Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

[RedSpark]

6 hours ago, twospirits said:

True, but one never knows.  One thing that bugs me is that there is no mention of a breakup fee anywhere. If there was, I'll be more comfortable

Wouldn’t that be something if the Merger fails and Sprint walks away with the breakup fee? In fact, I hope that happens.

 

Put it into CapEx.

[bigsnake49]

4 hours ago, RedSpark said:

Wouldn’t that be something if the Merger fails and Sprint walks away with the breakup fee? In fact, I hope that happens.

 

Put it into CapEx.

No break up fee.

[danlodish345]

1 hour ago, bigsnake49 said:

No break up fee.

The article stated that there wouldn’t be any break up fees.....which I am not surprised but if this merger does go through I hope soft bank eats a majority of sprints debt...if I was T-Mobile I wouldn’t even take the merger offer unless SoftBank agrees to paid off the majority of sprints debt...that best load would cripple T-Mobile...

[utiz4321]

23 minutes ago, danlodish345 said:

The article stated that there wouldn’t be any break up fees.....which I am not surprised but if this merger does go through I hope soft bank eats a majority of sprints debt...if I was T-Mobile I wouldn’t even take the merger offer unless SoftBank agrees to paid off the majority of sprints debt...that best load would cripple T-Mobile...

The new company will have the debt of both companies. 

[danlodish345]

5 minutes ago, utiz4321 said:

The new company will have the debt of both companies. 

So the debt will be balanced out I presume?

[bigsnake49]

54 minutes ago, danlodish345 said:

The article stated that there wouldn’t be any break up fees.....which I am not surprised but if this merger does go through I hope soft bank eats a majority of sprints debt...if I was T-Mobile I wouldn’t even take the merger offer unless SoftBank agrees to paid off the majority of sprints debt...that best load would cripple T-Mobile...

No it won't. The combined company will be much less leveraged than AT&T and Verizon.

[danlodish345]

4 minutes ago, bigsnake49 said:

No it won't. The combined company will be much less leveraged than AT&T and Verizon.

I assume that is a bad thing

[bigsnake49]

7 hours ago, danlodish345 said:

I assume that is a bad thing

It means that they will have less debt than Verizon and AT&T. The problem with the new company will be that it will have about 68 million postpaid customers compared with about 87M for AT&T and 107M for Verizon so that it will presumably have less revenue than the other two.

[danlodish345]

3 hours ago, bigsnake49 said:

It means that they will have less debt than Verizon and AT&T. The problem with the new company will be that it will have about 68 million postpaid customers compared with about 87M for AT&T and 107M for Verizon so that it will presumably have less revenue than the other two.

So how does that help them then? I don’t see the merger being very good for the other company.

[bigsnake49]

53 minutes ago, danlodish345 said:

So how does that help them then? I don’t see the merger being very good for the other company.

Oh it will be very good for the companies because their Capex will be spread out over twice the number of customers. It might lead to increased prices but T-Mobile was starting to raise theirs. The 2016 situation of free iPhones and low plan prices was not sustainable.

[danlodish345]

1 hour ago, bigsnake49 said:

Oh it will be very good for the companies because their Capex will be spread out over twice the number of customers. It might lead to increased prices but T-Mobile was starting to raise theirs. The 2016 situation of free iPhones and low plan prices was not sustainable.

ah ok i get what your saying...and it can then in turn help them build out and expand their network...

[derrph]

Prices are definitely going up. The biggest question is for Sprint customers.  Will they be allowed to keep their plans or will they be converted over to TMO One. Current T-Mobile customers won’t have anything to worry about on the plan side. 

[bigsnake49]

57 minutes ago, derrph said:

Prices are definitely going up. The biggest question is for Sprint customers.  Will they be allowed to keep their plans or will they be converted over to TMO One. Current T-Mobile customers won’t have anything to worry about on the plan side. 

