Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

[RedSpark]

7 minutes ago, nexgencpu said:

This goes back to what I said before, Masa was running the show, I truly believe Marcelo wanted to accomplish all these things before Masa put the brakes on it, and reality set in, especially easier since he had Marcelo take the public scrutiny for him.

Was it Masa’s idea to say this?: http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/18/technology/sprint-network/index.html

[RedSpark]

4 minutes ago, nexgencpu said:

Look at it this way, how often do you think youll connect to 600Mhz once 2.5 is live on 80k macros and 20K small cells?

I don’t want the merger to happen.

Probably when I’m indoors or not in a city.

[nexgencpu]

3 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

He cut all the waste and got Sprint lean for a turnaround. Credit to him for that.

Everything else he said about beating the competition... yeah, he was wrong. Extremely wrong... and he was in a position to know he was wrong, but he kept saying it.

Did he intentionally lie on Sprint’s network improvement trajectory?... I’m leaning towards yes. I didn’t used to think this, but I feel differently now.

Hard to say, if there badly planned small cell deployment would have panned out, who knows how that would have worked out.

[danlodish345]

Hard to say, if there badly planned small cell deployment would have panned out, who knows how that would have worked out.

I feel he's been lying the entire time. He was just a puppet in my opinion.

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[nexgencpu]

6 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

I don’t want the merger to happen.

Probably when I’m indoors or not in a city.

I kinda understand why a lot of people are pessimistic and I have always been an optimist when it comes to Sprint. NYC has awesome B41 density, add the massive amount of small cells, my logs prove that Sprint was successful in densifying here indoor or out. Outside of cities, not so much.

[RedSpark]

3 minutes ago, danlodish345 said:

I feel he's been lying the entire time. He was just a puppet in my opinion.

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Looking back on it... I’m moving closer to that position.

He was the CEO. He knew before anyone else that this wasn’t going to happen the way he said.

He has reams of market data, reports and competitive intelligence at his disposal.

He knew.

[danlodish345]

I kinda understand why a lot of people are pessimistic and I have always been an optimist when it comes to Sprint. NYC has awesome B41 density, add the massive amount of small cells, my logs prove that Sprint was successful in densifying here. Outside of cities, not so much.

Yeah that's what years ago I developed the mentality of I'll believe it when I see it. Because it's been all talk and no game in some cases obviously there's been a lot of improvements another areas but still overall coverage is still kind of weak especially in Suburban areas especially where I live and I even talk to the CTO and there has been a serious lack of improvement in my area there's an improvement in speed but the speeds no good unless you have the actual broad coverage needed to support it I understand it cost money but instead of spending billions upon stupid advertising gimmicks they could have pumped a lot more money into the network and then they would not be in this situation.

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[utiz4321]

1 hour ago, greenbastard said:

Can we just drop this excuse already? Because it looks like Verizon and T-Mobile aren't hindered by this one bit. 

Actually they are. All the carriers are further behind on their small cell plans because of NIMBYs, the bain of all human progress, just because sprint is further behind BECAUSE THEY LACK THE RESOUCES THAT NIMBYs IMPOSE on society doesnt mean that it isnt a MAJOR PROBLEM. I am sorry you are one, but it is probably one of the major reason sprint will fail as a independent concern. 

[greenbastard]

1 hour ago, nexgencpu said:

Not that simple, Sprint is deploying for 2.5 spacing. V had a huge advantage from the get go with 20Mhz of low band, and even though T-mobile now has access to low band, they are still nowhere near as reliable as V in rural areas and indoors, and yes, NIMBY had a huge effect on small cell deployment and still does.

We can all agree that deploying 750Mhz is nothing like deploying 2.5.

I'm not talking about spectrum. I'm talking about small cell deployments. This notion that some communities are responsible for the slow deployment of small cells is nonsense. It hasn't stopped Zayo in my area from deploying small cells. 

[RedSpark]

1 hour ago, nexgencpu said:

I kinda understand why a lot of people are pessimistic and I have always been an optimist when it comes to Sprint. NYC has awesome B41 density, add the massive amount of small cells, my logs prove that Sprint was successful in densifying here indoor or out. Outside of cities, not so much.

DC has a way to go. Performance is inconsistent across the region.

Downtown DC desperately needs Massive MIMO.

