RedSpark

Sprint has only announced 5G for nine cities so far, so I imagine Massive MIMO will be coming to additional cities in due time. Perhaps stealth work is already underway in other markets? Isn't Sprint only deploying 5G on split mode Massive MIMO gear making the gear a prerequisite for the deployment?

What are you referring to in saying "spotty cities"?

Good summary writeup of Saw's comments on 5G, Massive MIMO and intra-band carrier aggregation.

We might never find out if the settlement terms are confidential... Of course it’s possible there could be a miscellaneous item indicated for it on Sprint’s balance sheet.

As far as forecasting for next quarter, perhaps!

https://www.t-mobile.com/news/t-mobile-q1-2019-earnings https://investor.t-mobile.com/financial-performance/quarterly-results/default.aspx https://www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/t-mobile-racks-up-more-customers-as-it-awaits-fate-of-sprint-merger/ T-Mobile had a great quarter so it seems... Sprint should be announcing earnings soon... Sprint’s Fiscal 4Q 2017 Earnings Call was held on May 2, 2018.... But we haven’t heard a word about it even being calendared yet for this year. Perhaps Sprint’s delay/silence has something to do with the Merger?

Yeah, you're definitely right about that. Hopefully the days of Apple's antenna design issues are behind it now. I've been very pleased with how my iPhone XS performs. I imagine that as far as mmWave goes, it's going to require a pretty substantial deployment by the carriers to meet Apple's standards/timing for releasing an iPhone capable of supporting it. Apple's rationale being that it would rather not support a feature at all than support it prematurely such that it won't result in a good customer experience on the device. Yeah, Apple will have to get used to not detuning Qualcomm Modems! This actually leaves open the possibility of Apple using the Intel XMM 7660 Modem in Fall 2019 and then sole-source by using a non-detuned Qualcomm Snapdragon X24 Modem in Fall 2020, unless Apple decides to release a 5G iPhone with the Qualcomm X55 5G Modem in Fall 2020. Otherwise, Apple could use the Qualcomm X55 5G Modem or its successor in Fall 2021 if it decides to delay a 5G iPhone until then. I wonder how quickly Sprint plans to ramp up beyond the 9 5G cities it's announced so far. We haven't heard anything else about that yet have we?

That's true... I really hope this isn't the case. I guess it's all part of a consideration where the carrier networks stand at some point. AT&T: https://www.att.com/5g/consumer/ --> AT&T has its "5G E" logo on select devices. Actual 5G is currently live in parts of 19 cities. T-Mobile: https://www.t-mobile.com/5g --> Launching in the second half of 2019: https://www.engadget.com/2019/02/25/t-mobile-5g-launch-delayed/ Verizon: https://www.verizonwireless.com/5g/ --> Launched in parts of Chicago/Minneapolis... 20 more cities just announced for this year. Sprint: https://www.sprint.com/en/landings/5g.html --> Launching in May for Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas and Kansas City. Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Phoenix and Washington D.C. are slated to launch in the first half of 2019. According to Dan Riccio in this Mashable interview, Apple locked down the design for the iPhone X in November 2016, and it launched in November 2017. Assuming the same lead time in the design cycle, perhaps Apple will evaluate where carriers' 5G networks stand in Fall 2019 and make a decision on what's coming as far as 5G for Fall 2020 and Fall 2021 iPhones. The iPhone XS/XS Max has the Intel XMM 7560 Modem. In terms of available Intel LTE Modems that have been published, I think we're likely to see the Intel XMM 7660 Modem in the Fall 2019 iPhones. It's marketed as a Gigabit+ LTE Modem that supports more than 45 bands (vs. more than 35 bands in the Intel XMM 7560 Modem), and it has support for 7CA DL and 2CA UL. As far as the modem pipeline beyond that, there's nothing else on Intel's website, save for the 5G modem that Apple/Intel has said it won't use, so I have a feeling Apple will switch over to Qualcomm for 2020.... or it could have decided to completely pull the rug out from Intel and use Qualcomm Modems in the 2019 iPhones. The iPhone 8/8+/X used the Qualcomm Snapdragon X16 LTE Modem (alongside the Intel XMM 7480 Modem).... and had Qualcomm/Apple made a modem deal for the iPhone XS/XS+ Apple would have likely used used the Qualcomm Snapdragon X20 LTE Modem alongside the Intel XMM 7560 Modem in the iPhone XS/XS+... but that didn't happen. So I think we could see the Qualcomm Snapdragon X24 LTE Modem in the Fall 2019 iPhones, or Apple could decide to save this modem for Fall 2020 if it doesn't launch a 5G model in Fall 2020. It seems like it could potentially be a step up from Intel's XMM 7660. As far as 5G modems go, I think this is the one we'll be seeing in a future 5G iPhone, especially given T-Mobile's 600 MHz holdings for 5G and the fact that Apple tends to like single chip solutions: Qualcomm X55 5G Modem So to tie this back in, I believe mass network feature adoption happens primarily with Apple devices because of the upgrade cycle, such as with Sprint's "iPhone Forever" and Apple's "iPhone Upgrade Program". In so doing, I think Apple actually moves the carriers along on their networks more than other device manufacturers, even if they aren't necessarily the first to launch with those features, and this is because of the surge of new devices hitting the networks.

