Nextel lost goodwill almost instantly so Sprint had to write off a lot of assets. Had they not bought Nextel, they could have densified for PCS LTE in the get go or had simply participated in Auction 73 to get 700MHz, and they wouldn't be using boutique LTE bands.

And the guy that signed off on the Nextel deal is still getting checks every month. The old Sprint board made a lot of mistakes and I believe cutting capex by 33% is another one. Those actions only mean that they are not heading to be 1st or 2nd in 18 months.

[NYC126]

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/btig-sees-red-flags-sprints-network-strategy/2016-05-09

 

 

"Sprint last week lowered its capex guidance for the rest of the year to roughly $3 billion, far below analysts' estimates in the range of $4.5 billion. Analysts were quick to point out that Sprint had previously issued a capex guidance of $15 billion over three years, which would imply annual spending in the range of $5 billion per year."

 

"We think Sprint's aggressive cut to capital investment and continuing lack of evidence on any activity to improve its network raise red flags about the company's strategy," Piecyk wrote. "This low level of capital investment was last seen in 2008/2009 during the financial crisis. While it's true that small cell investment is largely expensed rather than capitalized, we have observed virtually no evidence of Sprint's network activity over the past year. Tower company SBA noted that Sprint canceled plans to place 2.5 GHz radios on existing towers."

 

See how the evidence comes to light , one of the towers companies that places the 2.5ghz TDD equipment was told we are not doing this right now.

 

Also if anyone here has read the transcripts for the last 3 earnings quarterly calls, notice Sprint stills has the 1.5 billions 2.5ghz hardware equipment credit on its books and they haven't used it.

 

And this is why they are churning old Postpaid customers :

 

"We are skeptical of CEO Marcelo Claure's claim that the heavy lifting on network investments was completed with Network Vision, one of Sprint's many prior network modernization plans," Piecyk wrote. "We have been using a Sprint phone and an AT&T phone for the past few months and find Sprint to be both less reliable and slower than AT&T -- and not by the small amount often reflected in the Root Metric scores wireless operators like to tweet about. The Sprint phone performs quite well when next to an infrequent small cell or 2.5 GHz deployment, but given the small footprint of these locations, the phone quickly reverts to the limited speeds offered by Sprint's 5x5 MHz LTE deployment."

[nexgencpu]

Sprint's problem has never been a monetary one (I don't think a 10b capex will make any difference). Its almost always been execution. It seems counter-intuitive to continue spending at the same levels instead of seeking a proper balance of expenditures and profits. While yes it would be great to install an 8t8r setup in every corner of the USA, but how realistic is that really...Not only from a financial stand point but from a logistical one. 

 

They really are taking a completely different approach, and the fact that they added customers and lowered churn says a lot. 

 

Analyst saying Sprint will fail!?, well, that's great for them to short the crap out of that stock, nothing more nothing less.

 

Have we not learned from the past?

[rackhivee]

Sprint's problem has never been a monetary one (I don't think a 10b capex will make any difference). Its almost always been execution. It seems counter-intuitive to continue spending at the same levels instead of seeking a proper balance of expenditures and profits. While yes it would be great to install an 8t8r setup in every corner of the USA, but how realistic is that really...Not only from a financial stand point but from a logistical one.

 

They really are taking a completely different approach, and the fact that they added customers and lowered churn says a lot.

 

Analyst saying Sprint will fail!?, well, that's great for them to short the crap out of that stock, nothing more nothing less.

 

Have we not learned from the past?

Thank you.

[JonnygATL]

I have alwaya been a big believer in Sprint but outside of 20 or 30 major metros in which their service is great, everything else seems to have slowed tremendously or stopped altogether. I am worried Marcelo bit off more than he can readily chew. I want to be wrong, however.

[payturr]

Sprint's problem has never been a monetary one (I don't think a 10b capex will make any difference). Its almost always been execution. It seems counter-intuitive to continue spending at the same levels instead of seeking a proper balance of expenditures and profits. While yes it would be great to install an 8t8r setup in every corner of the USA, but how realistic is that really...Not only from a financial stand point but from a logistical one.

 

They really are taking a completely different approach, and the fact that they added customers and lowered churn says a lot.

 

Analyst saying Sprint will fail!?, well, that's great for them to short the crap out of that stock, nothing more nothing less.

 

Have we not learned from the past?

True but deciding not to put 2.5GHz on every existing macro was a terrible decision that is affecting them right now.

[utiz4321]

To let the core product you sell deteriorate either relative to the competition or in absolute terms is never a good decision. But i think they have to do it because, given the regulatory cost America can not support 4 national carriers.

 

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