RedSpark

That's right. Marcelo shared some stats on it here: Separately, some of you have written about our recent BYOD trial offering a free year of service, and what impact this would have on the quarter. This offer represented 1% of our postpaid phone gross additions in the quarter, which was in line with our expectation, and has provided good insights into digital sales and marketing. This offer test a complete end-to-end digital acquisition model that could materially lower sales costs, if capable of scaling to a significant volume. Also, this represent a different approach to the high cost of subscriber acquisition in our industry.

That's a great point. Sprint went from saying "'600 MHz is 'spectrum of the past'" because of its 2.5 GHz Spectrum holdings: “We did not participate in the 600 MHz (auction) not because we didn’t have money at the time, or we were under-resourced for it,” he said. “It is simply spectrum that is spectrum of the past. The world is moving toward high-capacity wireless data networks, and in that world the best and most efficient spectrum that is needed for that… is mid-band spectrum, the spectrum that we have, the 2.5 GHz spectrum.” and so it pulled out of the 600 MHz auction..... to now saying this about 600 MHz: 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. ------------------------- It feels a bit surreal to be honest.... I don't know if we were supposed to believe this stuff about not needing 600 MHz all along or what, but it's a huge about-face in terms of a position. Misleading?... Yeah... I think so.

I get what you’re saying. Masa put Sprint in an impossible position with no real money for Capex. He essentially had Marcelo as the hatchet man to get rid of the wasteful spending and bloated bureaucracy. However, the plan was always to tie up with T-Mobile all along and Marcelo knew that the whole time of his tenure as CEO. I just can’t help but feel every bit of “coming soon” network messaging, up to and including the Massive MIMO/5G deployment announcement we got from Sprint on February 27, 2018 (http://newsroom.sprint.com/sprint-unveils-5g-ready-massive-mimo-markets.htm) was a delaying action to get us to this recent Merger announcement. There was never really a commitment to following through. All the stories about Masa talking about Sprint’s Network Plans for the future, etc. It was all a mirage. I think having 4 viable carriers in some form is extremely important for preserving competition.

When you compare the Rootmetrics App “Fastest Speed Found” Map Layer for T-Mobile vs Sprint, it’s clear that more people have been mapping speeds on T-Mobile than Sprint. This is something I definitely noticed when I would map speeds around DC using the Rootmetrics App. I was amazed at how much more of the “Fastest Speed Found” Map Layer was done by T-Mobile users than by Sprint users. Perhaps this applies to other Map apps such as OpenSignal and Sensorly as well. So maybe there’s not as much to Map as we think as far as the Apps go given the enthusiasm that T-Mobile users seem to have for it. As far as a site map, perhaps we are starting over to a limited extent.

We get to start all over again... yay....

Sprint was on its way out of business when Masa bought it. Unfortunately, he kept it in purgatory for years, while he spent billions on other investments like ARM, Boston Robotics, etc. I don't want this merger to go through. There need to be 4 major carriers to preserve competition. I think Guenther saw the writing on the wall. Perhaps he knew there wasn't a place for him down the road. Sprint was capable of doing this without T-Mobile. It had finally hit its stride... and then suddenly this happens.

Here's something interesting: T-Mobile would owe Sprint $600 million if it walks away from the deal As noted by Axios, Sprint and T-Mobile won’t have to pay a breakup fee if regulators from the FCC or Department of Justice manage to kill the proposed merger. However, according to documents the companies filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, T-Mobile would owe Sprint $600 million if the company decides to walk away from the transaction, among other circumstances. That’s noteworthy considering T-Mobile has credited part of its successes in recent years to the whopping $6 billion breakup fee (which included the transfer of some AWS spectrum) that it obtained from AT&T in 2012 when those companies’ proposed merger fell apart. ............. Here's that section: The Business Combination Agreement contains representations and warranties and covenants customary for a transaction of this nature. Sprint and SoftBank, and T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom, are each subject to restrictions on their ability to solicit alternative acquisition proposals and to provide information to, and engage in discussion with, third parties regarding such proposals, except under limited circumstances to permit Sprint’s and T-Mobile’s boards of directors to comply with their respective fiduciary duties. Subject to certain exceptions, each of the parties has agreed to use its reasonable best efforts to take or cause to be taken actions necessary to consummate the Transactions, including with respect to obtaining required government approvals. The Business Combination Agreement also contains certain termination rights for both Sprint and T-Mobile. In the event that T-Mobile terminates the Business Combination Agreement in connection with a failure to satisfy the closing condition related to the specified minimum credit ratings noted above, then in certain circumstances, T-Mobile may be required to pay Sprint $600 million. ............. There are some other very interesting clauses in the Form 8-K SEC Document that FierceWireless posted: Executive Severance Letters Legere Amendment, Sievert Amendment, Carter Amendment

Masa also spent $32 Billion on ARM back in 2016: https://www.recode.net/2016/7/18/12213472/softbank-buying-arm-chip-design Now it's being used for this: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-arm-leveraged-loans/softbank-mulls-5-billion-loan-on-arm-for-shareholder-payday-idUSKCN1GK2F5 Masa also bought Boston Robotics: https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/08/softbank-is-buying-robotics-firm-boston-dynamics-and-schaft-from-alphabet/ If only that money could have gone to Sprint instead...

Are you going to try to submit some? ? Say you're with "S4GRU & Partners".

