RedSpark

Except Son had already announced the $100B fund in October.

Marcelo's announcement for Sprint was new:

https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/814244138447241217

Masa (potentially) likes Trump. I would not go so far as to say Sprint likes Trump. But they have to find a way to work with him.

 

http://fortune.com/2016/09/22/hillary-clinton-sprint-marcelo-claure/

If she had won, Sprint would have worked with her too.

Sprint Announces Commitment to Create or Bring Back to America 5,000 Jobs

http://newsroom.sprint.com/news-releases/sprint-announces-commitment-to-create-or-bring-back-to-america-5000-jobs.htm

How about that...

Me too! With all these announcements that Sprint has pushed out concerning the network, 2017 will be a put up or shut up sink or swim year for them.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have a feeling it will be a good year for Sprint.

3CA updates for additional devices are coming early next year:

 

Sprint is selling the High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC) (Taiwan: 2498) Bolt as its first 3CA-capable device. The most recent Apple and Samsung Corp. phones will need a software upgrade to get the most from 3CA.

 

Device VP Sullivan told me that the upgrades will come for Apple, Samsung and a host of other vendors early next year. This will be "well ahead" of the Mobile World Congress show in late February next year, he said.

 

"By the end of 2017 we're forecasting that over half of Sprint customers will have ... compatible phones," said Sullivan during the conference proper.

 

CTO Saw was also keen to stress that all phones on the 2.5GHz network would benefit from the upgrade. "It basically lifts all boats, because everybody will have more capacity.

 

We'll also know pretty quickly once the first HPUE-capable device is released/reviewed whether it's really a substantial improvement over existing handsets.

According to what Sprint has said:

 

Saw and Ottendorfer said HPUE is ready on the network today, but is mainly a device-based technology. They said Sprint has been working with partners throughout the device ecosystem – including chipset and handset vendors – to have the technology embedded in handsets that are expected to come to the market soon. HPUE will debut in devices in early 2017, starting with a “yet to be named Samsung flagship product,” they said.

 

Other smartphone vendors that will be releasing HPUE-enabled devices include ZTE, LG, HTC, Motorola, and Alcatel. Apple was noticeably absent from companies listed in Sprint's slideshow, but Sprint's Vice President of Device Development Ryan Sullivan said “multiple other parties” other than those listed on both the chipset and vendor side are involved with the technology, but timing on those releases is to be determined.

 

 

Also, we haven't heard much more about Sprint's selection of Gilat to extend LTE Services since this news release:

Gilat’s Satellite-based Cellular Backhaul Solution Selected by Sprint to Extend LTE Services to Metro Edge and Rural Areas in the US [Oct 26, 2016]

Perhaps we'll hear more about this in 2017 as well.

All this merger talk. Blah. Son is a lot of things, but transparent he is not. Whatever he is thinking, its naive to assume its predictable.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mentioned it earlier, but I wonder what he and Marcelo are talking about right now.

https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/811486352554463232

- Mini macros can be reused as stand alone sites attached to a light pole or a wooden pole etc. Just attach power + backhaul + an antenna (omni can / sector panel) and you're ready to go. 

Pretty cool. Thanks for the info on that.

10-20% performance decrease (8T8R vs 2T2R), 120 MHz vs 40 MHz. 

 

 

 

 

3x 8T8R ($$$$ ea) antennas + 3x 8T8R radios ($$$$)+ 1x hybrid fiber cable ($$$)+ 1x base station & associated peripherals ($$$$)+ 1x B41 LTE DU ($$$)+ backhaul ($$$$)= macro 8T8R site.

 

3x standard 2T2R sector antennas ($$$ ea) + 3x AIO mini macros ($$$$)+ 1x hybrid fiber cable ($$$) +  backhaul ($$$$) = "mini" macro 2.5 site. 

Very helpful cost-breakdown info on this. Thanks.

Is there a resulting sunk cost for the installed Mini-Macro build if it's going to be replaced with 8T8R one day?

Or could the installed Mini Macros be replaced, reclaimed, repurposed and moved into new locations as the Macro sites are ultimately upgraded to 8T8R?

