RedSpark

Time for SoftBank to find some new banks... or it could find itself with a bankrupt asset.

SoftBank doesn't need a bailout. That's the ridiculous thing. They have plenty of money on hand.... They're just not giving it to Sprint. It's pathetic. Masa put Sprint in this position by trying to do a monopole build on the cheap as opposed to a traditional network build... and when that floundered because of regulatory issues that should have always been anticipated as a risk but weren't for some reason, Sprint had no viable backup plan because it had passed on the 600 MHz Spectrum it needed for a traditional network build. Marcelo went along with this because he was a "yes man" to Masa and wanted to ride his coat tails to SoftBank. The Former CFO even used the term "Spectrum of the past" to refer to 600 MHz because there was so much misplaced confidence about this strategy. Interestingly, Guenther got out... Perhaps he had a feeling this wouldn't work or he disagreed with the overall plan.... which is probably why Hesse got the boot by Masa as well. Would Chapter 11 do Sprint some good at this point? If it's about to go off the rails and be relegated to carrier purgatory due to SoftBank's unwillingness to inject any capital, then perhaps it would. What a shame.

Hasn't been announced yet, but late April or early May. Last year's Fiscal 4Q2017 call was held on May 2, 2018: https://investors.sprint.com/news-and-events/past-events/event-details/2018/Fiscal-4Q17-Earnings-Call/default.aspx Just before that was this on April 29, 2018: https://investors.sprint.com/news-and-events/past-events/event-details/2018/Investor-and-Media-Conference-Call/default.aspx Background: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180429005059/en/T-Mobile-Sprint-CEOs-Hold-Call-Investors-Media

Works very well for me here.

Could be... or it could be the other way around: Apple told Intel it was settling with Qualcomm and then Intel got out. I’m thinking Apple will silently acquire Intel’s Modem Business/Patents and then gestate it for years while it runs through the Qualcomm Agreement Period... Then one day... surprise!

Sprint’s recent FCC Filing is enough to get you depressed... Holy cow they’re in trouble. https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/10415297968006/Sprint%20Standalone%20Ex%20Parte%20-%20REDACTED%20-%20FINAL%20-%204.15.2019%20%5BAS-FILED%5D.pdf There’s so much in this it’s frankly overwhelming, but here are these nuggets: “Footnote 55: Sprint chose not to participate in the 600 MHz auction in 2016 partly due to lack of financial resources and the need to spend cash on more immediate network needs, and partly because at the time it expected to successfully densify its network using monopoles, which would have reduced the need for low band spectrum.” Page 33: ”Churn-bomb” Page 38: “Liquidity Wall” If you think they’re telling the truth here, Sprint is in deep trouble...

Yup. https://seekingalpha.com/news/3323100-softbank-boosts-sprint-stake-84_7-percent-ownership At this point, they would have been better taking 100% ownership of Sprint. On February 12, 2016 they could have bought it for $2.66/share... (so could of I as well!).

So they bet the fate of the company on a non-traditional monopole strategy which failed, and now they’re stuck with doing a traditional build but lacking the actual spectrum to do that traditional build in an economical way. It’s like they didn’t anticipate a downside... or perhaps it was “we’ll merge our way out of trouble.” No wonder there was such confidence that 600 MHz was “Spectrum of the past”. The room was probably full of people who were afraid to say no or bad idea to Masa’s network plan... and then it came crashing down to earth. This is up there with the Nextel acquisition in terms of strategic blunders, I’m sorry.

Intel will exit 5G phone modem business, hours after Apple, Qualcomm settle https://www.cnet.com/news/intel-will-exit-5g-modem-business-hours-after-apple-qualcomm-settle/ “"The company will continue to meet current customer commitments for its existing 4G smartphone modem product line, but does not expect to launch 5G modem products in the smartphone space, including those originally planned for launches in 2020," Intel said in a press release. Its only customer in modems is Apple.“” Holy cow!

Yeah. I really hope this happens. I’ve been making the ask! 😀

Either SoftBank will be willing to pay up with a capex infusion or we'll see Sprint become part of another company. Either way, the market will retain four major wireless carrier participants, which I think it needs to. I've been saying for a long time that it was a huge mistake for SoftBank/Sprint to sit out the 600 MHz auction. It was a huge strategic error. Having sat it out, now Sprint is in the position of having to build out a national 5G network using the economics of 2.5GHz, which aren't as bad as Millimeter Wave, but aren't as good as 600 MHz... and it's hilarious to see Sprint justify the T-Mobile merger by saying it lacks low-band spectrum after saying it was "Spectrum of the Past". Just desserts for SoftBank in my opinion.