I am sure that in order to minimize churn, Sprint customers will be allowed to keep some of their current plans for a period of time. I am also sure that new plans will be offered to both sides again to minimize churn. I am also sure that AT&T and Verizon will introduce deals on both phones and plans to entice T-Mobile/Sprint customers to switch. T-mobile's marketing department has done very well and can come up with a good strategy to prevent churn.

[derrph]

15 minutes ago, bigsnake49 said:

I am sure that in order to minimize churn, Sprint customers will be allowed to keep some of their current plans for a period of time. I am also sure that new plans will be offered to both sides again to minimize churn. I am also sure that AT&T and Verizon will introduce deals on both phones and plans to entice T-Mobile/Sprint customers to switch. T-mobile's marketing department has done very well and can come up with a good strategy to prevent churn.

I could have sworn that John said that their customers can keep their plan for life. But I agree tmobile will come out with new plans to get all their users to covert over to them. As far as Sprint they will let them keep their plans until they upgrade their device or for a year. 

[anthony.spina97]

5 hours ago, derrph said:

Prices are definitely going up. The biggest question is for Sprint customers.  Will they be allowed to keep their plans or will they be converted over to TMO One. Current T-Mobile customers won’t have anything to worry about on the plan side. 

As long as my family and I can stay on our Framily plan then I will remain with the newly combined company. If they try to push us onto TMO One then sadly we'll leave. I'm really not looking forward to this merger if it gets approved by the regulatory bodies.

 

-Anthony

[mnjeepmale]

On 6/24/2017 at 8:24 AM, Tengen31 said:

I didn't say B2 should go away. Devices should have both. But too include The G block in any channel wideing will require B25. TMobile Galaxy S8 has both bands.

 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Same here. I'm on Framily as well and want to keep the plan. 

[dkyeager]

The question that concerns me most is how much bandwidth would the FCC allow the combined entity to retain. Factors that could affect this are the 600mhz spectrum, the high end spectrum acquired by Verizon and AT&T within the last year, and whether 3 instead of 4 national carriers would be factored in. Don't forget that Softbank could always increase it stake. Price increases may initally take a back seat to increased market share.

[mnjeepmale]

What do you think is the chance that Masayoshi Son will increase his stake in this company in a few years if the merger does go through?

 

[bigsnake49]

2 hours ago, mnjeepmale said:

What do you think is the chance that Masayoshi Son will increase his stake in this company in a few years if the merger does go through?

 

He might but I am sure that the market is will be pretty mature so it will be relatively static. Yes they can cannibalize each other back and forth but the market will be relatively static. The only growth I can see is IoT but remember that they usually pay around $10/month/connection. You better have a lot of connections ("Things").

[jefbal99]

My biggest reservation is what happens to my existing plan and what happens to rates over the next couple years.  Being in a place that has no HSI options, Sprint Unlimited Data has been great.  While Sprint's network and coverage hasn't been the best, its acceptable and been getting better.

Outside of the coming 600Mhz spectrum, T-Mobile doesn't do anything to make me giddy about a merger, I see the reverse happening of T-Mobile getting access to a much larger footprint than their urban networks.

[bigsnake49]

47 minutes ago, jefbal99 said:

My biggest reservation is what happens to my existing plan and what happens to rates over the next couple years.  Being in a place that has no HSI options, Sprint Unlimited Data has been great.  While Sprint's network and coverage hasn't been the best, its acceptable and been getting better.

Outside of the coming 600Mhz spectrum, T-Mobile doesn't do anything to make me giddy about a merger, I see the reverse happening of T-Mobile getting access to a much larger footprint than their urban networks.

I am pretty sure that your plan will survive for the next year or two while they merge the networks. After that all bets are off.

How do you figure that? T-Mobile might be getting a lot of 2.5Mhz spectrum and a decent chunk of 1900Mhz spectrum but Sprint's network leaves a lot to be desired. Then there is the problem with the IBEZ areas and band 26. Now if Sprint had densified their network,  added 800, 1900 and 2500MHz on every site, added around 8,000 new macro sites and filled in the gaps between macros with small cells then you'd have a point. T-Mobile is moving fast to implement 600Mhz outside of TV exclusion zones. Now full support by Samsung and Apple will come next year but they can have the network ready at least in rural areas.

