RedSpark

Won’t voice be supported when VoLTE launches starting this Fall?

Sounds like Marcelo is cleaning house again. I guess the management hierarchy he previously implemented wasn’t working well enough?

Holy cow.... didn’t see this coming: Sprint dismantles much of its regional leadership structure; 10 leaders depart

Looks like Dish is starting to move on things: https://www.fiercewireless.com/5g/dish-allocates-up-to-1b-for-wireless-network-buildout-through-2020

You can see Sprint’s debt schedule, associated interest rates, and maturity dates here: http://investors.sprint.com/financials/default.aspx Seems like they wanted lower interest debt while the rates are still good. As you can see from the schedule, Sprint has been able to get its interest rates down overall. Sprint will probably do another Spectrum Co tranche down the road. Some good Bloomberg pieces on this: https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2018-02-20/sprint-to-sell-1-billion-of-junk-bonds-as-it-builds-5g-network ”Sprint issued $1.5 billion of unsecured junk bonds in a sale it boosted from $1 billion, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The eight-year notes, which the Overland Park, Kansas-based company can’t buy back, priced to yield 7.625 percent, after around 7.75 percent was discussed, said the person, who asked not to be identified as the details are private.” and https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2018-02-20/sprint-s-endless-turnaround-effort-takes-it-back-to-junk-bonds “The smallest of the four leading U.S. wireless carriers sold $1.5 billion of unsecured junk bonds due in 2026, which can’t be bought back even if interest rates rise. It was Sprint’s first sale in the high-yield market in three years, putting pressure on the carrier’s existing bonds, which were among the worst performers in the Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Index on Tuesday.” and ”Sprint faces about $9 billion in debt maturities over the next two years and plans to use another batch of its airwave licenses to raise more money, Combes said on a Jan. 2 earnings call.” Sprint now has over $37 Billion in debt from this: https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2018/02/20/sprint-debt-public-offering.html

Great write-up by Dr. Saw on the difference that HPUE makes for Network Coverage and Speed: http://newsroom.sprint.com/new-hpue-report.htm?linkId=48356122

http://investors.sprint.com/news-and-events/press-releases/press-release-details/2018/Sprint-Announces-Upsizing-and-Pricing-of-15-Billion-Senior-Notes-Offering/default.aspx Sprint upsized its Notes offering.

It must be going well?

That’s a good question. Perhaps Sprint feels it can get a better rate on the open market now vs later. The Spectrum Lease Co seems like it can be done at a later time with more flexibility. Looking at Sprint’s debt schedule (maturity dates) and its liquidity (on Page 17), things seem like they’ll get busy in the coming 1-2 years. Perhaps Spectrum Co Lease would be used as a supplement then?

My understanding is that Sprint is doing limited testing for VoLTE on iOS devices in certain markets. It’s not actually Calling Plus. iOS devices are not getting Calling Plus, but instead making the jump directly to VoLTE when it launches this Fall. According to Apple, VoLTE is supported on the iPhone 6 and later: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203078

http://investors.sprint.com/news-and-events/press-releases/press-release-details/2018/Sprint-Announces-1-Billion-Senior-Notes-Offering/default.aspx Sprint’s issuing $1 Billion of Notes. ”Sprint intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes.” Thoughts on this?

I imagine it takes time for this information to flow across teams. I’m not sure what the lead time is for generating the Coverage Map updates, but perhaps that has something to do with it. If you’re aware of specific sites that are missing, you should mention it in a reply to /u/Craig-S (https://www.reddit.com/user/Craig-S) on the Sprint Subreddit in this current Coverage Map thread: /u/Craig-S is one of the people in charge of Sprint’s Coverage Map, and he’s participating in this thread. He also said about a month ago in an older Coverage Map thread that they were reviewing all of their processes:

From way back when: https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1974126,00.asp It’s been on Android for a while. Sprint TV Android App: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobitv.client.sprinttvng&hl=en Here’s when it came to iOS (2012): https://9to5mac.com/2012/02/28/sprinttv-comes-to-iphone-bringing-abc-cbs-nbc-espn-disney-mtv-and-comedy-central-with-it iOS App: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sprinttv/id494686127?mt=8 I wonder what the future of Sprint TV is. It doesn’t seem to be getting any attention at all. Perhaps they’ll shut it down entirely after the HULU Live Upgrade is available for Sprint customers.

