RedSpark

According to Legere’s Post and Pai’s Statement, here are the concessions Sprint/T-Mobile agreed to:

- Assurance of 97% U.S. population coverage within three years of the merger’s close, including of 85% of rural Americans.

- Assurance of 99% U.S. population coverage within six years of the merger’s close, including of 90% of rural Americans.

- Assurance that 90% of Americans will have mobile broadband access at 100Mbps or more, with 99% being able to access speeds of 50Mbps or more.

- Assurance that at least two-thirds of rural Americans will have access to high-speed, mid-band 5G.

- Assurance of divestiture of Boost Mobile to retain competitiveness in the prepaid wireless segment.

- Billions of dollars in penalties to the FCC if the merged “New T-Mobile” fails to follow through on these commitments.

We’ve all seen what a deterrent these penalties have been on Google and Facebook. They simply see it as UPS/Fedex sees parking tickets: just the cost of doing business. I don’t have much faith.

https://www.t-mobile.com/news/new-t-mobile-commitments

Here we go...

https://www.rootmetrics.com/en-US/rootscore/map/metro/washington-dc/2019/1H

Ugh. Network speed coming up short again, but call performance as well? C’mon Sprint...

57 minutes ago, tyroned3222 said:

I will ask.... to see if the team will send me a screen shot 

Opps was not supposed to share that link my bad

 

Also, the team is not confident that many of sprints customers are going switch to the LG v50 or any of the 5G devices coming right of the back..

 

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Requiring that people upgrade to Unlimited Premium certainly won’t help with the uptake numbers for 5G or the devices. They should reconsider this.

Also, the device isn’t available outside of the four initial launch cities right now. They’re using a location filter of some kind on the Sprint website.

5 minutes ago, Tengen31 said:

I know how to turn it on. I was asking if you can talk and surf on 5G or if it turns off during a call and will drop to LTE. Still no VOLTE for me.

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Ah. Good question.

Would the FCC docs for the device indicate if this happens?

1 minute ago, Tengen31 said:

Can you talk and surf over 5G or do we have to wait 5+ years for that to?

 

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It says this in the FAQ’s:

The latest: https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/fcc-officials-meet-to-discuss-sprint-t-mobile-merger-conditions

Filing: https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filing/1051525545706

Document: https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/1051525545706/May 15 Ex Parte.pdf

15 minutes ago, greenbastard said:

I guess Sprint wants to see the reaction from the media/customers before announcing anything concrete. If there is an extra charge for 5G on old plans, I'd be shocked.

I hope you’re right.

It currently says here that the Unlimited Premium Plan is required for 5G. Of course, that could be changed going forward, but Sprint put it in writing.

Another requirement for 5G per the FAQs is that you have VoLTE enabled on your 5G-capable device.

23 minutes ago, tyroned3222 said:

I think they pause the decision is 16 days ways or so .. it funny I was in Phoenix and Vegas this weekend .. I spotted more massive Mimo in Vegas than Phoenix


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That’s interesting you observed that.

I’m curious if the 5G in the second wave cities is quietly live yet?

The merger deadline was pushed back to July 29, 2019: https://www.engadget.com/amp/2019/04/29/t-mobile-sprint-merger-deadline-delay/

Seems like the 2nd wave of 5G will take them to the merger deadline. I suspect they’ll hold off on other substantial 5G deployments until after the merger deadline.

22 minutes ago, tyroned3222 said:

Only available in 4 cities .. I’m sure not many


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Yeah. We’ll see how that goes.

“Both devices will initially be available to customers in the first four expected 5G markets – Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Kansas City. They will then be available in Sprint’s other 5G markets – Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. – in the next few weeks.”

At least the next set of 5G cities is rolling out soon. I wonder which cities come after that, or if they’re going to pause until the merger decision deadline hits.

That’s one advantage of how Apple trails everyone. The network is more ready for the device.

Sprint's First 5G Devices Available May 31; Pre-Order Begins May 17 for LG V50 ThinQ 5G and HTC 5G Hub

• LG V50 ThinQ 5G is just $24 per month with $0down with Sprint Flex lease – that’s half off the lease price.1
• HTC 5G Hub is just $12.50 per month – that’s a savings of 50 percent. Activate HTC 5G Hub with 100GB of high-speed data for just $60 per month.2

Big news. Who’s ordering?

