NYC126

And that exactly why the twin bells told Wheeler to block q proposed Sprint_Tmobile merger. That would had destroyed their wireless business.

The problem is, Sprint burned a lot of customers with the coming soon super network. In fact they even burned me back in 2010-2011, but I gave them the benefit of doubt. People really hate when they pay for a service and don't get what they are expected, and that is Sprint problem. They burned a lot of customers. Tmobile was the weaker of all four carriers, but they have always been strong in Metro area even during their Faux G era.

They don't help themselves regarding taking shots at Sprint. I sincerely hope Sprint lowering CAPEX is a ploy by Claure.

I just wonder when Sprint will make a breakthrough in network performance across the US, and not just 4 or 5 markets. The whole advantage of Spectrum will disappear as competitors are reframing, doing sector splits, getting ready to deploy AWS-3, and toying with the idea of milliwave 28hz etc. Sprint massive network investments should had happened in 2014 and 2015 while 2016 would had been the results.

Verizon will need all the help they can because their service here in New York City is getting crippled. My Verizon Galaxy Note is dropping to 3G like crazy in many places while my Sprint iPhone stays solid on band 41. I have never seen Verizon service struggling like this, maybe it's the strike or but the capacity crunch problem is there. So yes they will need Dish spectrum sooner or later.

Verizon got the 850mhz cellular band as free gift from daddy government decades ago.

I am not talking about top management, but the one at the middle and in the field. These are the ones that make things happen.

Marcelo has been doing a good job in bringing his people from CTO to CFO, but if the same project management crew is still there he won't see the network results that he wants.

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/btig-sees-red-flags-sprints-network-strategy/2016-05-09 "Sprint last week lowered its capex guidance for the rest of the year to roughly $3 billion, far below analysts' estimates in the range of $4.5 billion. Analysts were quick to point out that Sprint had previously issued a capex guidance of $15 billion over three years, which would imply annual spending in the range of $5 billion per year." "We think Sprint's aggressive cut to capital investment and continuing lack of evidence on any activity to improve its network raise red flags about the company's strategy," Piecyk wrote. "This low level of capital investment was last seen in 2008/2009 during the financial crisis. While it's true that small cell investment is largely expensed rather than capitalized, we have observed virtually no evidence of Sprint's network activity over the past year. Tower company SBA noted that Sprint canceled plans to place 2.5 GHz radios on existing towers." See how the evidence comes to light , one of the towers companies that places the 2.5ghz TDD equipment was told we are not doing this right now. Also if anyone here has read the transcripts for the last 3 earnings quarterly calls, notice Sprint stills has the 1.5 billions 2.5ghz hardware equipment credit on its books and they haven't used it. And this is why they are churning old Postpaid customers : "We are skeptical of CEO Marcelo Claure's claim that the heavy lifting on network investments was completed with Network Vision, one of Sprint's many prior network modernization plans," Piecyk wrote. "We have been using a Sprint phone and an AT&T phone for the past few months and find Sprint to be both less reliable and slower than AT&T -- and not by the small amount often reflected in the Root Metric scores wireless operators like to tweet about. The Sprint phone performs quite well when next to an infrequent small cell or 2.5 GHz deployment, but given the small footprint of these locations, the phone quickly reverts to the limited speeds offered by Sprint's 5x5 MHz LTE deployment."

This is what is happening to Sprint business now: Acquire customers at lower average per billing than when Hesse was in charge while legacy customers that are in the 69.99 and 79.99 churn away from the back door because their service is a merely 5x5 LTE network in their market. These customers have left due to capacity and spotty coverage. And this is one reason why that 3 billions CAPEX stink.

And killing high prices. Legere and his team wouldn't be needed since a drive for competition would would be gone.

Sprint should be a company that needs to double down on its network instead of taking conservative approaches.

