RedSpark

Sprint sure loves its robots!!!

Sprint offers some employees bonuses to stay on board: report

Also see Slide 22 of the Merger Sales Pitch PDF: https://allfor5g.com/content/uploads/2018/04/CREATING-ROBUST-COMPETITION-IN-THE-5G-ERA-2.pdf

Apparently, they’re on-air and being tested in Dallas, LA and NYC:

Yeah... I was thinking that “Next-Gen” upgrades progress as a benchmark in one area would bode well for updates in another.

Correct. Sorry for the confusion. My reference was to the “Next-Gen” Network mention that Saw made.

A good sign for the upcoming Super Bowl!!! Super Bowl LIII: https://atlsuperbowl53.com/ Perhaps Massive MIMO will launch by then.

I agree. $200 Million is a drop in the bucket for capex overall... but if it was targeted capex reserved for Sprint’s poorest performing sites, it could have done a huge amount of good. Instead, as you said, it was largely wasted on this Promo which was poorly executed to the point that the offer was claimed by non-Sprint customers. Looking back at how the merger came together, Sprint seemed to have money for everything but its network. It’s really frustrating to see this. The Hulu Offer makes a lot more sense. Hulu is a competitive service right in line with Netflix. On the other hand, Tidal doesn’t have a real future vs its competitors.

Great question. This Tidal investment was a bad idea from the start in my opinion. It was a distraction from actually improving the network.

Honestly, Sprint’s Tidal investment was a waste of $200 Million with very limited upside. I don’t understand why they did this. There’s too much competition in Music steaming and Tidal isn’t even on the radar vs Apple Music, etc.

Very neat!

I do share your sentiment and I don’t mean to be a buzzkill here... but this petition, even if it reaches the official threshold, may not get an official response beyond a “decline to comment” per the Terms and Conditons for “We The People”... and here’s why: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/about To avoid the appearance of improper influence, the White House may decline to address certain procurement, law enforcement, adjudicatory, or similar matters properly within the jurisdiction of federal departments or agencies, federal courts, or state and local government in its response to a petition. Where possible, we will notify signers of petitions whose content falls into these areas, in instances in which we don't feel we will be able to respond meaningfully. _________ The White House will likely say this falls under the purview of other federal departments or agencies: FTC/FCC/DOJ, etc.

The next iPhone will likely have support for 600 MHz and HPUE. As far as the the model breakdown: Apple will either continue with the 2 separate models: GSM for AT&T/T-Mobile using an Intel Modem and CDMA/GSM for Sprint/Verizon/Unlocked using a Qualcomm Modem.... or Apple will make a single model using only Intel Modems which are capable of both CDMA/GSM (or supplementing with Qualcomm to ensure supply if necessary). If Apple leaves support for 600 MHz (or HPUE for that matter) off of the Sprint model handset, I’ll be pretty upset to say the least...

Would the combined companies support HPUE?

When the Sprint/T-Mobile Roaming Agreement kicks in, how will that affect Network Mapping in each of the Apps? (Sensorly, Rootmetrics, OpenSignal, etc.)

Apple absent from growing Sprint HPUE device list (October 27, 2017) A Sprint representative told Mobile World Live the operator expects more than 10 per cent of its smartphone base to have an HPUE-enabled phone by the end of 2017. The figure is anticipated to grow to more than 33 per cent of the base in 2018, she added. —————————————— So according to this, there’s quite a way to go for Sprint in terms of seeding HPUE devices to the user base. Apple could do its part by actually releasing a device that supports it. ?

Considering the fact that iPhones don’t support HPUE yet, this is a real issue, and I’ve experienced it. Perhaps Apple deserves some of the blame here as well for being such a laggard on this, but they don’t support 600 MHz either for T-Mobile. (Heck, the iPhone SE doesn’t even support Carrier Aggregation.) Sprint’s in a fix here since a substantial number of devices on its network don’t support HPUE.

I wonder what impact the announced merger will have on Sprint's (or T-Mobile's) participation in the Millimeter Wave Auction: Sprint: Millimeter wave spectrum is ‘important part of our strategy going forward’ Auction begins in November.

At least Sprint's VoLTE plans for launching this Fall haven't changed: Sprint's roaming agreement with T-Mobile doesn't impact VoLTE rollout

Wouldn't it also be the case that if Sprint didn't do this, it wouldn't perform as well in the RootMetrics/OpenSignal/Ookla Download rankings, which is what most people seem to pay the most attention to?

This Offer is not marketed at all. It's essentially word of mouth, which is by design. Sprint wanted to test a completely self-service digital offer that runs with essentially no promotion or advertising. The most exposure this deal got was on Slickdeals or on other boards. The program is self-limiting in a way: People have to own their device, know how to do BYOD and have an eligible device on the BYOD list for the Program: https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/offers/free-unlimited.html Not everyone meets these criteria or hears about the Offer.

T-Mobile was als in a position to execute on that spectrum. It had Fiber backhaul running to its tower sites... whereas Sprint pre-Network Vision did not on a substantial number of them. It had T-1's or bundled T-1's if I recall correctly. The delays and costs of getting backhaul to the sites (and the substantial number of customers fleeing while this went on as part of Network Vision) played an integral role as to where we are today.

Depends how it’s valued: In announcing on Monday that it was ending the $39 billion takeover attempt, AT&T said it would pay T-Mobile’s parent, Deutsche Telekom, a $4 billion breakup fee. But on Tuesday morning, Deutsche Telekom officials placed the value of the fee at a significantly higher $6 billion. What’s behind the wide gap between the two numbers? As it turns out, it’s a matter of accounting. The fee comprises both $3 billion in cash and cellular airwaves, known in the industry as spectrum. It is the latter that accounts for the divergence. AT&T is using the book value of the spectrum, which is about $1 billion, people briefed on the matter told DealBook. But Deutsche Telekom is citing the market value of the spectrum, which it calculates at about $3 billion.

I always wondered why Sprint was pushing for that reserve in the 600 MHz auction and then completely backed out saying how it didn't need it. Perhaps this really was the plan all along as you said. If Masa wasn't such a big spender on ARM ($32 Billion!!!), Boston Robotics, Uber, etc., Sprint could have bought that 600 MHz, had a healthy amount of Capex to go along with it, and it wouldn't be merging with T-Mobile with a claim that: https://allfor5g.com/sparking-the-5g-economy/ Only T-Mobile Can Create the FIRST Nationwide 5G Network There is only one company that has the right mix of available spectrum, financial strength and management expertise to create the FIRST nationwide 5G network. That is the New T-Mobile! The lifeblood of the wireless industry is spectrum and to build a 5G network, you need the right mix of available lowband, midband and high band. Only the New T-Mobile will have the right mix of available spectrum. With Sprint’s expansive 2.5 GHz spectrum, T-Mobile’s nationwide 600 MHz spectrum, and other combined assets, the New T-Mobile plans to create the highest capacity network in U.S. history. The U.S. must move quickly and our leadership can do just that. T-Mobile deployed nationwide LTE twice as fast as Verizon and three times as fast as AT&T. ---------------------- What a sad situation this is.

Looking at Page 17 (Liquidity) of the Investor Presentation, Sprint seems to be in fine shape as far as its Liquidity and Debt are concerned.