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


joshuam

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Indeed. My mom switched from Sprint to Verizon 2 years ago, and I wont even bring up the new free offer because Sprint still hasn't done anything to fix all the issues in her market (Fresno). According to the map on this website, a significant portion of the towers are still 3G only (in 2017!) and that doesnt even get to the issue that they havent added any towers in what looks like 10 years.

 

Meanwhile, where I live, my gf will be switching to Sprint this week because the service here is good.

 

Sprint competes nationwide, but performance is very regional.

Despite what he said, Marcelo really put the brakes on things as far as CapEx and put his regional managers in the position of justifying each requested dollar.

 

Marcelo discussed this at this conference: Sprint's CEO Marcelo Claure Presents at J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference (Transcript) $S

http://www.seekingalpha.com/article/4075474

 

Phil Cusick

I guess, it’s only four years, I apologies. Seems like longer, so, and yet, we really haven’t seen that big push with capital and now you are talking about doubling CapEx this year. Is that enough? Is it -- can you really drive the business faster or is there still level of capital constrains that you feel like which don’t have the money to really drive as fast as we like?

 

Marcelo Claure

So that’s a huge misconception. We have never had a capital constrain as it relates to spending CapEx. What -- we were always challenge with, I says, is there really a need to spend as much as everybody else to create a great network experience and I think that’s a huge misconception of the industry that you set up a cap and I have seen even in -- within my team, you set up a CapEx budget and then people fight hard to go spend that money. And in many cases without need or they go by gear or they try to do unnatural things in order to basically hit that CapEx number.

 

Marcelo continued with additional comments. Definitely worth a read.

 

So that explains things in-part I guess. Fresno isn't high on the list.

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There product is their network. Subcriber performance lags network quality both ways. We saw this clearly after NV and the years after Hesse decided to divert CAPEX away from the core networks and plow it into Wimax.

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It's easy to forget that WiMAX was supported by some heavy hitters like Intel, Google and Comcast. Even Apple was on the path to a WiMAX iPhone.

 

Qualcomm had a competing standard, and it allegedly bribed Apple not to do it: https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/17/14303910/qualcomm-allegedly-bribed-apple-wimax-iphone-ft-complaint

 

So that's where things are.

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It's easy to forget that WiMAX was supported by some heavy hitters like Intel, Google and Comcast. Even Apple was on the path to a WiMAX iPhone.

 

Qualcomm had a competing standard, and it allegedly bribed Apple not to do it: https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/17/14303910/qualcomm-allegedly-bribed-apple-wimax-iphone-ft-complaint

 

So that's where things are.

I havent forgot that, it just doesnt have any relevance to my point. Sprint didnt have the resources to bet on wimax and invest in their core network, the result was a decade of nearly zero network expansion and a deterioration of their 3g network. If their bet had paid off the world would look different, sure. It didnt though.

 

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Redspark

 

I suspect Marcelo is being disingenuous there. The state of the network and his promises suggest they do have CAPEX constraints. Further, it suggests that the "taking the cost out of the business" initiative of Marcelo has had a great deal to do with that. In fact, that project illustraights the point quite clearly. He started out saying he would reduce costs with out touching CAPEX, in fact expanding it (project cedar and ocean). That turned into, it would not impact network densification and their new small cell strategy would allow them to spend less on their network while making number 1 or 2 in most major markets. That finally turned into, we didnt do anything for a year except CA and set up a couple of trial areas for new network strategies. I frankly cant understand why Marcelo has any credibility.

 

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2018 is almost here

 

Redspark

I suspect Marcelo is being disingenuous there. The state of the network and his promises suggest they do have CAPEX constraints. Further, it suggests that the "taking the cost out of the business" initiative of Marcelo have a great deal to do with that. In fact, that project illustraights the point quite clearly. He started out saying he would reduce costs with out touching CAPEX, in fact expanding it (project cedar and ocean). That turned into, it would not impact network densification and their new small cell strategy would allow them to spend less on their network while making number 1 or 2 in most major markets. That finally turned into, we didnt do anything for a year except CA and set up a couple of trial areas for new network strategies. I frankly cant understand why Marcelo has any credibility.

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You can put the CFO in the same group. He said Sprint didn't participate in the 600mhz  no because of money....LOL. That statement made lose complete faith in this management team besides Dr. Saw and  Gunther. The network guys are bright, but they are not getting the resources to execute. 

 

I don't think Dr. Saw will cite PC magazine in the next blog.....

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Redspark

I suspect Marcelo is being disingenuous there. The state of the network and his promises suggest they do have CAPEX constraints. Further, it suggests that the "taking the cost out of the business" initiative of Marcelo have a great deal to do with that. In fact, that project illustraights the point quite clearly. He started out saying he would reduce costs with out touching CAPEX, in fact expanding it (project cedar and ocean). That turned into, it would not impact network densification and their new small cell strategy would allow them to spend less on their network while making number 1 or 2 in most major markets. That finally turned into, we didnt do anything for a year except CA and set up a couple of trial areas for new network strategies. I frankly cant understand why Marcelo has any credibility.

