RedSpark

That's a great marketing tool, but people are holding onto their phones longer nowadays.

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/customers-hold-smartphones-longer-apple-samsung-could-challenge-carriers-up/2016-03-21

 

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3015494/smartphones/the-smartphone-upgrade-path-may-be-fizzling.html

 

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2985483/smartphones/consumers-are-keeping-smartphones-tablets-and-pcs-longer.html

On a macro level they might be, but there's growth in T-Mobile's Upgrade Programs.

And if it's a great marketing tool, it seems to be working based on T-Mobile's overall performance this past quarter.

I'm hoping we see and hear good things from Sprint at the May 3, 2016 Earnings Call.

I still believe that Sprint will be one of the greatest business turnaround stories in history.

But what's the uptake?  Have they announced how many customers actually use that option?

 

- Trip

See Page 7 of this PDF:

At the end of the first quarter of 2016, 13.7 million customers were enrolled in T-Mobile’s JUMP! programs, up from 13.3 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2015 and 10.3 million at the end of the first quarter of 2015.

The chart on that page shows growth in this program.

What makes you think that people are going to upgrade phones every six months just because more phones are available for sale?  I find upgrading phones to be a huge hassle, and I'm very technically literate; why would the common person want that hassle more often, exactly? 

 

- Trip

T-Mobile lets people upgrade to a new device up to 3 times per year: http://explore.t-mobile.com/jump-on-demand-phone-upgrade

Seems that enough people want it/do it to warrant the program.

See here for Upgrade Program Comparison Chart: http://explore.t-mobile.com/phone-upgrades

I didn't realize Sprint was broken into 18 separate regions. I was thinking it was 6-8. I must say very interesting...

There are 4 main area presidents: West, Central, South, and Northeast. Within those 4 areas, there are 18 regions which each have their own president.

As Marcelo explained in the video, this setup enables Area/Regional presidents to be more entrepreneurial and in touch with their local userbase.

Completely agree!

 

I have read several articles, recently, that have mentioned that Smartphone Technology has sort of hit a wall, where the newest phones, now, aren't really that much of an upgrade from the previous devices.

Very Interesting...Thanks for providing an analysis of the video.

 

Since I am unable to access Facebook, I was just wondering if you might have a YouTube link for the video.

 

If so, could you post it?

Unfortunately, I don't have a YouTube video link, but it is on a publicly accessible Facebook page. You don't need a Facebook account to watch the video.

Marcelo talks a lot about his experience going from Brightstar to Sprint, and how he's trying to reinstall an entrepreneurial "winning culture" at Sprint, similar to that which he had at Brightstar. According to him, Sprint has been gaining customers every day. It'll be interesting to see how the numbers pan out at the Earnings Call.

Please...Please don't tell me that Sprint is going to start shoving Facebook in our Faces...I personally have absolutely No Use for Facebook.

 

As much as I like Sprint, if they ever go to forcing everyone to use a Facebook account to log in to the Sprint websites, then I am COMPLETELY Done with Sprint.

 

Don't get me wrong, I really like Sprint, but I personally don't want to have anything at all to do with Facebook.

That's fine...I hope that Facebook and its employees really enjoy using Sprint service and have such a good experience that they promote it.

Marcelo and Facebook "partnered" for this interview it seems. Perhaps they'll work on initiatives going forward. Hard to tell at this point what he has planned, but he did say he wanted to better connect with customers.

So that's what he was doing at Facebook....

Just saw this video posted:

https://www.facebook.com/150984694912422/videos/1198090626868485/

Marcelo talks about entrepreneurship, One Sprint, and the Sprint turnaround. This was a really interesting conversation.

At the 24:20 Mark: Marcelo says that a new marketing campaign is coming on May 8th. He said he learned from customers what the most effective marketing campaigns are during his Listening Tour. He said that he wasn't hearing the feedback he heard in his Listening Tour from his marketing department. He also said connecting directly with consumers has changed his job, and that he was mad at himself for taking so long to do this.

Why is that so important? I do not think that is one of Sprint's current goals, plain and simple.

Aren't "Project Cedar", "Project Ocean" and the "New Project Expansion" about improving coverage?