Edited October 9, 2017 by bigsnake49

[dro1984]

1 hour ago, bigsnake49 said:

I am pretty sure that your plan will survive for the next year or two while they merge the networks. After that all bets are off.

How do you figure that? T-Mobile might be getting a lot of 2.5Mhz spectrum and a decent chunk of 1900Mhz spectrum but Sprint's network leaves a lot to be desired. Then there is the problem with the IBEZ areas and band 26. Now if Sprint had densified their network,  added 800, 1900 and 2500MHz on every site, added around 8,000 new macro sites and filled in the gaps between macros with small cells then you'd have a point. T-Mobile is moving fast to implement 600Mhz outside of TV exclusion zones. Now full support by Samsung and Apple will come next year but they can have the network ready at least in rural areas.

IBEZ is getting worked out too.   We now have 800 mHz here in Detroit, which up till now was a no go!   

 

To all those freaking out of possible price increases due to this merger,... what make you think that prices aren't going up regardless?  Did you think Free service for a year is maintainable financially?    Free unlimited Data at HD level?  Sustainable?  Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T are already buffering speeds down to 480p or less...(unless you willing to pay more $$$)    You think Sprint isn't smelling this and  going to wait?   I doubt it.    I just can't image you guys are deep thinking this situation very well and your own personal greed is driving your fears. Get over it or take on a Mobile Mart prepay phone and ease your fears.   I whole-heartily agree with  Snake and others on here... Sprint's Network isn't the most dense or even complete.    They have the spectrum... they just don't have the ways and means (read $) to execute and put it to use.     And all the 2500 mHz is great, but it travels very short distances unless you densify the network using Macro and Mini's.    

[utiz4321]

I don't know why people think that have two weaker competitors to the duopoly is better than a third really strong competitor? Or why they think a player like dish might not jump into the market if it consolidates.  These are all assumptions and ones not based on any facts. 

[danlodish345]

1 hour ago, dro1984 said:

IBEZ is getting worked out too.   We now have 800 mHz here in Detroit, which up till now was a no go!   

 

To all those freaking out of possible price increases due to this merger,... what make you think that prices aren't going up regardless?  Did you think Free service for a year is maintainable financially?    Free unlimited Data at HD level?  Sustainable?  Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T are already buffering speeds down to 480p or less...(unless you willing to pay more $$$)    You think Sprint isn't smelling this and  going to wait?   I doubt it.    I just can't image you guys are deep thinking this situation very well and your own personal greed is driving your fears. Get over it or take on a Mobile Mart prepay phone and ease your fears.   I whole-heartily agree with  Snake and others on here... Sprint's Network isn't the most dense or even complete.    They have the spectrum... they just don't have the ways and means (read $) to execute and put it to use.     And all the 2500 mHz is great, but it travels very short distances unless you densify the network using Macro and Mini's.    

i m not surprised sprint is trying for a merger...but T-Mobile as well....they want sprints subscriber base and the extra PCS SMR and EBS and BRS Spectrum would give them a huge boost in spectrum...but then with all the extra subscribers they will need to densify even more..

[bigsnake49]

46 minutes ago, danlodish345 said:

i m not surprised sprint is trying for a merger...but T-Mobile as well....they want sprints subscriber base and the extra PCS SMR and EBS and BRS Spectrum would give them a huge boost in spectrum...but then with all the extra subscribers they will need to densify even more..

I don't believe that they have to densify even more. Just select the best sites and put 1900, AWS and 2.5 on all of them. Selectively add small cells to cover the 2.5 GHz gaps. Then selectively add low frequency spectrum to where it's needed (definitely to suburban, exurban and rural locales). Use 600, 700 and 800Mhz as preferred frequencies for VOLTE, as coverage layer and backup when no other band covers. Use the low frequency bands as an overlay not necessarily on every site.

Edited October 9, 2017 by bigsnake49