The Rock?! Where/when did you see this?

Neat!

It’s a gradual rollout so that it can be pulled quickly without affecting too many people if there are issues.

I wonder what the latest with TIDAL is. Unless I missed it, I don’t it remember it being mentioned on the recent Earnings Call. Sprint apparently put $200 Million into it for a 33% stake. (https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/23/sprint-takes-33-stake-in-tidal-plans-to-offer-it-to-its-45m-users/) TIDAL is mentioned on the website here: http://www.sprint.com/network Sprint TV never seems to come up either: https://shop2.sprint.com/en/services/power_vision/sprint_tv.shtml http://shop.sprint.com/mysprint/services_solutions/details.jsp?detId=tv&catId=service_ready_now&catName=Ready+Now&detName=Sprint+TV&specialCat= https://www.sprint.com/landings/tvguide/ Although there are Apps for iOS/Android, it seems pretty neglected... I wonder if that service is being deprecated.

Marcelo’s take on Verizon’s Go90 possibly going away: https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/964080783597056000 Shots fired. UPDATE: It’s official: https://www.fiercecable.com/cable/go90-gets-officially-folded-into-oath-multi-platform-agenda-brand-set-to-fade-away

WOO-HOO!!! This going to be a great year for Sprint.

Yeah, it’ll be interesting to see how quickly this strand-mount equipment gets installed and lit up. I wish Sprint could make a similar deal here in DC with RCN. (I don’t think Comcast would ever go for it given its arrangement with Verizon.) Otherwise, I think we’re stuck going through the traditional tower build/small cell process for densification: https://octo.dc.gov/page/small-cells Sprint has quite a few towers to upgrade around here to full Triband with Band 41. Perhaps that upgrade process doesn’t require as much of a permit process.

Sprint needs to get the rest of its sites upgraded with Band 41, and it needs to densify. I can understand where this test result is coming from as of the last count that I recall as released by Sprint, 50% of Sprint’s sites didn’t have Band 41 on them. In DC, it’s obvious where Sprint has made improvements and where it hasn’t yet. From my Rootmetrics Speed Tests, I’ve seen Sprint’s download Speeds range from 115 Mbps to 1.5 Mbps by merely going 20-30 blocks over to the other side of town. When the speeds I get are slow, I report it in My Sprint, but these slower speeds are not a surprise to me when I look at the S4GRU tower maps. The network is swamped from the massive growth of DC’s population in newly redeveloped areas of town and the network can’t keep up. Hopefully, this upgrade/build goes quickly and Sprint does better on the next go around.

I agree. I spent some time in Passaic and East Rutherford a few weeks ago and seemed like the network performance reflected either overloaded Band 25 or fast Band 41. That area needs some attention for sure.

https://www.fiercetelecom.com/telecom/sprint-rebuilds-federal-public-sector-market-presence-taps-felix-to-lead-new-division I’m glad to see Sprint refocusing on the Federal Sector, and tapping an experienced leader for the initiative. Chris Felix will be the VP of government solutions and lead the effort. He has 27 years in the telecom industry, including several years at Verizon! “Prior to coming to Sprint, Felix served as the VP of federal government sales for Verizon Wireless. During his three-year tenure leading Verizon Wireless’ federal efforts, Felix established contracts with several federal civilian and defense agencies, including the FBI, Secret Service, GSA, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Defense.” Time for Sprint’s DC/MD/VA Network to get some CapEx!

Looks like Marcelo recently met with Ajit Pai, FCC Chairman of the FCC: https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/1020841294284/Ex parte 020618 Pai.pdf Hopefully the FCC can accelerate the 800 MHz rebanding process so that Sprint can finally put this chapter behind it.

I know Network stuff is set to ramp up, and I hope Sprint plans to post more updates on its progress in different markets as its towers are upgraded to Triband and new towers are built.