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-382-sprint-planning-large-network-expansion-adding-9000-new-lte-sites-nationwide/

T-Mobile released its 1Q2016 Results

Sprint has its Fiscal 2015 Fourth Quarter Earnings Call scheduled for May 3, 2016.

Noticed a few things I wanted to share from this PDF:

 

Network Modernization Update

• T-Mobile’s 4G LTE network now covers 308 million people, which includes partner LTE coverage of 2 million people. This is up from 305 million at the fourth quarter of 2015 earnings and 275 million at the end of the first quarter of 2015.
• Wideband LTE, which refers to markets that have bandwidth of at least 15+15 MHz dedicated to 4G LTE, is now available nationwide, covering 214 million people.
• Voice over LTE (“VoLTE”) comprised 51% of total voice call minutes in the first quarter of 2016 compared to 9% in the first quarter of 2015. Moving voice traffic to VoLTE frees up capacity and allows for an accelerated re-farming of spectrum currently used for 2G and 3G. T-Mobile is leading the US wireless industry in terms of VoLTE migration

According to the fine print on Sprint's website, LTE covers "Over 280M People".

Based on the recent Press Release, LTE Plus is in 191 Markets.

Maybe we'll hear about VoLTE in the earnings call. Who knows?

 

Network Speed

• T-Mobile continues to have the fastest nationwide 4G LTE network in the U.S. based on download speeds from millions of user-generated tests. This is the ninth consecutive quarter that T-Mobile has led the industry in average download speeds.
• In the first quarter of 2016, T-Mobile’s average 4G LTE download speed was 22.0 Mbps compared to Verizon at 20.9 Mbps, AT&T at 19.4 Mbps, and Sprint at 15.4 Mbps.

Sprint says it's the fastest based on Nielsen Data. Dr. John Saw, Sprint CTO Blogged about this:

T-Mobile relies on Ookla for its network claims, which again, measures how fast a network is built to perform, not how fast traffic is actually moving. To achieve this, Ookla collects speed tests submitted by wireless consumers and compares those speeds by operator. The downside is, unlike NMP, which latently monitors network conditions (including speed) while consumers are using their phones for their daily needs, consumers must explicitly initiate Ookla speed tests. Not many customers run their speed test apps regularly, and usually when they do, it is for diagnostics purposes - either in an area where their experience may be very bad or very good.

T-Mobile may currently have made their highway faster (per their Ookla-based marketing claims), but with the introduction of BingeOn, we see that cars on their highway are moving at slower speeds. All those multi-lane highways and nowhere to go because they put in speed bumps.

 

Spectrum

• At the end of the first quarter of 2016, T-Mobile owned an average of 85 MHz of spectrum across the top 25 markets in the U.S. The spectrum is comprised of an average of 11 MHz in the 700 MHz band, 30 MHz in the 1900 MHz PCS band, and 44 MHz in the AWS band.
• During the first quarter of 2016, T-Mobile acquired 700 MHz ABlock spectrum licenses covering 20 million POPs for $0.6 billion in cash. These acquisitions increased T-Mobile’s lowband spectrum holdings from 190 million POPs to 210 million POPs and included the cities of San Diego, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and New Orleans.
• During the first quarter of 2016, T-Mobile entered into agreements with multiple parties to acquire 700 MHz A-Block spectrum licenses covering approximately 48 million POPs for $0.7 billion. These agreements will increase T-Mobile’s lowband spectrum holdings from 210 million POPs to 258 million POPs upon closing and include the cities of Nashville, Salt Lake City, Columbus, and Jacksonville.
• In September 2015, T-Mobile entered into a spectrum license swap agreement with AT&T Inc. Upon closing of the transaction in March 2016, T-Mobile recorded the spectrum licenses received at their estimated fair value of $1.2 billion and recognized a gain of $636 million.
• The Company has filed to participate in the broadcast incentive auction.

 

People easily forget how much spectrum Sprint actually has. It has a ton: In addition to its 800 MHz and 1900 MHz spectrum holdings, Sprint controls an average of 120 MHz of 2.5 GHz spectrum in 90 of the top 100 U.S. markets. And for all we know, Sprint will actually participate in the 600 MHz Auction with the backing of SoftBank.