Hopefully Sprint doesn't implement a 5G upcharge like Verizon is doing for 5G.... https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/25/18515605/verizon-5g-cities-galaxy-s10-5g-preorders The S10 5G starts at $1,299, which is nuts in of itself in my opinion, but it's also $10/month extra for 5G..... This harkens back to the Premium Data Fee for Sprint when WiMax came out. However, if you order right now.... Verizon "says it will waive the $10/mth 5G Ultra Wideband access fee, and toss in a free Samsung Wireless Charging Battery Pack and free pair of Samsung Galaxy Buds." It also seems Verizon is counting on switchers and device trade-ins to offset the cost of the device for customers. I wonder if Sprint will utilize a similar promotion/adoption strategy going forward when the S10 5G arrives on its network. I also wonder what say Apple has in plan pricing with carriers. When the 5G iPhone drops in 2020 (most likely), it may not be happy with carrier upcharges for 5G.

What does "RGB everything life" mean? 😀

T-Mobile, Sprint trash-talk their own networks in bid to merge Here's the FCC filing from the meeting they had with FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel: https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/10419537725960/4-19-19 Rosenworcel Public Ex Parte.pdf

Wow. Thanks for sharing these links. This seemed inevitable given the disparity between the financial statements/comments and the FCC filings.

Here’s what Verizon had to say about Millimeter Wave: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/04/millimeter-wave-5g-isnt-for-widespread-coverage-verizon-admits/ Given all these shortcomings, Sprint should be in the driver’s seat with 2.5 GHz if it could make the appropriate capex happen.

Yeah, but there's at least been some incremental progress on it: https://newsroom.sprint.com/sprint-spidercloud-small-cell.htm https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/sprint-achieves-120-140-mbps-laa-deployment-spidercloud-says-laa-long-term-roadmap https://www.aglmediagroup.com/sprint-uses-corning-spidercloud-to-address-cellular-enterprise-market/

Back in May 2018, Sprint said this about Millimeter Wave: https://www.fiercewireless.com/5g/sprint-millimeter-wave-spectrum-important-part-our-strategy-going-forward

Looks like AT&T and Sprint settled the "Fake 5G" lawsuit: https://9to5mac.com/2019/04/22/sprint-att-5g-e-lawsuit-settlement/

Neville's latest thoughts on Millimeter Wave.... and why the merger needs to happen.... https://www.t-mobile.com/news/the-5g-status-quo-is-clearly-not-good-enough Here's what Dr. Saw has said about Millimeter Wave previously: https://www.lightreading.com/mobile/5g/sprint-says-no-to-mmwave-yes-to-mobile-5g/d/d-id/739592 "What is the cost to deliver a bit over millimeter waves? Where is the business case on that?" John Saw asked at the Citi conference in Las Vegas. and "We need to solve the cost challenges before you can scale millimeter wave," Saw said. I guess this is the new Merger strategy now?