Looks like Legere is taking hits at Sprint https://twitter.com/JohnLegere/status/728984328986730496

All corporations through history clean their balance sheets before mergers and acquisitions. So as much anyone anyone wants to be in denial Sprint is basically getting their financial house in order for exactly that. Whether selling to Comcast down the road or a merger between 3 and 4 that will happen with the next administration which will be more corporate friendly. The company goal right now is to lower the debt. That is why they laid off a lot of people, lower Capex and cuts in others areas. Last year Marcelo was singing the merger song exactly not so many months ago. After giving those comments in September Sprint created an action plan to lower expenses, lower the debt why? Because the culprit cable company told them we won't buy you unless you address the debt. http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprints-claure-wed-benefit-merger-cable-mso-no-ma-works/2015-09-25

Report: SoftBank still looking like a bidder in spectrum auction 11:45 AM ET • S • Jason Aycock SoftBank (OTCPK:SFTBY -1.4%) still looks like a bidder in the FCC's broadcast incentive spectrum auction. But the company "won't be a big buyer," a source tells CTFN. The participation of SoftBank in the auction has been an open question, with spectrum-rich Sprint (S -4.6%) electing to sit out what could be an expensive endeavor. So if it's taking part, it's likely looking for opportunistic purchases and "niche fill-ins." SoftBank has been using creative financing to help Sprint with liquidity issues, and so a chance to bid on bargain spectrum could present itself with an obscurely named entity or smaller partner. Now read Implications Of SoftBank Split » Source seeking alpha

Only if Verizon and AT&T didn't buy the current front-runners with campaign contributions. The bs that the merger didn't happen in 2014 because the FCC wanted four carriers made laugh. It was the twins bells blocking those efforts behind the scenes.

I have the same opinion as you about 4 wireless carriers, and I don't want folks in Kansas city and at the local level losing their jobs. However these Japanese overlords have wanted a merger from day one. Sprint with a super fast LTE network with good coverage everywhere would be start adding millions of subscribers, but little Massa is obsesse with scale. Also I don't want a merger because then Magentans would claim the credit of using the 160 mhz of 2.5ghz into a super beast of network when in reality Sprint is heading that direction slowly but sure.

Ok I read the earnings call transcript, and from my point of view looks like Sprint is basically getting their financial house in order for merger in 2017 under a new administration. I didn't buy the excuse of municipal permits until 2017. I don't want to be pessimistic, but that has been Massa dream from the start and he never abandoned it.

No, I wasn't answering your question, I decided to post that chart of Sprint spectrum advantage over the others.

I will just leave this here. This is S advantage over the others. Check out @billho888's Tweet: https://twitter.com/billho888/status/727477710113673220?s=09

Yup, that is when the bills will start to come from the small cells deployment.

If that is the case then most likely it will be launched around September just like 2x was deployed late August 2015.

WTF, 3x next year no good. This delay is not about technical problems, but lack of $$$ for additional backhaul.