 

A-Block Update

• T-Mobile owns or has agreements to acquire 700 MHz ABlock spectrum covering 258 million people or approximately 80% of the U.S. population. The spectrum covers 9 of the top 10 market areas and 28 of the top 30 market areas in the U.S.
• T-Mobile has deployed its 700 MHz A-Block spectrum in over 340 market areas covering 194 million people under the brand name “Extended Range LTE.” Extended Range LTE travels up to twice as far as mid-band spectrum and works up to four times better in buildings. New market launches in the first quarter of 2016 included the cities of Boston and Reno. The Company expects to continue to aggressively roll-out new 700 MHz sites in 2016 including the cities of San Francisco, Phoenix, San Diego, and Las Vegas.

 

As above. People continue to underestimate Sprint's ability to densify its network. However, I think what's even more unappreciated is Sprint's spectrum position for 5G going forward.

Potentially, I know FB has used Sprint for their corporate hotspots for a while. Even during the dark times.

Interesting. I had no idea.

What's Marcelo doing with Facebook?

https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/724639213820502016

https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/724726648441044998

A partnership?

A few new spots I've seen from Sprint:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIhPTTbe998
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJHIEldldlY

   

It reminds me of T-Mobile's "Wideband NYC Challenge":

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeBSWkux6ss

Sprint needs to stick with this approach....

Not sure what you are referring to? I don't see anything I would call islands of coverage. 

Away from the main city center of St. Louis, etc., you see little dots of coverage here and there in the middle of off-network roaming.

Chester, IL.

 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

What explains the little islands of Sprint coverage around Chester, IL on the Sprint Coverage Map? Do those represent single cell sites?

Are there plans to expand coverage in this area through Project Ocean?

Before anyone else wants to go hop on the 5G band wagon again why Sprint should start trials. Verizon just put 5G in perspective saying it's about fixed internet structure, not mobility.

http://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/story/verizons-shammo-5g-pilot-2017-all-about-fixed-wireless-not-mobility/2016-04-21?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal&mrkid=958371&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTXpaaU1EUmtNamcwWVRGaiIsInQiOiJoMENMMGx0Qkp4ZFpvZzJVRGhVekNTSWpqcmRidFJCK0l4MG1jS2tYaXg2YkRGRGZESWMxS2V6WE1sc1JnenlJdnBRSjI1bE8rRm95K1ZuRVVLN3ZpSG55YnlcL0tDYzNxRHZjRVo2TUg1Y009In0%3D

 

Sent from my LGLS996 using Tapatalk

Sprint's take on 5G is a bit different it seems:

 

So yeah, what is that 5G, anyway? All of the carriers are now saying they're leaders in 5G. In Saw's view, 5G is a "dense network using high-band spectrum," which conveniently places Sprint as a leader, as one can see its 2.5GHz band as the very lowest band of that high-band spectrum.

 

"2.5 is going to be the low-band, beachfront spectrum of 5G," Saw said. "Ten years ago, everybody laughed at us, but I think it's come full circle, and everybody now recognizes the value of high-band spectrum for 5G."

 

Lots of "One Sprint" announcements today:

Kevin Kunkel Named Sprint President, Southern California Region

Jonathan Blitz Named Sprint President, South Central Region

Mark Nachman Joins Sprint as President, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia Region

Michael McMahon Joins Sprint as President, Great Plains Region

Ah, that helps! Now if I miss anything, I'll know where to go, thanks!

 

I'm going to be very interested in what losses T-Mobile might have this upcoming quarter. Cricket just revealed their new unlimited plan which while is throttled to 8mbps with LTE/4mbps with HSPA, doesn't have a deprioritization throttle, is around $30 cheaper per month than T-Mobile, and has a much better network in many areas than what T-Mobile offers. I imagine this is going to hurt T-Mobile's numbers pretty badly.

 

Also, if I were in charge of Sprint, I'd merge Boost and Virgin into Sprint Prepaid, or come up with a single prepaid name other than Sprint, to compete with Cricket. I think what I'd do is offer a $45 monthly unlimited plan with a 15mbps speed cap. I've seen a few comments from people on various sites suggesting Cricket raise the speed to 15mbps. I've always found that to be a great number for a speed cap to, so I'd use it at that $45 monthly rate. In doing so, I think it would add to the competition T-Mobile has, and would help Sprint too. Unfortunately, I'm not hearing much comparison to Boost in these news reports about Cricket's new unlimited plan. They've basically been comparing it to T-Mobile and to MetroPCS, barely ever mentioning Sprint and its unlimited plan or even Boost's unlimited plan.