Are y'all talking about cost per square mile of coverage or coverage per unit? Is it possible to cover the same area with $3mil of 8T8Rs or $3mil of mini macros? I assume no, but I wanna make sure I'm reading everything right.

Right. That's what I'm asking about. If there's a difference in cost and/or coverage, I'm curious to know how much.

No. They're a method of bringing additional capacity and coverage without breaking the bank. You get what you pay for. 

How much of a capacity/coverage difference is there between an 8T8R vs. a set of Mini-Macros as you described?

You can buy several all in one mini macros or picos for the cost of just the 8T8R antennas. 

And the coverage with the Mini Macros is roughly equivalent as a result?

Mini macro 2.5s will be added to rural and suburban macro towers instead of 8t8r for cost savings and the fact they don't need that much capacity in such places. Mini macros on such towers (like the Huawei Nokia conversions) will be replaced with 8t8r or new macro technologies as the local need arises.

 

Mini macro B26/41 will be used a lot coverage and capacity expansions in suburban and rural zones.

 

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

How much of a cost savings is there, especially given the higher propagation of signal from 8T8R antennas on Macro Sites vs. the Mini Macro 2.5s?

Sprint was required by US authorities to remove all Huawei equipment from its network (more info). With payments coming due on the Clearwire debt, most of the new band 41 equipment went directly into Clearwire conversions to replace the Huawei gear. This further confounds the "70% of our LTE sites" figure.

 

That said, Sprint has stated multiple times that they are taking a more "surgical" approach to network planning. They are not going to add band 41 macro equipment to every Network Vision site; rather, they are targeting specific sites which need additional capacity the most.

You make a great point here about that 70% figure.

I can understand prioritizing the sites which need capacity the most first, but is there a plan to add Band 41 to every macro tower site eventually? Otherwise, we're basically looking at Band 25 (with CA eventually) and Band 26. Data usage is only increasing, and if Sprint has appreciable network adds, it'll need the additional capacity of Band 41 across all of its sites across the country.

It's a misleading statistic because there are thousands of LTE sites which only have band 41. Subtract all the Clearwire dual-mode and conversion sites, and the number is a lot lower.

Wow. Didn't consider that as a possibility.

Hopefully Sprint makes more progress on Band 41 deployment in 2017. Is this due to limited capital expenditures for this Quarter? I thought that limited CapEx was mainly due to permitting delays for small cell deployments.

Now it sounds like it was due to addressing high interest Clearwire Debt based on this chart: http://investors.sprint.com/financials/default.aspx

Here's what I don't get: Sprint has additional liquidity and funding vehicles available besides the Handset Leasing Company and the Network Leasing Company. Why don't they take advantage of those too?

These are discussed on Page 17: Fiscal 2Q 2016 Investor Update

Total liquidity was $11.3 billion at the end of the quarter, including $5.7 billion of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. Additionally, the company also has $1.1 billion of availability under vendor financing agreements that can be used toward the purchase of 2.5GHz network equipment. On October 20th, the company priced $3.5 billion of spectrum-backed senior secured notes at 3.36 percent, which is less than half of the company’s current effective interest rate. This transaction represents the latest example of Sprint’s strategy to diversify its sources of financing, lower its cost of capital, and reduce future interest expenses by retiring upcoming maturities with higher coupon payments. In conjunction with closing of the spectrum-backed notes, which is expected on October 27th, the company’s $2.5 billion unsecured financing facility will terminate.

That's what I was stating. There's a lot of sites without band 41. I've been to cities that has a density band 41 network and Sprint competes toe to toe with any network when band 41 with multiple carriers are online.

Gunther said this during the AMA:

70% of our LTE sites have 2.5GHz. We are doing both. A lot of parallel work going on here as you can see...

Still quite some way to go.

Back to Toyko he goes....

https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/811486352554463232

"Exciting Times Ahead."

I think it has to stay at or above 8 for like 150 days or something?

Yup.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article30751155.html

 

 

Specifically, Sprint’s stock price would need to average $8 “over any 150-day period during a four-year term from June 1, 2015, through May 31, 2019.”

 

Related, didn't Marcelo have a large number of stock options that he could cash in once the stock price hit $8?  I see the price is currently at $8.42/share.  I wonder if we'll see an SEC filing next year regarding Marcelo selling stock.  