Sign in / Join Now Market News Stock Ideas Dividends Market Outlook Investing Strategy ETFs & Funds Earnings PRO Sprint Finishes Fiscal Year 2015 by Generating Positive Annual Operating Income for the First Time in Nine Years and Delivering More Postpaid Phone Net Additions Than Verizon and AT&T for the First Time on Record in the Fiscal Fourth Quarter Tue May 3, 2016 7:30 AM|Business Wire | About: S Fiscal year 2015 operating income of $310 million was positive for the first time in nine years; Fiscal year 2015 Adjusted EBITDA* of $8.1 billion grew 36 percent year-over-year Fiscal fourth quarter operating income of $8 million included charges of $258 million; Adjusted EBITDA* of $2.2 billion grew 24 percent year-over-year Fiscal year 2015 Sprint platform postpaid net additions of more than 1.2 million, including phone net additions of 438,000 which improved nearly two million year-over-year Fiscal fourth quarter postpaid phone net additions of 22,000 are the third consecutive quarter of positive net additions and more than both Verizon and AT&T for the first time on record Fiscal year 2015 Sprint platform postpaid churn of 1.61 percent and phone churn of 1.52 percent are the best in company history and both improved by approximately 50 basis points year-over-year Delivered substantial financial flexibility with $11 billion in currently committed liquidity, up from $6 billion at the end of the fiscal third quarter Ended fiscal year 2015 with $5.7 billion of available liquidity, including $2.6 billion of cash Successfully raised an additional $5.3 billion in April, including $2.2 billion of network-related financing, $1.1 billion from the second transaction with Mobile Leasing Solutions, LLC (MLS), and $2 billion of bridge financing OVERLAND PARK, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Sprint Corporation (S) today reported operating results for fiscal year 2015 fourth quarter and full year, including a nearly two million year-over-year improvement in Sprint platform postpaid phone net additions and the lowest annual Sprint platform postpaid phone churn in company history. The company also reported fiscal year 2015 net operating revenue of $32.2 billion, operating income of $310 million, and Adjusted EBITDA* of $8.1 billion, which grew 36 percent year-over-year. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160503006056/en/ http://mms.businesswire.com/media/20160503006056/en/522822/4/Average_LTE_Delivered_Download_Speed_Trend.jpg Source: Sprint analysis of Nielsen NMP data for total LTE downloads 150 KB+ in 44 markets (over 155M POPs). (Graphic: Business Wire) For the fiscal fourth quarter, the company reported net operating revenue of $8.1 billion, operating income of $8 million, and Adjusted EBITDA* of $2.2 billion, which grew 24 percent year-over-year. “Fiscal 2015 was a transformational year in the turnaround of Sprint. We significantly reduced our operating expenses and stabilized operating revenues, leading to positive operating income for the first time in nine years. At the same time, we generated positive postpaid phone net additions for the first time in three years, capped off by surpassing both Verizon and AT&T for the first time on record this quarter,” said Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure. “These accomplishments provide positive momentum heading into fiscal year 2016 and put the business on a path to sustainable free cash flow.” Cost Reduction Effort Showing Results Sprint has a multi-year plan to transform the way it does business and significantly lower its cost structure. The company has realized a $1.3 billion reduction in cost of services and selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses in fiscal year 2015. Moving forward, Sprint expects a sustainable reduction of $2 billion or more of run rate operating expenses exiting fiscal year 2016 and has already realized a portion of these reductions with its fiscal 2015 fourth quarter results, as about half of the approximately $500 million year-over-year reduction in cost of services and SG&A expenses was related to these fiscal year 2016 initiatives. The company continues to expect approximately $1 billion of transformation program costs, split between both operating expenses and capital expenditures, to be incurred to achieve the $2 billion or more of run rate benefit. Approximately $200 million of the expected transformation program costs, mostly related to severance, were incurred in fiscal year 2015. The company also reported the following financial results: Net operating revenues of $8.1 billion in the quarter decreased three percent year-over-year, as growth in equipment revenue, mostly driven by higher leasing revenue, helped offset lower wireless and wireline service revenue. Net operating revenues have stabilized around $8 billion per quarter during fiscal year 2015. For the full year, net operating revenues of $32.2 billion decreased seven percent year-over-year. The decline was largely due to Brightstar (BTSR) sourcing some devices in Sprint’s indirect channels, resulting in less equipment revenues than if Sprint had fulfilled these channels. While the impact to Adjusted EBITDA* was not material due to the offsetting reduction in cost of products expense, net operating revenues would have declined less year-over-year when adjusting for this change. Wireless service revenue plus installment plan billings and lease revenue, which represents the total recurring cash flows from customers, was $7.1 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter and increased one percent from the prior year period, as growth in both postpaid phone customers and postpaid average billings per user* were partially offset by lower prepaid service revenue. For the full year, wireless service revenue plus installment plan billings and lease revenue of $28.4 billion was up slightly from the prior year. Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA* of $2.2 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter grew 24 percent from the prior year period, as expense reductions, including approximately $500 million in cost of services and SG&A expenses, more than offset the decline in net operating revenues. For the full year, Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA* was $8.1 billion and grew 36 percent year-over-year. Operating income of $8 million in the fiscal fourth quarter included $258 million of charges and compared to operating income of $318 million in the year-ago quarter. The charges were mostly related to severance and lease exit costs, including the shutdown of legacy WiMAX service that will free up valuable spectrum and immediately lower network costs. Adjusting for the charges in both periods, operating income would have been relatively flat year-over-year. For the full year, operating income of $310 million improved by approximately $2.2 billion and was positive for the first time in nine years. Net loss of $554 million, or $0.14 per share, in the fiscal fourth quarter compared to a net loss of $224 million, or $0.06 per share, in the year-ago period. Adjusting for the aforementioned charges, net loss per share would have been relatively flat year-over-year. For the full year, net loss was approximately $2 billion, or $0.50 per share, compared to a net loss of approximately $3.3 billion, or $0.85 per share, in the prior year, which is an improvement of $1.3 billion, or $0.35 per share. Adjusted free cash flow* was $603 million in the fiscal fourth quarter compared to negative $914 million in the prior year, an improvement of approximately $1.5 billion, which was driven by improved business trends and lower capital spending. For the full year, Adjusted free cash flow* of negative $1.4 billion compared to negative $3.3 billion in the prior year, an improvement of nearly $2 billion. Postpaid Phone Customer Growth Continues Sprint has been focused on attracting and retaining higher value postpaid phone customers and added 22,000 of these customers in a highly competitive fiscal fourth quarter, bringing the fiscal year total to 438,000 – an improvement of nearly two million from the prior year and the third consecutive quarter of positive postpaid phone net additions. Significant network improvements, a more compelling value proposition, and better customer quality have led to higher customer retention, with postpaid phone churn reaching a record low of 1.52 percent in fiscal year 2015 and improving by approximately 50 basis points year-over-year. For the fiscal fourth quarter, postpaid phone churn of 1.56 percent improved 22 basis points year-over-year. In addition, the company also saw year-over-year growth in postpaid phone gross additions for both the fiscal fourth quarter and full year. The company also reported the following Sprint platform results: Total net additions were 447,000 in the fiscal fourth quarter, including postpaid net additions of 56,000, prepaid net losses of 264,000, and wholesale and affiliate net additions of 655,000. For the full year, total net additions were nearly 2.7 million, including postpaid net additions of more than 1.2 million, prepaid net losses of 1.3 million, and wholesale and affiliate net additions of over 2.7 million. Postpaid churn of 1.72 percent in the fiscal fourth quarter improved by 12 basis points year-over-year and was the lowest ever for a fiscal fourth quarter. For the full year, postpaid churn of 1.61 percent was also the best in company history and improved by approximately 50 basis points year-over-year. $11 Billion of Committed Liquidity Sprint has taken several actions to improve its financial flexibility and currently has $11 billion of committed liquidity, up from $6 billion at the end of the fiscal third quarter. The company also has an additional $1.2 billion of availability under vendor financing agreements that can be used toward the purchase of 2.5 GHz network equipment. Total liquidity at the end of fiscal year 2015 was $5.7 billion, including $2.6 billion of cash and cash equivalents, $3 billion of undrawn borrowing capacity under the revolving bank credit facility, and approximately $100 million of undrawn availability under the receivables facility. Sprint received $2.2 billion from the sale and lease-back of certain existing network assets at an attractive cost of funding in the mid-single digits. This transaction did not include any of the company’s spectrum assets. The company executed its second sale-leaseback transaction of certain leased devices with MLS, providing a $1.1 billion cash infusion. Sprint signed an 18-month bridge financing facility for $2 billion with better terms than its alternatives in the high-yield debt market. These sources of liquidity are expected to provide the resources for the company to execute its transformation plan and fully fund the repayment of the $3.3 billion of note maturities that come due in fiscal year 2016. The company continues to consider financing initiatives, including structures that would involve a small portion of its spectrum assets, as well as additional transactions with MLS to fund its transformation, continue to improve the network, and meet its future financial obligations. LTE Plus Network Expanding and Outperforming the Competition The Sprint LTE Plus Network, which takes advantage of the company’s rich tri-band spectrum portfolio and uses some of the world’s most advanced technologies in wireless such as carrier aggregation and antenna beamforming, is now available in 204 markets across the country, including recent launches in New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia. The expansion is driving network performance that is beating the competition. An