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2012 - 1st Quarter Announcement!


legion125

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From an investors/financial standpoint... I'll bet its gonna be a rocky road for Sprint in the first 2 quarters of 2012. I don't think that financials will start improving much till Q3 or Q4, maybe even Q1 13.. after they get some rebound from Network Vision upgrades.

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I am just hoping for huge Nextel iDEN subscriber losses and hopefully the majority of them switched to Sprint CDMA Direct Connect. Hopefully the iPhone 4S continued to produce strong subscriber growth to further prove that getting the iPhone was the right decision. Hopefully a decent amount of net postpaid add customers and more Network Vision progress updates to show that it is still on track.

 

In terms of financials, I expect to see huge capex costs to get the first 6 LTE markets live by June. We probably won't see a better picture of this until Q2 CC but I would be curious to see how the iDEN towers decommissioning all over the US are helping on their opex costs. I don't really expect much improvement at all with the financials for FY 2012.

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I am just hoping for huge Nextel iDEN subscriber losses and hopefully the majority of them switched to Sprint CDMA Direct Connect. Hopefully the iPhone 4S continued to produce strong subscriber growth to further prove that getting the iPhone was the right decision. Hopefully a decent amount of net postpaid add customers and more Network Vision progress updates to show that it is still on track.

 

In terms of financials' date=' I expect to see huge capex costs to get the first 6 LTE markets live by June. We probably won't see a better picture of this until Q2 CC but I would be curious to see how the iDEN towers decommissioning all over the US are helping on their opex costs. I don't really expect much improvement at all with the financials for FY 2012.[/quote']

 

Just to clarify, it doesn't look like there will be six market live announcements by June. There won't be any before June at all. The first two are scheduled in June.

 

Robert via NOVO7PALADIN Tablet using Forum Runner

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Just to clarify, it doesn't look like there will be six market live announcements by June. There won't be any before June at all. The first two are scheduled in June.

 

Robert via NOVO7PALADIN Tablet using Forum Runner

 

Kind of disappointing if true. Was hoping Sprint would make a big splash at CTIA by announcing a bunch of LTE cities that were live.

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Kind of disappointing if true. Was hoping Sprint would make a big splash at CTIA by announcing a bunch of LTE cities that were live.

 

Yeah it is kinda sad that Sprint will barely have any LTE markets live by June even though they announced they will have 10 LTE markets by mid year.

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-will-launch-10-lte-markets-mid-year/2012-01-05

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Yeah it is kinda sad that Sprint will barely have any LTE markets live by June even though they announced they will have 10 LTE markets by mid year.

 

http://www.fiercewir...year/2012-01-05

 

You keep saying June...but Sprint said Mid Year. I define Mid Year as between May 15 - August 15, myself. Not June 1st.

 

Also, don't be so darn pessimistic. It depends on how you define things. Sprint will have live LTE service in 10 markets before the end of June. And it's our plan to provide coverage maps of them, so you can keep track of progress (like we did with the interactive Atlanta LTE coverage map that's in the Premier Sponsor section).

 

When Sprint announces a market as launched or "live" is semantical, since their plan is to announce when 50% of the sites are live. At 50% coverage, the market will have pretty decent saturation of coverage. The last 50% that continues after a market is announced will just be fill in coverage. It will just get even better and better after launch.

 

However, there will be millions of people covered with pre-launch LTE in yet to be announced markets. And we will try to cover it like we did the WiMax Protection Sites. Keeping our members up to speed with the progress. You guys will likely know much more about a market's coverage than Sprint will even say at the official market launches anyway.

 

Robert

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Don't be too quick to think you will get instant results from the NV upgrades in the terms of subscribers. People that left in the past year are going to be gone for another year due to ETF and some longer due to the bad taste in their mouth.

 

If sprint has the money to let the public know about their upgrades in the terms of national and localized advertising they might turn it around quicker.

 

I have found that the stigma of a poor coverage network or poor performance network lasts for a long time and is also spread to their friends and family. One of the reasons I believe I see almost zero Sprint handsets in my area.

 

And I am not even mentioning the bad stigma people will have of the iden network shutting down. People will confuse it with the sprint cdma network. Just the other day I had someone ask who I was going with on my cell phone now since sprint was shutting down their towers.