Marcelo painted a very different picture back in 2015 of where the network would be: http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/18/technology/sprint-network/index.html

It didn’t pan out. Not even close.

[danlodish345]

DC has a way to go. Performance is inconsistent across the region.
Downtown DC desperately needs Massive MIMO.
Marcelo painted a very different picture back in 2015 of where the network would be: http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/18/technology/sprint-network/index.html
It didn’t pan out. Not even close.

New Jersey has a long way to go. In terms of overall coverage improvements.

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[IamMrFamous07]

2 hours ago, RedSpark said:

Looking back on it... I’m moving closer to that position.

He was the CEO. He knew before anyone else that this wasn’t going to happen the way he said.

He has reams of market data, reports and competitive intelligence at his disposal.

He knew.

Of course he knew. Ultimately Dan Hesse truly had  a vision for Sprint. Him and Masa had two different visions so which is why he stepped down (or forced out).

 

I really want this merger to go through so Sprint customers can stop suffering from poor leadership. 

Ive been with T-Mobile for almost a month now and I love it.

[danlodish345]

Of course he knew. Ultimately Dan Hesse truly had  a vision for Sprint. Him and Masa had two different visions so which is why he stepped down (or forced out).
 
I really want this merger to go through so Sprint customers can stop suffering from poor leadership. 
Ive been with T-Mobile for almost a month now and I love it.

I have had T-Mobile and they have definitely improve service in my town. They have actually deployed 4 X4 Mimo on the flagpole site so speeds are tremendously better as is the reception. Sprint still gets One X and no LTE service at my parents place. So I'd rather see Sprint taking over in this case to improve service for everybody else in the area that has those two carriers.

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[bigsnake49]

4 hours ago, nexgencpu said:

You do realize that Tmobile has massive debt right? and now they're about to tack on Sprint's debt. This venture will not be easy no matter how you slice it. 

Your not taking into account the amount of time it takes to deploy newly built sites(adding 600Mhz to existing sites would not be enough, since 800Mhz has mostly proved that). If Sprint had 600Mhz years ago, your strategy would make a bit more sense. Small cell would not be such a big part of the equation and a couple of macro sites would make more of a difference. But with 2.5, site density is key, so small cells make all the sense in the world, so I understood the Mobilitie strategy.

Unfortunately, lack of small cell legislation, NIMBY in combination with sloppy Mobilitie work, made that plan drag out more than it should of.

 

Actually compared to Verizon and AT&T the new company will be relatively light on debt. I think about $68B in debt compared to Verizon's $117B and AT&T's 150B.

[Johnner1999]

How would the merger affect this bet?
Based on what we heard from Marcelo’s statements to Congress about the economics involved for deploying 5G on 2.5 GHz nationwide, sounds like Neville was on to something.

The fact that it seems Neville (as much as folks here loved to slam him) gets stuff done and delivered.


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[Johnner1999]

I suspect (might have already been talked to death here looking). But I suspect SoftBank is reading the Sirrus and XM playbooks front to back.


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[RedSpark]

1 hour ago, Johnner1999 said:

I suspect (might have already been talked to death here looking). But I suspect SoftBank is reading the Sirrus and XM playbooks front to back.


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What are you referring to?

[S4GRU]

I'm here to put ice water on the creeping into negativity.  No more feelings.  Stick to facts, and stop picking a fight with everyone who has a different opinion than you.  If people who have a Pro Sprint opinion can't voice them here without being bludgeoned, where can they go? 

S4GRU will be much more heavily moderating as necessary.  We are not here to host all your Sprint complaints.  Lots of places for you to go post your Sprint negativity.  Effective immediately.

Robert

[Johnner1999]

What are you referring to?

Basically the two companies pitched that with out a merge they would both fail.

https://www.cato.org/publications/techknowledge/lesson-xmsirius-merger



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[greenbastard]

2 hours ago, Johnner1999 said:

Basically the two companies pitched that with out a merge they would both fail.

https://www.cato.org/publications/techknowledge/lesson-xmsirius-merger

They have begun to go down this road already. During the committee hearing, Sprint admitted that their 5G will be limited to some urban areas  due to money constraints (and within those urban areas, 5G coverage won't be available everywhere). They also admitted to have haulted meaningful investments on their network for the past few years. 