analysis of Nielsen Mobile Performance crowd-sourced data from January through March 2016 showed that Sprint’s LTE Plus Network continued to outperform Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile by delivering the fastest LTE download speeds. Total LTE coverage now reaches nearly 300 million people, including approximately 70 percent being covered by the 2.5 GHz spectrum deployment. Outlook The company expects fiscal year 2016 Adjusted EBITDA* to be $9.5 billion to $10 billion. The company expects fiscal year 2016 operating income to be $1 billion to $1.5 billion. The company expects fiscal year 2016 cash capital expenditures, excluding indirect channel device leases, to be approximately $3 billion, as non-network expenditures are expected to decline year-over-year and more of the cash outlays related to network densification are expected to be incurred in fiscal year 2017. The company’s deep spectrum position and its small cell focused densification are also expected to improve overall capital efficiency. ine asset group, which consists primarily of property, plant and equipment. (4) As more of our customers elect to lease a device rather than purchasing one under our subsidized program, there is a positive impact to EBITDA* and Adjusted EBITDA* primarily due to the fact the cost of the device is not recorded as cost of products but rather is depreciated over the customer lease term. Under our device leasing program for the direct channel, devices are transferred from inventory to property and equipment and the cost of the leased device is recognized as depreciation expense over the customer lease term to an estimated residual value. The customer payments are recognized as revenue over the term of the lease. Under our subsidized program, the cash received from the customer for the device is recognized as equipment revenue at the point of sale and the cost of the device is recognized as cost of products. During the three and twelve-month periods ended March 31, 2016, we leased devices through our Sprint direct channels totaling approximately $600 million and $3.2 billion, respectively, which would have increased cost of products and reduced EBITDA* if they had been purchased under our subsidized program. Also, during the three and twelve-month periods ended March 31, 2016, the equipment revenue derived from customers electing to finance their devices through device leasing or installment billing programs in our direct channel was 58% and 51%, respectively. The impact to EBITDA* and Adjusted EBITDA* resulting from the sale of devices under our installment billing program is neutral except for the impact from the time value of money element related to the imputed interest on the installment receivable. (5) During the fourth and second quarters of fiscal year 2015, we recorded losses on dispositions of assets primarily related to network development costs that are no longer relevant as a result of changes in the Company's network plans. (6) Severance and exit costs consist of lease exit costs primarily associated with tower and cell sites, access exit costs related to payments that will continue to be made under our backhaul access contracts for which we will no longer be receiving any economic benefit, and severance costs associated with reduction in our work force. (7) For the fourth and third quarters of fiscal year 2015, litigation activity is a result of unfavorable developments in connection with pending litigation. (8) The partial pension settlement resulted from amounts paid to eligible terminated participants who voluntarily elected to receive lump sum distributions as a result of an approved plan amendment to the Sprint Retirement Pension Plan by the Board of Directors in June 2014. (9) As a result of the U.S. Cellular asset acquisition, we recorded a liability related to network shut-down costs, which primarily consisted of lease exit costs, for which we agreed to reimburse U.S. Cellular. During the third quarter of fiscal year 2014, we identified favorable trends in actual costs and, as a result, reduced the liability resulting in a gain of approximately $41 million. During the first quarter of fiscal year 2015, we revised our estimate and, as a result, reduced the liability resulting in approximately $20 million of income. (10) During the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015, the Company elected to adopt accounting guidance which requires that debt issuance costs related to a recognized debt liability be presented in the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the carrying amount of that debt liability, consistent with debt discounts. Also addressed in this guidance is the presentation and subsequent measurement of debt issuance costs associated with line-of-credit arrangements. We elected to adopt the guidance early with full retrospective application. Debt issuance costs associated with our revolving credit facility remain in "Other assets" on the consolidated balance sheet and continue to be amortized over the term of the facility as allowed by the guidance. For the year ended March 31, 2015 debt issuance costs for all other debt totaling $189 million have been reclassified from "Other assets" to "Long-term debt, financing and capital lease obligations" on the consolidated balance sheet. *FINANCIAL MEASURES

I always felt Sprint didn't need this spectrum from a Data point of view. I thought Sprint needs more low band for coverage and VOLTE. A 10x10 block will go for several billions and face fierce competition for it. This is the type of Spectrum block carriers love to deploy then it gets congested and carriers have to go back to that macro site and install AWS spectrum panels ( I am looking at you Verizon). The end joke is carriers have to add density to their network regardless of which bands they operate.