 

Its going to take a good bit of work and time to turn things around. It will be interesting to watch. I hope they have the team to pull it off.

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The interesting thing about Sprint is even though a lot of people are very put off by the data speeds right now. There are tons of people that really REALLY want to switch to Sprint just because of their unlimited data. I have people ask me when the new network is coming and to let them know once its safe to switch.. lol. I just tell them to check out this site!

 

I do agree it is not going to be an overnight turn around though. My guess is Sprint will start to really see results about the time all of their network updates are about completed. 2014ish. They will also be able to report on their savings and how their spending is starting to go way down and hopefully they will say something about profits or at least a light at the end of the NV tunnel. Share holders will be grumpy till at least 2014 maybe even 2015. But if you want to be an investor in Sprint nows a good time to buy I guess.

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But if you want to be an investor in Sprint nows a good time to buy I guess.

 

Yeah it is a good time. Too bad I don't have extra money to buy more shares right now.

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From an investors/financial standpoint... I'll bet its gonna be a rocky road for Sprint in the first 2 quarters of 2012. I don't think that financials will start improving much till Q3 or Q4, maybe even Q1 13.. after they get some rebound from Network Vision upgrades.

 

Well said. Unless I was day trading, I would not put a lot of eggs in Sprint's basket right now. Their fundamentals are currently terrible. That being said, depending on how subscriber numbers go, I'd be surprised if their stock went the right direction & sustained it anytime before the end of this year. When the company can start to show some strength in earnings and/or great subscriber growth, I'm getting in line to buy.

 

 

Don't be too quick to think you will get instant results from the NV upgrades in the terms of subscribers. People that left in the past year are going to be gone for another year due to ETF and some longer due to the bad taste in their mouth.

 

If sprint has the money to let the public know about their upgrades in the terms of national and localized advertising they might turn it around quicker.

 

I have found that the stigma of a poor coverage network or poor performance network lasts for a long time and is also spread to their friends and family. One of the reasons I believe I see almost zero Sprint handsets in my area.

 

And I am not even mentioning the bad stigma people will have of the iden network shutting down. People will confuse it with the sprint cdma network. Just the other day I had someone ask who I was going with on my cell phone now since sprint was shutting down their towers.

 

Its going to take a good bit of work and time to turn things around. It will be interesting to watch. I hope they have the team to pull it off.

 

You bring up an excellent point. The sour taste will be lasting in maybe people's mouths. My area may be similar to yours. I only know of one other person aside from me who has switched to Sprint in the last two years but several who have left. All the people I've talked to in the past year who have Verizon and AT&T say they'll never go to Sprint due to terrible coverage and/or data speeds. I used to defend Sprint because things were pretty good when I first signed on but quality of service dropped a decent bit.

 

Sprint still has price they can leverage but a lot of people don't care about the extra $10-40 per month due to their perception or real experiences. Every time Sprint changes their ToCs, it amazes me how huge the threads are in various Hot Deals forums on being able to get out of contact and switch carriers. All I wish them is the best so they can put more money into their network and also hopefully my pocket :)

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Well said. Unless I was day trading, I would not put a lot of eggs in Sprint's basket right now. Their fundamentals are currently terrible. That being said, depending on how subscriber numbers go, I'd be surprised if their stock went the right direction & sustained it anytime before the end of this year. When the company can start to show some strength in earnings and/or great subscriber growth, I'm getting in line to buy.

...

 

 

I will enjoy selling to you and the other late comers at that point.... :)

 

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2

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Don't be too quick to think you will get instant results from the NV upgrades in the terms of subscribers. People that left in the past year are going to be gone for another year due to ETF and some longer due to the bad taste in their mouth.

 

If sprint has the money to let the public know about their upgrades in the terms of national and localized advertising they might turn it around quicker.

 

I have found that the stigma of a poor coverage network or poor performance network lasts for a long time and is also spread to their friends and family. One of the reasons I believe I see almost zero Sprint handsets in my area.

 

And I am not even mentioning the bad stigma people will have of the iden network shutting down. People will confuse it with the sprint cdma network. Just the other day I had someone ask who I was going with on my cell phone now since sprint was shutting down their towers.

 

Its going to take a good bit of work and time to turn things around. It will be interesting to watch. I hope they have the team to pull it off.