That's good to know about HPUE. I've seen this about WiFi on the AirUnity Box spec sheets: https://www.airspan.com/airunity/ A free-standing unit with wireless backhual which can be placed on window sills, tables and shelfs. It supports LTE-A (FDD or TDD) and an optional WiFi AP (802.11n concurrent with 802.11ac). AirUnity is composed of an eNB for access, and a standard high-performance UE relay for wireless backhaul. The brochure has more info on the WiFi specs: https://www.airspan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Airunity-Product-Spec-Sheets-Mar2018.pdf Assuming this feature is built-in, why hasn't Sprint enabled it yet?

http://newsroom.sprint.com/sprint-corporation-schedules-fiscal-2017-fourth-quarter-results-announcement.htm May 2nd at 4:30 PM ET Should be an interesting call...

I'm guessing the next iPhone coming out this year will support both 600 MHz for T-Mobile and HPUE for Sprint...

And there was just this article about him too: https://www.wealthsimple.com/en-us/magazine/money-diary-paul-marcarelli Perhaps we'll see him in a T-Mobile ad?

Yup. That's what's laid out here in the bullet points on Slide 22: https://allfor5g.com/content/uploads/2018/04/CREATING-ROBUST-COMPETITION-IN-THE-5G-ERA.pdf I guess Magic Boxes are dead as part of this? What about HPUE?

If this merger does get approved, this site (under whichever name) will be able to keep track of progress on the Sprint “Keep” Sites and what kinds of upgrades they’re receiving. I imagine this process could take a year or more? I assume new sources/intelligence will be developed for T-Mobile’s Anchor Network going forward?

See Slide 22: https://allfor5g.com/content/uploads/2018/04/CREATING-ROBUST-COMPETITION-IN-THE-5G-ERA.pdf PROVEN OPERATIONAL PLAN FOR SUCCESS Anchor on T-Mobile Network ▪ Fast and low risk delivery of synergies while protecting customer experience ▪ Use T-Mobile as the anchor network and increase network density and coverage with selected Sprint “keep” sites ▪ Deploy 2.5 GHz spectrum on T-Mobile sites and full T- Mobile spectrum portfolio on Sprint “keep” sites ▪ New T-Mobile network of ~85k macro sites and 50k small cells Migrate Customers ▪ Migrate Sprint customers to T-Mobile network within 3 years without degrading experience on Sprint’s network ▪ On Day One, 20 million Sprint customers already have compatible handsets with T-Mobile’s network ▪ Aggressively migrate CDMA voice to VoLTE ▪ Billing and back office system migrations to occur over time minimizing disruption to distribution, care, and operations ——— What about the Magic Box? I remember Sprint had a plan to deploy up to 2.2 Million of them.

And it’s official: http://newsroom.sprint.com/t-mobile-and-sprint-to-combine.htm

TINT SPROBILE ?

Any guesses on the others?

Marcelo has been all over the place.... Tokyo: Kansas City: New York: The travel itinerary of a deal in the works?

It does make a good impression on the Maps though. I try to map wherever I can in the Rootmetrics App for Sprint. I wish Sprint network drive testers ran these apps in the background as well. The Map Layers for Sprint could use a real shot in the arm...

Seems like it. I’m seeing many more speed tested hexes for T-Mobile vs Sprint in the Rootmetrics App. I assume these Speed Tests are providing valuable information for T-Mobile on its network performance? Is this Map Layer updated as part of Rootmetrics drive testing?

So Masa/Marcelo will be in the driver’s seat?

Anyone else find it suspicious that neither Sprint nor T-Mobile have announced their respective Earnings Calls yet? Sprint Investor Relations: http://investors.sprint.com/Home/default.aspx T-Mobile Investor Relations: http://investor.t-mobile.com/

This article succinctly explains T-Mobile’s 5G Deployment Issue... and in my opinion, T-Mobile needs Sprint more than Sprint needs T-Mobile. https://www.pcmag.com/news/360673/t-mobile-5g-wont-start-out-much-faster-than-4g According to Karri Kuoppamaki, T-Mobile's VP of radio network technology development and strategy, higher-frequency millimeter wave spectrum only has cells about 900 feet wide, though Verizon's chief network officer Nicola Palmer said last year that they can get gigabit speeds at 2,000 feet from a cell. _______ This comes out to...... A 900 foot cell radius which comes out to 0.1 square miles. The continental US is over 3 million square miles. It’s therefore pretty hard to make an economic case for a widespread depolyment of Millimeter Wave. While T-Mobile’s 600MHz network has good Propagation, it doesn’t have the capacity for true 5G speeds so it will need to be supplemented with Millimeter Wave for high-speed.... and the economics for a wide deployment of Millimeter Wave are hard to justify. VS. Sprint’s 5G Approach with 2.5 GHz Dr. Saw has said this about Millimeter Wave previously: https://www.lightreading.com/mobile/5g/sprint-says-no-to-mmwave-yes-to-mobile-5g/d/d-id/739592  Sprint's CTO said Wednesday that he is not sure that using millimeter waves to deliver 5G services is a practical economic use of the high-band spectrum and that Sprint will be focusing on using its existing bandwidth to deploy 5G, at least initially. _________ Dr. Saw’s specific quotes about this are very important: "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. __________ Dr. Saw did say that mmWave could be useful as a hotspot "overlay" to a lower band 5G network, but he also added that "the laws of physics say it won't propagate very far." T-Mobile needs Sprint more than Sprint needs T-Mobile.