You can manually report the problem locations in the My Sprint App at a later time by entering the address where it happened. I've been bugging people I know at Sprint to enable a "pin drop" function on the Map so that you wouldn't have to have an exact address to make a report. Hopefully they do this.

There would be layoffs if the companies merged. How can Sprint pay for 5G?... SoftBank can open its wallet and pay for it. It owns nearly 85% of Sprint, and it has to answer to the Sprint/SoftBank shareholders if the Sprint asset continues to lag on its books. If true, this news makes me very happy. A merger would have simply let SoftBank off the hook and it would have resulted in unnecessary carrier consolidation. I don't subscribe to the "Fear China" 5G justifications being put forward at all. Masa/Marcelo: You might want to take your houses off the Market given this news.... https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article42616254.html https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2018/11/18/claure-masayoshi-mission-hills-mansions-for-sale.html You could be sticking around.

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/04/qualcomm-and-apple-agree-to-drop-all-litigation/ How about that.... Qualcomm's back on the menu boys! Perhaps we'll be seeing Qualcomm chips in future iPhones again... Probably too late for the new ones coming this fall given the design cycle. It'll be interesting to see what happens to Intel. My guess is that we'll have a 5G iPhone next year... perhaps with a Qualcomm Modem?

I've had progressively better performance on my iOS devices on Sprint: iPhone 6, 6s, 7, 8, XS. Each has been better than the last one.

Hope it helped! What kind of equipment is this?

I don't think what I said was inherently political. I think this merger has become attached to politics in certain ways, as most things can... Just as interest groups which had nothing to do with wireless (National Education Association, NAACP, GLAAD, etc.) were lumped by AT&T into supporting its attempted merger with T-Mobile at the time: http://www.nea.org/archive/44679.htm. https://archives.cjr.org/the_audit/politico_is_good_on_att_buying.php Of course the merger didn't go through, and I think one of the reasons was "overreach" by AT&T. There was so much BS PR behind that merger, that people eventually saw it for what it was... and of course, there was the leak of the ultimate truth, which undermined the whole case for the merger: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Leaked-ATT-Letter-Demolishes-Case-For-TMobile-Merger-115652 The "Merge or we lose in 5G to china" justification is very much in the same vein. I read this kind of stuff with great skepticism: https://twitter.com/telecoms/status/1114114312346439680 Honestly, it's fear-driving... and Dr. Saw actually retweeted this on April 5, 2019. 5G is important to our economy. However, we have a very different economy than the Chinese do. We shouldn't attempt to replicate what they do or try to beat them with a largely irreversible market consolidation.

Exactly. Sprint is underselling itself so much here it’s ridiculous... but that’s the pitch it has to make to attempt to justify a merger.

None of these are sufficient justifications for a merger in my opinion, because they can be fixed with increased capex and support from SoftBank as the parent company. A merger simply lets SoftBank off easy and subjects the consumer to the negative effects of a consolidated carrier market... and there’s no going back from that in the near/long term. The “Merge or we lose in 5G” argument is such a PR stretch it’s ridiculous.

No it doesn’t. The whole idea of leading or “keeping up” with China for 5G is a farce in my opinion.

Yup. If the money isn’t available, you wind up with a Ferrari that doesn’t have fuel. So much potential. So little money.

https://www.t-mobile.com/news/what-is-your-5g-future Legere is pushing this hard with his trademark infomercial style... Are those “separate company” network maps believable for four years from now?

I hope an analyst asks Sprint about VoLTE at the next Earnings Call... This is getting ridiculous. An expanded satisfaction guarantee is a bad idea in my opinion when you can't yet offer simultaneous voice/data via VoLTE on a majority of devices. This seems like an expensive proposition in the making...

Not that I’ve heard... I’m on an iPhone XS in a supported market so I’ve had it for a while now. I get what you’re feeling. It would seem ridiculous for Sprint to have a 5G launch without officially launching VoLTE... but it’s certainly possible that could happen.

Interesting.... I think it would have been better to wait for VoLTE to go live on more devices.