Fine Print:

1 LG V50 $24/month after $24/month credit, applied within two bills. With approved credit, 18-month lease, and new line of service or eligible upgrade. If you cancel early, remaining balance due. LG V50 ThinQ SRP: $1,152. Reqs capable plan. 5G coverage will be limited in select cities. See Sprint.com/coverage for actual coverage and availability.
2 HTC Hub $12.50/month after $12.50/month credit, applied within two bills. With approved credit, 24-month installment billing agreement, and new line of service. If you cancel early, remaining balance due. Tax due at sale. 5G coverage will be limited in select cities. See Sprint.com/coverage for actual coverage and availability. HTC 5G Hub SRP: $600. $60/100GB MBB Price Plan - With AutoPay. MHS reduced to 2G speeds after 100 GB/mo. Data deprioritization during congestion. Excludes taxes, fees and roaming. Number of devices may be limited by hardware. Restrictions apply.
3 New customers must activate 5G handsets on the Unlimited Premium plan. Existing customers must have eligible plan and may be required to change plans. Pricing shown with AutoPay. One Hulu ad-supported plan per eligible Sprint account. HD content varies by device and connection. MHS reduced to 3G speeds after 100GB/month. Data deprioritization during congestion. $80 per month for line one, additional $60 per month for second line, additional $20 per line for lines 3-5. Excludes taxes, fees and roaming.

Curious what constitutes an eligible plan... This is a way to “charge more” for 5G without explicitly saying it.

On 5/14/2019 at 10:43 AM, Trip said:

No, didn't make it to Tahoe.  We had a (very tardy) van take us to Carson City for dinner, and other than that, I spent my entire time in the casino.

I don't know what it is about people and barbecue--a lot of people seem to rave about bad barbecue.  Maybe it's because I've lived in a part of the country with really good barbecue, but here in DC, a lot of people rave about this BBQ place in DC that, despite being there several times, I can't find anything particularly great about.  The person I know best who likes it is from Florida and then went to school in Georgia, too, so he really should know better.  I don't really know what to make of it.

- Trip

Would this happen to be the Hill Country BBQ in DC?: https://www.hillcountry.com

Just now, RAvirani said:

If you update your phone through iTunes on your computer, iTunes should download the latest carrier bundle. I'm not sure exactly which folder it gets stored in on Macs as I have a PC, you could probably figure it out if you dig around a bit. If you can't find the carrier bundle, I believe Apple maintains a website with all signed carrier bundles as well...

Once you have the bundle (which should be a .ipcc file), add a .zip extension to it. You should then be able to extract the files in the bundle. In the Payload folder, the file called carrier.plist has all of the juicy stuff you want. The best way to poke around or edit this file on a Mac is probably to use Apple's Property List Editor. 

If make changes to the bundle and want  to load the updated one onto your phone, you can do so through iTunes. Open terminal and navigate to the /Applications/Utilities/ folder. Then run the following command:

defaults write com.apple.iTunes carrier-testing -bool YES

This will launch iTunes in carrier testing mode. You can now option-click (or shift-click on Windows) the Check for Update button when your phone is connected to your computer. This will allow you to pick a .ipcc file into your phone. 

 

Neat! I'll look into this. Thank you!

3 minutes ago, RAvirani said:

Yes, in fact you can edit them and reload them onto your phone. Do you have a Mac or PC with iTunes?

Yes. Mac with iTunes.

2 minutes ago, RAvirani said:

Carrier settings sometimes update automatically.

If you navigate to Settings>General>About and hover there for a few seconds, your phone should prompt you to update your carrier package if a new one is available.

You may receive a popup asking you to update your carrier settings out of the blue if a high priority update is issued. 

Thanks. I always manually check for a Carrier Update after every iOS software update out of habit. I wasn't sure if the Carrier Settings would automatically update.