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Marcelo was asked the question straight out and this is the answer he gave. I understand the desire to maintain a certain company position, but I agree with you that he's stretching credibility in his remarks.

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2018 is almost here

 

 

You can put the CFO in the same group. He said Sprint didn't participate in the 600mhz no because of money....LOL. That statement made lose complete faith in this management team besides Dr. Saw and Gunther. The network guys are bright, but they are not getting the resources to execute.

 

I don't think Dr. Saw will cite PC magazine in the next blog.....

Perhaps the long term play to merge with T-Mobile factors in: why spend money on something you'd get to use after the merger?

 

T-Mobile focuses on 600 MHz. Sprint focuses on 2.5 GHz.

 

Merger creates a spectrum behemoth.

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Redspark

 

I suspect Marcelo is being disingenuous there. The state of the network and his promises suggest they do have CAPEX constraints. Further, it suggests that the "taking the cost out of the business" initiative of Marcelo have a great deal to do with that. In fact, that project illustraights the point quite clearly. He started out saying he would reduce costs with out touching CAPEX, in fact expanding it (project cedar and ocean). That turned into, it would not impact network densification and their new small cell strategy would allow them to spend less on their network while making number 1 or 2 in most major markets. That finally turned into, we didnt do anything for a year except CA and set up a couple of trial areas for new network strategies. I frankly cant understand why Marcelo has any credibility.

 

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I agree with you, utiz4321

 

I like Marcelo's professionalism attitude, but I'm not so much a supporter of his business decisions. Basically everything you describe here of him sum up my opinions.

 

The new Sprint promo, as great as it is, really isn't necessary. I know I've missed some of the discussion here lately relating to it, as I've been having breathing-related health issues that has limited my online time, but I have still been trying to read about it and the state of things in cellular.

 

As much I like the promo, Sprint could have done something just as successful serving all customers old and new alike. Perhaps with my $45 monthly per line idea, or better yet, undercut T-Mobile's Hookup Offer discounted rate for two lines, by having a two for $75 monthly promo, no streaming limits, and $35 monthly per additional line. That would be better than "free for a year" on the fiscal side, giving Sprint income still for the network.

 

I also agree with those who think that people may leave Sprint after a year, unless they have great service in the areas they live/travel.

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You can put the CFO in the same group. He said Sprint didn't participate in the 600mhz  no because of money....LOL.

 

So, by your rationale, no matter what VZW says to the contrary, it did not participate in the 600 MHz auction because of money, correct?

 

AJ

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So, by your rationale, no matter what VZW says to the contrary, it did not participate in the 600 MHz auction because of money, correct?

 

AJ

Verizon already owns 10x10 700mhz nationwide and plenty of 850mhz cellular. Sprint CFO didn't need to mention the money stuff.

 

 

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Verizon already owns 10x10 700mhz nationwide and plenty of 850mhz cellular. Sprint CFO didn't need to mention the money stuff.

 

 

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Exactly!    And it's not impeded with IBEZ issues at all the borders with the spectrum they do have. 

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Verizon already owns 10x10 700mhz nationwide...

And VZW has approximately twice the subscriber base that Sprint has, so VZW needs approximately twice the bandwidth that Sprint does.  That puts VZW Upper 700 MHz on parity with Sprint SMR 800 MHz, both in bandwidth and nationwide licensed coverage.

 

...and plenty of 850mhz cellular.

Tell that to Texas and Florida -- which, if you have not noticed, are two of our largest states, where VZW holds barely any Cellular 850 MHz spectrum.  Yet, VZW did not bother to purchase 600 MHz licenses to supplement low band spectrum in those areas or any others.  Thus, if money is not the only reason, then some operators had other, strategic reasons for not acquiring 600 MHz spectrum.

 

Exactly!

 

No.  Wrong.  Not exactly.  You need to stop complaining to staff about other posters and work on improving your knowledge/analysis.

 

AJ

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And VZW has approximately twice the subscriber base that Sprint has, so VZW needs approximately twice the bandwidth that Sprint does. That puts VZW Upper 700 MHz on parity with Sprint SMR 800 MHz, both in bandwidth and nationwide licensed coverage.

 

 

Tell that to Texas and Florida -- which, if you have not noticed, are two of our largest states, where VZW holds barely any Cellular 850 MHz spectrum. Yet, VZW did not bother to purchase 600 MHz licenses to supplement low band spectrum in those areas or any others. Thus, if money is not the only reason, then some operators had other, strategic reasons for not acquiring 600 MHz spectrum.

 

 

No. Wrong. Not exactly. You need to stop complaining to staff about other posters and work on improving your knowledge/analysis.

 

AJ

Fair enough but I don't think Sprint needed to lobby the FCC to reserve 600mhz spectrum if they didn't plan to participate on it. This basically allowed T-Mobile to grab all the reserves in many markets.

 

 

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T-Mobile finished ahead of Sprint (but not by much at all) in Kansas City: http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/technology/article156990849.html

 

Still a commendable performance by Sprint given funding limitations.