 

THIS is why I am still shocked that Sprint isn't pushing being more proactive with the NV deployment announcements and getting the average customer to understand what's coming...

 

The sprint.com/network site while a great idea, its also hurting them some as people are seeing stuff there state improved and then not noticing any difference really...they should use that site to also show detailed updates about NV sites...like what's done here...

 

Show the customers It's coming and exactly when it is live...

 

Otherwise like you said they get bad taste in their mouth and leave...as most have no clue about network vision and even worse most think its what's shown on the sprint site now...

 

Their PR marketing dept is failing horribly now imho...

 

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2

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THIS is why I am still shocked that Sprint isn't pushing being more proactive with the NV deployment announcements and getting the average customer to understand what's coming...

 

The sprint.com/network site while a great idea, its also hurting them some as people are seeing stuff there state improved and then not noticing any difference really...they should use that site to also show detailed updates about NV sites...like what's done here...

 

Show the customers It's coming and exactly when it is live...

 

Otherwise like you said they get bad taste in their mouth and leave...as most have no clue about network vision and even worse most think its what's shown on the sprint site now...

 

Their PR marketing dept is failing horribly now imho...

 

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2

 

The fact is that Sprint is simply not ready to make new market announcements yet and I am totally ok with that. You being a sponsor should know from looking at the Network Vision map in the Sponsor section that there are some markets yet announced that are progressing nicely. Sprint likes to wait until special events to announce new NV markets. In Jan 2012 with the Citibank conference they announced the first 4 NV markets with Houston, San Antonio, Atlanta and Dallas. Then during the Q4 2011 CC, Sprint announced Baltimore and Kansas City as upcoming NV markets. I am sure that during the Q1 2012 CC later on this month that Sprint will announce a few more NV markets.

 

I honestly don't think making market announcements just for the sake of needing to make an announcement is going to do much when actual deployment of that market is at least 6 months away. I actually think it will frustrate anxious customers more when they hear their market is due for deployment at any moment only to hear its not live in just a month later. Market announcements in 2012 are going to be super slow because Sprint is trying to hit the big markets first which take a long time due to the enormous amount of cell sites that need an overhaul to be Network Vision proof. In 2013, market announcements will be more frequent so I wouldn't be worried.

 

I think their PR dept is doing great. Forget network vision for a second and look at all the Sprint press they have be getting the last week or so with the rumors of the Galaxy Nexus availability coming soon, announcement of LG Viper availability and last but not least the Sprint/HTC conference to announce the HTC EVO 4G LTE phone with HD voice, LTE, being a HTC One X variant.

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I think Sprint is sitting back and not announcing a lot of information because schedules, for devices and network, are so shaky right now. And by the data I have seen, I'd be very tempted to be cautious if I was in their shoes. The information we release, but Sprint doesn't, is probably for good reason.

 

Sprint feels if they announce dates and specific info and it slips, the press, the public and the general mood will come down on them hard and pessimism will reign. Sprint is trying to play the under promise, over deliver card. I understand why.

 

However, even though I understand what Sprint is doing, I disagree with them. I think S4GRU has proven that information is what customers want. And if it changes, they're OK with that. They just need to know. They need to know early and often what is going on. That's why people love S4GRU. That's what we do.

 

I don't live in paranoia that our info that we reported three months ago could be off by a week when it comes due. Because things change. Schedules slip. Mistakes happen. Materials and manufacturing gets delayed. It happens. Just tell the folks what you know, and as you know it. I think Sprint PR would be in a much better position if they implemented a S4GRU style of informing their customers. Heck, I'm willing to be a consultant for the right price. ;)

 

Robert

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I think Sprint is sitting back and not announcing a lot of information because schedules, for devices and network, are so shaky right now. And by the data I have seen, I'd be very tempted to be cautious if I was in their shoes. The information we release, but Sprint doesn't, is probably for good reason.

 

Sprint feels if they announce dates and specific info and it slips, the press, the public and the general mood will come down on them hard and pessimism will reign. Sprint is trying to play the under promise, over deliver card. I understand why.

 

However, even though I understand what Sprint is doing, I disagree with them. I think S4GRU has proven that information is what customers want. And if it changes, they're OK with that. They just need to know. They need to know early and often what is going on. That's why people love S4GRU. That's what we do.

