Q4 2015 Sprint Corp Earnings (Jan-Mar 2016)

[RAvirani]

Depends on markets conditions. It still seems mobilitie and sprint is testing municipalities acceptance to their small cell deployments. By all means it's appearing to be going well where they've begun and I'm not just talking about Pico cells on light poles etc. Sprint is firing up in building and outdoor Das setups of numerous types too.

 

No volte time line.

 

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

The nTelos execs hinted at it coming in 2017 for both networks.

[payturr]

The nTelos execs hinted at it coming in 2017 for both networks.

Even though I want this to be true, so damn bad, it's just wishful thinking. (Regarding VoLTE)

[Jones]

The nTelos execs hinted at it coming in 2017 for both networks.

Hinted at what? Picocells?

As an aside, I wonder how much $3 billion buys in small cells with installation included. 

[orangeblue]

I

 

Hinted at what? Picocells?

As an aside, I wonder how much $3 billion buys in small cells with installation included. 

 

 

I remember that back in 1999/2000, there was a small operator called Richochet, who offered mobile internet at 128KB download speed. They used city light poles and in SoCal I still see the old modems on poles even though the system went belly up many years ago. It sould not be too cost intensive to deploy small sites all over the place.

[lilotimz]

I

 

 

I remember that back in 1999/2000, there was a small operator called Richochet, who offered mobile internet at 128KB download speed. They used city light poles and in SoCal I still see the old modems on poles even though the system went belly up many years ago. It sould not be too cost intensive to deploy small sites all over the place.

 

It's actually pretty easy to negotiate with one entity like a municipal body for municipal light poles and traffic lights vs a few hundred different site owners / leasees and companies. 

 

The problem though is when the municipal or local governing bodies don't want to play ball and have a first come first serve policy. Many many, cities have restrictions against building cells ites and a large number only approves sites where all carriers colocate together. 

 

Since small cells are unique to different carriers, a lot of municipalities fear that they're going to have 3 or 4 sets of different small cells on every light pole, telephone pole, or traffic light. Partly nimby but also a valid concern since it sure would be an eye sore. 

[caspar347]

The problem though is when the municipal or local governing bodies don't want to play ball and have a first come first serve policy. Many many, cities have restrictions against building cells ites and a large number only approves sites where all carriers colocate together. 

 

Since small cells are unique to different carriers, a lot of municipalities fear that they're going to have 3 or 4 sets of different small cells on every light pole, telephone pole, or traffic light. Partly nimby but also a valid concern since it sure would be an eye sore. 

Are carrier-agnostic ODASs a thing yet? Just looking at the hardware it looks like the Crown systems could be in theory, but I don't know anything about the back-end.

[Jones]

Carrier agnostic antennas seem to be the best solution but who would pay for them? Municipalities probably couldn't and I dont think the carriers are going to get together and launch a system where there isn't a competitive advantage.

[Deval]

I have not seen any B41 Clearwire site in the Bay Area going B41^2 at all. I see plenty of Sprint B41^3 at work.

 

I think it depends on who's equipment is on those Clearwire sites. The entire NY Metro market is Samsung I believe which supports 2 B41 LTE carriers.

[Deval]

Carrier agnostic antennas seem to be the best solution but who would pay for them? Municipalities probably couldn't and I dont think the carriers are going to get together and launch a system where there isn't a competitive advantage.

 

In New York City for example, Transit Wireless came in and put DAS systems throughout the subway system, and allowed all 4 carriers to use them for service. 

[bigmachine]

In New York City for example, Transit Wireless came in and put DAS systems throughout the subway system, and allowed all 4 carriers to use them for service. 

 

 

The City of Los Angeles is installing hundreds of Philips SmartPoles throughout the city.

 

Supposedly any carrier can use them via Crown Castle.

[Jones]

The City of Los Angeles is installing hundreds of Philips SmartPoles throughout the city.

 

Supposedly any carrier can use them via Crown Castle.

Pittsburgh has a similar program within the city limits. It seems like it would be cheaper to co-locate/share the node with Verizon than build a monopole that will need conditional use permits and take 6-9 months to get approved, let alone build.

I know the relay system is supposed to save on backhaul but I hope sprint is considering time to completion as a valuable variable too.

[JWMaloney]

Hinted at what? Picocells?

As an aside, I wonder how much $3 billion buys in small cells with installation included. 

 

No, VoLTE.

 

Are carrier-agnostic ODASs a thing yet? Just looking at the hardware it looks like the Crown systems could be in theory, but I don't know anything about the back-end.

 

Yes, and you would be surprised how many

. I'm a big fan of the light pole systems that some cities are implementing.

[Fraydog]

Speaking of VoLTE, is Sprint still working on a VoLTE implementation with Single Radio Voice Call Continuity? That would be big for Sprint, and an innovation they could bring to the market as part of their value proposition? 

[lilotimz]

Speaking of VoLTE, is Sprint still working on a VoLTE implementation with Single Radio Voice Call Continuity? That would be big for Sprint, and an innovation they could bring to the market as part of their value proposition?

Yes but it's not working out as Verizon has figured out years back.