I still haven't left T-Mobile, but am about too, back to AT&T (nothing against Verizon where I was going to, but because of recent home internet issues with Comcast Xfinity that I'm going back to AT&T now that AT&T is offering 75mbps where I live, a big increase in minimum network speed from the 45mbps speed tier I had issues with months ago that led to my leaving AT&T, 25mbps vs 45mbps). Besides, I never had issues with the wireless side of AT&T.

 

With that said, I'm not surprised to see AT&T and Verizon get better results than T-Mobile and Sprint, but I would have expected Sprint to beat T-Mobile. If a merger fails and Sprint struggles tp get funding into network development, things may begin to look really bad once T-Mobile gets the 600mhz rolled out. Sure, its going to be a while for that to occur, so hopefully Sprint will get into network building before that happens.

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Fair enough but I don't think Sprint needed to lobby the FCC to reserve 600mhz spectrum if they didn't plan to participate on it. This basically allowed T-Mobile to grab all the reserves in many markets.

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I never understood Sprint's strategy in doing this, unless the long term plan back then was for a merger with T-Mobile.

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Actually, Verizon has 800 mhz, not 850 for which is public safety, with the 45mhz split for input channels, sprint has 860 mhz with the 45 mhz down split, and don't forget that at&t is also in that frequency range to. For which it isn't that much from 806mhz to 896mhz. Public safety is also in the 700 mhz band to, 770 to 780 mhz with a minus 45 mhz split. So all bandwidth some of you people coming up with just isn't there in that frequency range

 

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Actually, Verizon has 800 mhz, not 850 for which is public safety, with the 45mhz split for input channels, sprint has 860 mhz with the 45 mhz down split, and don't forget that at&t is also in that frequency range to. For which it isn't that much from 806mhz to 896mhz. Public safety is also in the 700 mhz band to, 770 to 780 mhz with a minus 45 mhz split. So all bandwidth some of you people coming up with just isn't there in that frequency range

 

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850 refers to 850 CLR, aka Cellular 850. 850 CLR downlink is 869-894 MHz, uplink 824-849MHz. The name of the band doesn't refer to the actual frequency of the spectrum. Sprint has 800 ESMR, which is 862-869MHz downlink, 817-824MHz uplink. Verizon has the entire 22MHz 700C block on a nationwide basis, plus some B block in other places.

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Which started at 824 mhz up to 849 mhz plus the 45 mhz split which then make it 869 to 894 mhz which was partitioned between at&t and Verizon, sprint getting 860mhz to 868 mhz after re-banding, public safety use to be 851 to 869 mhz with nextel propped in there.

 

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I am beginning to think that Sprint & T-Mobile should not officially merge and have to give up spectrum.  But, could they just agree to treat each others LTE networks as native. Start off with that and then decide what the next step may be.  One company build out in one state, the other company build out in another state.  No need for both to be constructing in every corner.  Share what they now have and what they will have.  I would imagine it might be a nightmare to figure out how to make this all work, but it is silly for both of them to be building more capacity right beside each other.   If either one builds a cell site, equip it with the appropriate spectrum no matter who actually owns it.  Yes, a nightmare to manage, but both companies would save billions in Capex and service costs. Share LTE networks and work with each other and not against each other.  Could this idea work???

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I am beginning to think that Sprint & T-Mobile should not officially merge and have to give up spectrum. But, could they just agree to treat each others LTE networks as native. Start off with that and then decide what the next step may be. One company build out in one state, the other company build out in another state. No need for both to be constructing in every corner. Share what they now have and what they will have. I would imagine it might be a nightmare to figure out how to make this all work, but it is silly for both of them to be building more capacity right beside each other. If either one builds a cell site, equip it with the appropriate spectrum no matter who actually owns it. Yes, a nightmare to manage, but both companies would save billions in Capex and service costs. Share LTE networks and work with each other and not against each other. Could this idea work???

That would never happen.
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Which started at 824 mhz up to 849 mhz plus the 45 mhz split which then make it 869 to 894 mhz which was partitioned between at&t and Verizon...

 

No, not really.

 

Without going into excessive detail, each Cellular 850 MHz A/B block originally was 10 MHz FDD, later expanded in a necessarily convoluted way to 12.5 MHz FDD.  But both origin and expansion were decades ago in the 1980s, long before the wireless iterations AT&T and VZW came into being.  As such, the Cellular A/B blocks were not partitioned between AT&T and VZW.  Rather, they were awarded in each market to an incumbent wireline provider and, in beauty contest fashion, to a new entrant.

 

Fast forward to recent times, Cellular A/B licensees include USCC, C Spire, Viaero, Commnet, et al., even T-Mobile in a single market, not just AT&T and VZW.  In fact, AT&T, VZW, or both are shut out in a few markets, though AT&T and VZW do hold the vast majority nationwide of Cellular A/B licenses, and in some markets, either AT&T or VZW holds both Cellular A/B blocks.

 

AJ

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