 

I don't live in paranoia that our info that we reported three months ago could be off by a week when it comes due. Because things change. Schedules slip. Mistakes happen. Materials and manufacturing gets delayed. It happens. Just tell the folks what you know, and as you know it. I think Sprint PR would be in a much better position if they implemented a S4GRU style of informing their customers. Heck, I'm willing to be a consultant for the right price. ;)

 

Robert

 

yeah its obvious they are doing the under promise, over deliver.....but like stated, you can only do that when you are in a position to do so really...they are in the position that doing this can and will lead to current customers leaving before they announce the "over deliver" aspect b/c of the current mind set of a lot of customers not knowing whats going on....which is mianly b/c Sprint wont disclose them...

 

While I completely agree they would see major trouble from customer satisfaction if they announced things in detail in advance and then issues came up and delayed them. BUT them taking the time to announce the clusters of towers that are Network Vision live would be a small step and have a huge impact! imho

 

like I said even if they just took the map Robert has made in the sponsors section and incorporated it into their sprint,com/network map, it would reap HUGE benefits as customers would be able to know and see sites live, and know when they have Network Vision tower versus the crap bandaid patch....which most regular customers think is network vision anyway...that there alone is a HUGE problem sprint has...can't begin to explain how many times I have to correct people that think sprint.com/network shows network vision deployment....as they see the upgrades in their area that have happened and are frustrated that they see zero effect...

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The fact is that Sprint is simply not ready to make new market announcements yet and I am totally ok with that. You being a sponsor should know from looking at the Network Vision map in the Sponsor section that there are some markets yet announced that are progressing nicely. Sprint likes to wait until special events to announce new NV markets. In Jan 2012 with the Citibank conference they announced the first 4 NV markets with Houston, San Antonio, Atlanta and Dallas. Then during the Q4 2011 CC, Sprint announced Baltimore and Kansas City as upcoming NV markets. I am sure that during the Q1 2012 CC later on this month that Sprint will announce a few more NV markets.

 

I honestly don't think making market announcements just for the sake of needing to make an announcement is going to do much when actual deployment of that market is at least 6 months away. I actually think it will frustrate anxious customers more when they hear their market is due for deployment at any moment only to hear its not live in just a month later. Market announcements in 2012 are going to be super slow because Sprint is trying to hit the big markets first which take a long time due to the enormous amount of cell sites that need an overhaul to be Network Vision proof. In 2013, market announcements will be more frequent so I wouldn't be worried.

 

I think their PR dept is doing great. Forget network vision for a second and look at all the Sprint press they have be getting the last week or so with the rumors of the Galaxy Nexus availability coming soon, announcement of LG Viper availability and last but not least the Sprint/HTC conference to announce the HTC EVO 4G LTE phone with HD voice, LTE, being a HTC One X variant.

 

BUT you nor I or anyone else on this site are Sprints Average customers...The average customer is frustrated with the network speeds, and is left in the dark right now, and a lot of them are to the point of switching carriers...mainly b/c data speeds but also b/c they think that site is showing them NV rollout upgrades when its not, and seeing no improvement after the upgrades listed on it...

How about all the EVO4G customers they got that now are coming to the end of their 2yr agreement?...Sprint got them with the first 4G phone and there are a ton frustrated they never got WiMax and associate Sprint with that problem...This on top of the slow speeds is enough to push someone to try a new carrier and be gone for 2yrs...

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BUT you nor I or anyone else on this site are Sprints Average customers...The average customer is frustrated with the network speeds, and is left in the dark right now, and a lot of them are to the point of switching carriers...mainly b/c data speeds but also b/c they think that site is showing them NV rollout upgrades when its not, and seeing no improvement after the upgrades listed on it...

How about all the EVO4G customers they got that now are coming to the end of their 2yr agreement?...Sprint got them with the first 4G phone and there are a ton frustrated they never got WiMax and associate Sprint with that problem...This on top of the slow speeds is enough to push someone to try a new carrier and be gone for 2yrs...

 

Who says that anyone who follows this site is NOT frustrated with network speeds. Just because we follow this site doesn't mean that all of a sudden we are exempt from slow network speeds but rather we gain understanding about why Sprint has slow speeds due to T1 backhaul. No matter where you are in the US, the 3G speeds are slow and the only difference is that certain areas it is slower than others. With this site, we become more informed of Sprint's Network Vision progress. Speaking of the average customer, the average customer does not even know about that network.sprint.com and that site was never advertised as NV rollout upgrades. It was only advertised as some network improvements.