 

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X

[payturr]

Speaking of VoLTE, is Sprint still working on a VoLTE implementation with Single Radio Voice Call Continuity? That would be big for Sprint, and an innovation they could bring to the market as part of their value proposition?

While a true and major innovation, I don't think it would add much value to the company given that by the time it's perfected and live nationwide, Verizon would have fixed its VoLTE problems

[ericdabbs]

Yes but it's not working out as Verizon has figured out years back.

 

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X

 

Are there lessons learned that Sprint can take from Verizon on their VoLTE deployment woes so far that Sprint can avoid to properly deploy VoLTE at some time in the future?

[lilotimz]

Are there lessons learned that Sprint can take from Verizon on their VoLTE deployment woes so far that Sprint can avoid to properly deploy VoLTE at some time in the future?

 

Deploy a dense LTE network with the quickness and then introduce it as an opt in option. 

[Paynefanbro]

U.S. Cellular recently made a comment about its migration to VoLTE. Basically they echoed the need for dense network but also said that they are moving a lot of their equipment to the top of monopoles in order to broadcast farther and get better indoor penetration so that they can match or exceed their CDMA coverage.

[gusherb]

Deploy a dense LTE network with the quickness and then introduce it as an opt in option.

They can also optimize their low band for seamless coverage, crippling congestion be damned. (Just be extremely aggressive about keeping devices off of it unless actually needed). This is how Verizon works with their B13.

If they're smart, this is exactly what they will do.

[tyroned3222]

Are there lessons learned that Sprint can take from Verizon on their VoLTE deployment woes so far that Sprint can avoid to properly deploy VoLTE at some time in the future?

It will be very hard to complete for them...when Verizon started volte there customers were dropping calls left and right.. So sprint can't afford that kind of negativity about the network... Sprint has to build a dense tower Grid which Verizon has been able to do over the last 24 months.. I use both Verizon and sprint.. Volte works great on Verizon, but in comparison (where sprint cover a area let's say a 2 mile radius with one tower Verizon has 3 nerby cell sites in that same area huge difference)

 

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[tyroned3222]

They can also optimize their low band for seamless coverage, crippling congestion be damned. (Just be extremely aggressive about keeping devices off of it unless actually needed). This is how Verizon works with their B13.

If they're smart, this is exactly what they will do.

Yes, I only connect to band 13 15 to 20% of the time the rest I'm on band 4. Inside of building is when I usually see band 13.

 

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[greenbastard]

They can also optimize their low band for seamless coverage, crippling congestion be damned. (Just be extremely aggressive about keeping devices off of it unless actually needed). This is how Verizon works with their B13.

If they're smart, this is exactly what they will do.

T-Mobile does the same in areas they have 20x20 AWS LTE. I noticed my phone will only hop on Band 12 if AWS is unavailable. As soon as AWS becomes available, the network will aggressively throw me back to Band 4, even if B12 is faster than B4.

 

I wish Sprint's network was this aggressive, especially with Band 41. I can still get stuff done with Band 41 at -122 but unfortunately the network is too quick to throw me back to B25/B26. B26 should be last priority in markets where Sprint has 2 B25 carriers on-air.

[gusherb]

T-Mobile does the same in areas they have 20x20 AWS LTE. I noticed my phone will only hop on Band 12 if AWS is unavailable. As soon as AWS becomes available, the network will aggressively throw me back to Band 4, even if B12 is faster than B4.

 

I wish Sprint's network was this aggressive, especially with Band 41. I can still get stuff done with Band 41 at -122 but unfortunately the network is too quick to throw me back to B25/B26. B26 should be last priority in markets where Sprint has 2 B25 carriers on-air.

In all my observation and first hand experience, It seems Sprint's engineers have approached overall signal optimization as an after thought. Or at least they could've approached it better straight from the beginning. The thing is, optimization is everything when it comes to network performance and customer experience. Optimization is one of the most important aspects to any system of any sort. Verizon has won when it comes to signal optimization hands down IMO, and T-Mobile is right up there with them. AT&T does a good job optimizing it's signal but not as good as those two. 

[JimBob]

U.S. Cellular recently made a comment about its migration to VoLTE. Basically they echoed the need for dense network but also said that they are moving a lot of their equipment to the top of monopoles in order to broadcast farther and get better indoor penetration so that they can match or exceed their CDMA coverage.

US Cellular's stock plunged yesterday.

 

Is it a good opportunity for an individual investor or bigger company to buy?

 

https://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE%3AUSM

[payturr]

US Cellular's stock plunged yesterday.

 

Is it a good opportunity for an individual investor or bigger company to buy?

 

https://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE%3AUSM

Hell yeah only worth $3.2B in market cap! Slap a little extra dressing on that salad and it's an easy postpaid subscriber gain as well as spectrum. In the case of Sprint getting USCC, they can sell the 800MHz and 700MHz to the other 3 which sweetens the pot. And due to access to cheaper goods/services due to the size and the bulk deals a larger carrier would make, they can reduces expenses and make that sad USCC income go up up up.

 

Furthermore, in the case of Sprint, it might also be helpful to see if operating under the US Cellular name improve net additions.