Curious what changes they made. Is there a way to tell?

iOS 12.3 is now out. Installed with no issues. (Settings -> General -> Software Update)

A Carrier Settings Update is available as well: Sprint 36.3 (Settings -> General -> About)

By the way, do Carrier Settings automatically update on iOS devices or do you have to do it manually?

17 minutes ago, newyork4me said:

I would never believe a sales-pitch argument to the FCC--that has almost no consequences for misleading statements--over those to investors that are subject to the threat of insurmountable criminal and civil liability.

But, that's just the perspective of a successful businessman and lawyer.

I respectfully disagree.

13 minutes ago, newyork4me said:

See quotes from their transcripts.

I’m glad they’re finally spending money on capex. However, the horse is already out of the barn. Customers aren’t coming to Sprint except for discounted lines (or free lines, which is a whole other issue and the subject of several lawsuits). They churn out once the promos are up. Sprint is spending money and people aren’t coming to stay.

Sprint’s churn and debt service are generating feedback loop drains on the business and the liquidity wall it’s facing is a stark reality.

I believe Sprint’s disclosures to the FCC, especially since they’re backed by highly sensitive information. I wish I had the same faith in their Investor disclosures. This doesn’t mean I support a merger. I don’t. But it means Sprint is finally telling the truth.

11 minutes ago, newyork4me said:

I've already read it.  Sprint is trying to use a failing firm argument to have their objectively verifiable competition-reducing merger approved.  It's hard to dispute the porting ratios, the HHI screen, and the spectrum screen, so they are doing the best they can by claiming they need it or else.

It's literally hogwash.  Read the earnings transcript from yesterday and closely pay attention to the words--Sprint is doing just fine.  They are one year into their network improvement plan and they are already noticing it is working.

According to their reported results from the Investor Update:

Postpaid phone net losses of 189,000 compared to net additions of 55,000 in the year-ago period and net losses of 26,000 in the prior quarter. (NOTE: The current quarter included 129,000 net migrations from prepaid to non-Sprint branded postpaid, compared to 44,000 in the prior year and 107,000 in the prior quarter.)

Postpaid phone churn of 1.82 percent compared to 1.68 percent in the year-ago period and 1.84 percent in the prior quarter.

Adjusted free cash flow* of negative $539 million for the quarter compared to negative $240 million in the year-ago period and negative $908 million in the prior quarter.

I don’t see these metrics as encouraging. The business is running out of runway.

1 minute ago, newyork4me said:

Where is the notion they don't have sufficient cash flow coming from?  They are significant generators of cash flow from operations. 

From one of Sprint’s FCC Filings: https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/1041986365867/Sprint Standalone Ex Parte Revised - REDACTED - 4.19.2019 AS-FILED.pdf

Relevant statements about Sprint’s cash flow issues appear throughout it. See Pages 1,4,6,8,9,13,17,18,19,36,37,39,40,41 and read the main section about cash flow/debt from Page 36 - Page 42.

21 minutes ago, newyork4me said:

No.  Because Sprint does not intend on retiring all their debt.  They'll reissue it...corporate notes are a little like credit cards.  Sure the full balance may come due every month ("mature"), but a whole lot of people let the vast majority of it roll over to the next month ("reissue a new corporate note").

And how long can Sprint keep that up for without sufficient free cash flow?

3 minutes ago, Tengen31 said:

What will the combined capex be under New Tmobile?

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Here’s an FCC Filing submitted to Commissioner Rosenwercel: https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/10419537725960/4-19-19 Rosenworcel Public Ex Parte.pdf

Rural Capex is redacted on Page 2.

However, their promise to “invest nearly $40 Billion into the 5G network and business in the first three years” is not redacted on Page 6.

7 minutes ago, tyroned3222 said:

Even if cash flow positive.. how is sprint going to cover debt payments that are coming due.. plus a bigger return on investment needs to happen. A churn of 1.81% can’t continue.. and once cash flow positive the numbers are going to be small


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Sprint has a churn bomb combined with a debt bomb on the horizon. It said that in its FCC Filing.

The engine is leaking oil faster than Sprint can pour it in... and it’s going to get harder to get more oil.