 

I have read tons of forums and threads from Sprint customers and let me tell you that more information can do more harm than less. You talk about the EVO4G customers but ask any of them who live in non-Wimax cities about what Sprint told them about Wimax coming to their city but it never happened and complain in the forums that a Sprint rep told them so by a certain month. Just imagine from your suggestion that Sprint officially flooded their press releases with Wimax updates to Phoenix, New Orleans, Detroit, etc and did NOT come through then I think Sprint's reputation would be much worse than it is now. Technically since Sprint did not announce Wimax in Phoenix, New Orleans, Detroit, etc they are not 100% at fault since it wasn't official. Not only that but when I read

 

Let me tell you, if the HTC EVO 4G LTE phone is not enough to convince those EVO customers to resign with Sprint while Network Vision is rolling out with unlimited data then so be it. At the end of the day every customer's situation is different. I think Sprint has done a lot recently to try to convince people to stay with Sprint with press releases about new LTE phones, keeping current phone prices the same even with LTE and of course the most important thing for data hungry users UNLIMITED DATA. I am confident that Sprint will announce NV markets much faster in 2013 when the smaller markets are being deployed. Like I said in my other post, NV announcements are going to be slow in 2012 just because Sprint is trying to hit the big markets which take a long time to do.

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I'm not saying those that follow this site are not frustrated with speeds. I'm saying that b/c we follow this site and have seen the information we have, that we are more likely to stick through the current time than others are...b/c we see whats going to be coming soon...

 

I'm not talking about them saying its coming here at time X...I'm talking about them listing live NV sites when they are actually lit. that is all. No delay for it to cover a whole market at least 50% before announcing, just use the current sprint.com/network site to show live Network Vision sites when they are turned on and fully converted over.

 

They need to be proactive at this point to keep customers and sitting on information like the stuff Robert has shown us is a way they will watch users leave...I dont care one lick about wimax as that was done by Clearwire and Sprint showing the rate towers are being flipped over to NV live on the site would be a way to show/prove to customers this situation is much different than the WiMax deployment...

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I think most customers want to stick it out with Sprint and they want Sprint to succeed. They just want the information to give them hope to stick it out. That's my impression anyway.

 

When I get an angry customer that stumbles upon S4GRU or our social media sites, I try to determine whether they want Sprint to succeed and they just want information and a reason to keep hope, or if they are pissed beyond a reasonable level. If they are pissed beyond that point, I just suggest they find the carrier that's best for them and move on. You cannot convince someone who hates Sprint why they should stay. I was to that point with AT&T in 2010, and no one could have convinced me to stay. I needed to move on.

 

However, there are millions of customers who like Sprint, but are frustrated that data is not meeting their needs. These people I can work with. Because I can tell them what Sprint is doing for them and when. Then they can make the determination if that's going to work for them or not. I find that 90% of these people stick it out. Because the information we provide them gives them hope in Sprint.

 

Robert

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I think most customers want to stick it out with Sprint and they want Sprint to succeed. They just want the information to give them hope to stick it out. That's my impression anyway.

 

When I get an angry customer that stumbles upon S4GRU or our social media sites, I try to determine whether they want Sprint to succeed and they just want information and a reason to keep hope, or if they are pissed beyond a reasonable level. If they are pissed beyond that point, I just suggest they find the carrier that's best for them and move on. You cannot convince someone who hates Sprint why they should stay. I was to that point with AT&T in 2010, and no one could have convinced me to stay. I needed to move on.

 

However, there are millions of customers who like Sprint, but are frustrated that data is not meeting their needs. These people I can work with. Because I can tell them what Sprint is doing for them and when. Then they can make the determination if that's going to work for them or not. I find that 90% of these people stick it out. Because the information we provide them gives them hope in Sprint.

 

Robert

 

Totally agree with this. Which is the point I was trying to make. It's those customers that like sprint but hate the data and its gotten to the point for some where they are looking elsewhere....

Showing them the info here 99.9% time they are shocked and decide to stop looking elsewhere...

 

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2

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