Yes.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/technology/article92674502.html

http://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/sprint-extends-claure-s-contract-until-2019-will-give-him-10m-shares-if-he-gets-stock-to-8

Just saw this pop up. http://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/odds-a-sprint-t-mobile-tie-up-less-than-20-btig-says?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal&mrkid=958371&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWlRKaFpqSTVZems1TnpsaCIsInQiOiJ5MVJES3FoT0VVTWpnN09SZnJtVklnb0JjK1dDcnVFaHRvNFQzazFMWTJ1SzYrMkFNTjdNWm9SVGNaYWxIWTV6aXVoWm9zUzV6QlducmcxcjZ3RlN0a0FaMTZrRlFZUTB4ZGZKU1J5S2hUSVpaT1hTUERkMk9oWnFyZjIxdERiOSJ9

 

Sent from my 2PQ93 using Tapatalk

There's still a 100% chance of that 20% chance happening.

That's what always gets me about these predictions from analysts... Analysts can say "20% chance", and they're "right" either way.

Either it happens and they say, "I said 20% chance that it would happen"... or it doesn't happen and they say "I said 20% chance that it would happen".... It's the same thing.

Heck, an analyst could say "99% chance" and still have an out if it doesn't come through on that remaining 1%.... such that it would be a 100% chance of a 99% chance ... and a 100% chance of a 1% chance.

It's totally meaningless.

Didnt Sprint have a press event at One World a few weeks back to showcase 3xCA? Thats the only reason I specifically checked there as there was chatter that possibly it was only for sprint techs to access. I was interested in whether consumer devices could do it and since the Bolt is the only device out right now with it enabled it made sense for me to check.

 

I think the speeds are to high for it to be 2xCA right?

Marcelo tweeted about it.

That's awesome news! JWMaloney's map is far superior in utility, size and general appearance. I'm glad to see a willingness on Sprint's part to be entrepreneurial in its effort to improve their maps.

Really happy for him!

Günther responded to this question last night after the AMA ended:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Sprint/comments/5ipysj/2nd_ama_here_we_come/dba667q/

Pretty cool. It'll be interesting to see what design influence the "Ultimate Sprint Coverage Map" has on Sprint's coverage map.

Sprint's definitely excited about its AMA with Günther today:

Marcelo tweeted about it.

Günther is on Facebook and he put up a short video on his page as well.

I think these AMA's with Günther represent a real change in tone/approach for the company. It's great to see Sprint connecting and interacting with users for direct questions and feedback about its network technology/plans (and anything else).

Looks like Marcelo will be doing some device/plan sales at a retail store on this upcoming Saturday:

Claure will trade C-suite for retail floor to sell plans at Plaza store

He'll also be visiting some call centers according to the article.

Sprint is already moving to 64T64R when they haven't even dense their network with 8T8R. This is the fundamental problem at Overland Park. They deploy a little bit of a tech then move to the next one.

 

Dan Hesse and to a certain extent Saw said that the 8T8R was future proof.

 

I never bought into the silver bullet of dense a network on efficiency and a lower budget. Nokia is a public company with responsibility to shareholders and they will always get wireless networks to spend billions into the new tech. No to mention Mobilitie and Crown Castle have the same business structure.

Nothing is future proof.

Networks are never finished.

If you take a close look at the images released during the presentation yesterday, you'll see this on the screen:

• 1.9 GHz Baseline
• Drop point for an LTE phone on 2.5 GHz with no HPUE is 77% of that baseline outdoors.
• Drop point for an LTE phone on 2.5 GHz with HPUE is 99% of that baseline outdoors.

Because HPUE can improve 2.5 GHz coverage up to 30 percent, it's able to cover 99 percent of the area covered by Sprint's 1.9 GHz spectrum outdoors and approximately 90 percent of Sprint's 1.9 GHz spectrum coverage indoors. 

Once Sprint is able to make real progress on its densification program (including small cell deployments) and ramps up carrier aggregation to 3 Carriers and beyond (and the device base has enough HPUE device uptake), I don't think any other carrier will be able to keep up.