You're welcome! There's a lot of content on the Sprint Investors Website: http://investors.sprint.com/

I think Boost and Virgin should be folded into Sprint Prepaid for greater cost savings. Having to promote multiple brands with separate marketing channels seems very costly.

It does seem like quite a while ago since the last one. Same with the T-Mobile reports too, unless I've missed it recently.

See: Quarterly Results

See: Events

Sprint just announced its 4Q15 Earnings Call Date:

Sprint Corporation Schedules Fiscal 2015 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results Announcement

May 3, 2016 at 8:30AM ET

Talk about timing!!!

Wow!!!

Interesting how SoftBank is the only carrier listed. Perhaps it was done this way so as to not tip everyone off that Sprint is getting involved.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160419005661/en/SoftBank-Sercomm-Rohde-Schwarz-Join-MulteFire-Alliance

 

"FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The MulteFire Alliance, an independent, diverse and international member-driven consortium, today announced that SoftBank Corp. (“SoftBank”), Sercomm and Rohde & Schwarz have joined the Alliance to advance MulteFire – an LTE-based technology for small cells operating solely in unlicensed spectrum."

 

 

 

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

There are definitely some big plans in the works!

I have a theory on what Sprint has planned for its 2.5 GHz Indoor Coverage Plans...

I'll bet it's going to be a small cell requiring no customer provided backhaul (i.e. Ethernet, etc.) as the AIRAVE/Wi-Fi Connect Router do. Instead, it will utilize Sprint's LTE Relay infrastructure and auto-configure itself upon being plugged in. If so, it'll have to be the size of an AIRAVE/Wi-Fi Connect Router or smaller to promote adoption.

Even better, I'll bet it will have a feature which will allow it to extend coverage to other nearby units, such that if a unit is installed in the bowels of a building, it'll receive an extended signal from a unit installed at a window.

If this is really the case, I see Sprint working closely with customers, landowners and government entities to install hundreds of thousands of these across the country. Thoughts?

 

Kudos that Sascha's article was mostly informative and positive.  But, unsurprisingly, he did manage to get in a few digs at Sprint.  The funny part -- and I know that I am not necessarily a representative sample -- but I cannot get my handset NOT to camp on band 41 inside my house and around my neighborhood.  I guess I must live in a wet paper bag with gaping holes in it.

 

And if T-Mobile successfully had played this longterm Nextel, Clearwire, BRS/EBS 2600 MHz gambit that will pay off with a massive swath of "low band 5G" spectrum for Sprint, you know that Sascha would be practically gushing about how smart and strategic Neville and T-Mobile are.

 

Sascha got "swathe" [sic] wrong, by the way.  That is a verb -- to wrap.  It is not the noun -- a strip or portion.

 

 

(NSFW)

 

 

AJ

Nice!   What do you think Sprint is experimenting with for its indoor coverage solutions for 2.5GHz?

Sprint Planning Will Bring LTE Plus Home to You

Some really good comments from Dr. John Saw, CTO in the Article about the advantages of Sprint's 2.5GHz Spectrum and what it means for 5G. Dr. Saw had some interesting remarks about Indoor Coverage solutions for 2.5 as well:

"We have developed indoor solutions with 2.5 in them, and I don't want to talk more about what we're doing, because it's too early. It's easy to put 2.5 in a Wi-Fi hotspot ... [but] we're going to be a lot smarter than giving away free routers," he said.

Can anyone speculate what they're working on?

"2.5 is going to be the low-band, beachfront spectrum of 5G," Saw said. "Ten years ago, everybody laughed at us, but I think it's come full circle, and everybody now recognizes the value of high-band spectrum for 5G."

Damn that feels good.

I hope that with key people in charge of different regions of the United States that Sprints network will be leaps and bounds amazing as if they never had network issues in the past.

 

 

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Hopefully this "One Sprint" strategy enables local/area managers to run their markets in the way they deem best for their customers and provides appropriate resources as needed.