It looks like Sprint isn't scared to let the dirt out in order to get this deal done.

[Johnner1999]

They have begun to go down this road already. During the committee hearing, Sprint admitted that their 5G will be limited to some urban areas  due to money constraints (and within those urban areas, 5G coverage won't be available everywhere). They also admitted to have haulted meaningful investments on their network for the past few years. 
It looks like Sprint isn't scared to let the dirt out in order to get this deal done.

Yup... Most stuff we knew but didn't want to believe - well some didn't...

Any info on when they expect to to close the deal? I assume regulatory concerns are minimal... or back room deals already done.

It'll be a good day.


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[JThorson]

2 hours ago, greenbastard said:

They have begun to go down this road already. During the committee hearing, Sprint admitted that their 5G will be limited to some urban areas  due to money constraints (and within those urban areas, 5G coverage won't be available everywhere). They also admitted to have haulted meaningful investments on their network for the past few years. 

It looks like Sprint isn't scared to let the dirt out in order to get this deal done.

One thing I hate is how Sprint has gotten away with admitting they have halted meaningful investments to their network without any repercussions; all for the sake of the merger. As a stockholder that really irritates me and it also seems like a dirty way to do business.

Edited July 3, 2018 by JThorson

[RedSpark]

9 hours ago, greenbastard said:

They have begun to go down this road already. During the committee hearing, Sprint admitted that their 5G will be limited to some urban areas  due to money constraints (and within those urban areas, 5G coverage won't be available everywhere). They also admitted to have haulted meaningful investments on their network for the past few years. 

It looks like Sprint isn't scared to let the dirt out in order to get this deal done.

The truth about Sprint’s network progress and plans had to come out at some point, and it finally did. There’s no good way to spin the dirt, and it hurts a bit to see it in writing.

They’ve now hit 60% of their Macro sites for 2.5 GHz. I recall in prior news releases from a while back where it said 50%. I was hoping Sprint would be further along than this by now, but when Sprint said it halted meaningful investments, it’s clear now what they meant.... and it all adds up to what we’ve been seeing.

I want Sprint to succeed as its own company, but what we’ve been told now by them is that it’s at risk of being left behind vs the other carriers unless this merger happens. I’m starting to believe them. I think they’re telling the truth.

[nexgencpu]

1 hour ago, RedSpark said:

The truth about Sprint’s network progress and plans had to come out at some point, and it finally did. There’s no good way to spin the dirt, and it hurts a bit to see it in writing.

They’ve now hit 60% of their Macro sites for 2.5 GHz. I recall in prior news releases from a while back where it said 50%. I was hoping Sprint would be further along than this by now, but when Sprint said it halted meaningful investments, it’s clear now what they meant.... and it all adds up to what we’ve been seeing.

I want Sprint to succeed as its own company, but what we’ve been told now by them is that it’s at risk of being left behind vs the other carriers unless this merger happens. I’m starting to believe them. I think they’re telling the truth.

Just as an FYI, if you take a peak at Premiere threads they have absolutely not stopped adding B41 to Macro sites, and I'm certain that number is no longer 60%, Id guess its around 65-75%

[RedSpark]

34 minutes ago, nexgencpu said:

Just as an FYI, if you take a peak at Premiere threads they have absolutely not stopped adding B41 to Macro sites, and I'm certain that number is no longer 60%, Id guess its around 65-75%

I certainly hope they haven’t stopped and I’m glad to see they haven’t. The issue is the disconnect between what Marcelo said in September 2015 (http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/18/technology/sprint-network/index.html) and where the Network is currently tracking as far as Band 41 deployment on Macro Sites goes (http://newsroom.sprint.com/triband-upgrades.htm). If Sprint was truly making “meaningful” investments since Marcelo said “leapfrog” in September 2015, wouldn’t Sprint be much further along than 60% by now? Wouldn’t they need to be if they wanted to deliver on his Network promises?

The 60% figure is as of a June 5, 2018 Blog Post, so perhaps it’s a little higher by now as you said. Sprint says it will have Band 41 on a “substantial majority” of its Macro Sites by end of Fiscal 2018, and that’s April/May 2019. We don’t know what that amounts to though and there’s no mention of when 100% will be achieved.

As you said, the work continues... hopefully ahead of schedule.