You're referring to this: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/04/lawsuit-atts-directv-now-is-a-flop-and-att-lied-to-investors-about-it/ That's not beyond the realm of possibility for Sprint... especially given how any lawsuit would occur subsequent to the alleged "lying". Sprint's FCC Filing is supported by empirical and highly confidential data on its adds/losses, churn, etc. throughout the report. I believe it shows a serious situation. Even more so, Sprint says in the Filing that its investor statements noting certain accomplishments shouldn't detract from the seriousness of its current predicament. See Pages 36-42 of the FCC Filing, which includes this: "The recent improvements in some financial metrics simply cannot, and do not, overcome these fundamental challenges:" On balance, I'm more willing to believe the information in the FCC Filing which specifically references and dismisses the investor statements than in the investor statements alone. If the redacted "highly confidential" information in the Filing was made available to investors, I believe Sprint stock would be substantially impacted... as that information reflects the ground truth of what's happening with Sprint.

Dish, CWA and 22 other entities make case against T-Mobile/Sprint merger https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/dish-cwa-and-22-other-entities-make-case-against-t-mobile-sprint-merger

I respectfully disagree with you on this. The FCC Filing isn’t propaganda in my opinion. Rather, it’s the most realistic and honest assessment of Sprint’s situation given the underlying empirical data on which the claims are based. It reveals a number of truths, including the “Monopole or bust” strategy that Sprint attempted. As far as anything being propaganda, I’ll attach that term to the investor statements, including the ones that Marcelo made over the years.... especially the time when he said this in May 2015: https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/sprint-s-claure-18-24-months-we-ll-be-no-1-or-2-network-performance I don’t believe Sprint will go out of business quickly. However, based on the sobering business fundamentals outlined in the FCC Filing, I believe it will continue to go out of business slowly... and then enter Chapter 11 if SoftBank doesn’t pitch in additional funds or if the credit markets tighten. “Churn-bomb” and “Liquidity wall” as used and supported in the report aren’t overstatements in my opinion. Sprint may be in better shape now than it was in certain respects in prior years, but it’s analogous to repainting a house when the foundation is cracking. I’m perfectly fine with Masa looking for a buyer. What I’m not fine with is that Sprint has been brought to the brink of a steep downward slope by SoftBank’s mis-management and devalued by its failure to adequately support its asset. Yeah, I think Sprint/T-Mobile will litigate this if the merger isn’t approved.

The redacted portions of Sprint’s FCC Filing contain some very hard truths and figures about Sprint’s current predicament. That information isn’t doom/gloom commentary. It’s a sobering fact-based report that Sprint is in big trouble as a company. See Pages 1-7, especially Page 4: “Sprint’s Public Statements About Select Improvements in Financial Metrics Do Not Alter the Fundamental Challenges It Faces as a Standalone Company”

https://www.cnet.com/news/t-mobiles-john-legere-denies-justice-department-pushback-on-sprint-merger/ Hmmmmm.....

Yes. I do recall that as well. However, this Filing appears to be a much more bleak assessment of Sprint than before. Although we can't see the numbers/info behind the highly confidential redactions, it seems apparent from the visible language that explains these numbers/info in the Filing that Sprint is in deeper trouble than it was before, and it's only getting worse as time goes on. How would Sprint otherwise spin this empirical data that it's putting forward to the FCC?

Do you believe Sprint is being forthright/honest in its FCC Filing, or is it making gloom/doom embellishments for merger purposes?