RedSpark

I agree. Improving the product will improve perception. Sprint doesn’t have the brand power or equity to rely on a rebrand. In fact, a rebrand would be a total disaster. Sprint needs to do what Domino’s Pizza did: You could essentially substitute Sprint Corporate folks for the Domino’s ones. Instead of crust, sauce and cheese, you talk about towers, spectrum, Speed/Coverage. This is what Sprint needs to do. I’d actually love to see a video like this from Sprint, shot on location in Overland Park HQ, in conjunction with actual progress of course. We’ll hopefully get a better sense of where things stand in terms of Sprint’s plans/progress from Dr. Saw’s discussion at CES on January 10th at 2:45PM ET: http://investors.sprint.com/news-and-events/press-releases/press-release-details/2018/Sprint-CTO-John-Saw-to-Speak-Jan-10-at-Citis-2018-Global-TMT-West-Conference/default.aspx We’ll also learn more during Sprint’s upcoming Earnings Call, which I believe should happen at the end of January, so I expect details on that to be announced soon.

Important Updates Released Today: https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/08/apple-releases-ios-and-macos-updates-with-a-mitigation-for-spectre/

The way to fix this is to have a nationwide secret shopper program run by an outside entity under the direction of Sprint management in order to document these issues for resolution by senior management. This program needs to run for the foreseeable future and the findings need to reach the highest levels of management for resolution.

A brand change would be very expensive to do. This money would be better used for improving the network in my opinion. A brand change would also be ineffective in my opinion. People would remember the old brand name and reputation for a very long time. Given that there are only 4 Major Wireless Carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint), Sprint’s Legacy Branding and Reputation wouldn’t simply go down the Internet (or off-Internet) memory hole for the foreseeable future. There would be a slew of articles and press referring to Sprint’s rebrand which will continue the association with its legacy brand. The saturated wireless market would constantly refer to Sprint’s old branding and reputation. This is therefore not a near term fix nor a long term one, as it takes resources that could be better used for tangible improvements to the business and product. In short, I’d expect a rebrand to have as much effect as Comcast trying to call itself Xfinity. Was this even a real rebrand? I’m still not sure. However, it didn’t work. T-Mobile went through a terrible branding period... and it’s emerged fine on the other side. No rename necessary. Here’s the solution and it’s nothing novel: Network, Network, Network. Make the Network blow the other guys’ out of the water. Distribute flagship devices to prominent columnists (Sascha Segan, etc.) and have them write reviews on the Network. Share these reviews widely. Here’s a start: https://www.pcmag.com/review/358021/lg-v30 https://twitter.com/saschasegan/status/945682340105289729 https://twitter.com/saschasegan/status/945688172943593473 The customers will come if the product is better. People are savvy enough to see through a brand change and it would be a waste of money. A brand change would be a waste because Sprint doesn’t have a perception problem as much as it has a product problem. Here’s what’s wrong with the product: Sprint doesn’t have Band 41 on 50% of its towers (or about 30% of its POPS) . It doesn’t have Band 26 on many others. It needs thousands of more tower sites to improve coverage on its existing footprint and at the fringes where there’s been suburban development that has exceeded the capacity of the Network. It needs to get all three LTE Bands deployed on every site. Sprint doesn’t have VoLTE for simultaneous Voice/Data (and for good reason as we all know why, but Prospective Customers don’t and may not switch.).

https://www.recode.net/2018/1/6/16858802/sprint-marcelo-claure-uber-board-17-directors Sprint’s Marcelo Claure will join Uber’s board, which is set to grow to 17 directors Once on the CEO list, he’ll take one of two SoftBank seats — the other going to the Vision Fund’s Rajeev Misra.

https://twitter.com/SprintCTO/status/949294540745297920 Good stuff!

Here’s FW’s take on him: https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/sprint-s-claure-replaces-cfo-former-altice-exec-michel-combes

Yeah. Tarek really brought things under control. This could have been part of the Altice Deal all along. When Tarek was speaking about it at those investor events last year, I’ll bet he knew at the time that he would be replaced in the new year by this person.

Mentioned in the news release: http://newsroom.sprint.com/sprint-names-accomplished-telecom-and-cable-industry-executive-michel-combes-as-president-chief-financial-officer.htm Makes sense given Sprint’s deal with Altice (Background: http://newsroom.sprint.com/sprint-altice-usa-announce-strategic-mvno-agreement.htm) Most recently, he served as CEO, and previously Chief Operating Officer, of Altice N.V., a convergent global leader in telecom, content, media, entertainment, and advertising, and chairman and CEO onf SFR Group, a leading French telecommunications and media company. During his tenure he led the company through the integration of newly acquired U.S. businesses, developed significant partnerships and media rights to bring exciting and in-demand content to its customers.

https://www.rcrwireless.com/20180103/business/softbank-continues-to-buy-up-sprint-stock-tag17 SoftBank has been picking up more Sprint stock. It’s at 84.1% ownership now. Max is 85%, at which point it’s required to buy the rest of Sprint’s stock.

https://twitter.com/SprintCTO/status/948586846044524544 Dr. Saw is speaking at Citi’s 2018 Global TMT West Conference in Las Vegas, NV on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018 at 2:45 PM ET. A livestream/replay will be available and I’m sure SeekingAlpha will have a transcript as well.

That’s a good question. No mention of COW’s in the article at all. I hope Sprint continues to devote this level of CapEx to each “Big Game” City market going forward.

I wonder how aggressively Sprint plans to swap out the Clearwire equipment as part of its CapEx surge. DC’s downtown core could really benefit from Massive MIMO. I’ll have to check out the Macy’s too! Good find. I’ll keep an eye on that page too. Sprint has really thrown down the gauntlet for this year’s “Big Game” in Minneapolis: http://newsroom.sprint.com/network-big-game.htm ......and those upgrades are permanent! The preparation for the Presidential Inauguration in January 2017 seems like it was the last large scale CapEx surge for DC: http://newsroom.sprint.com/sprints-dc-network-ready-to-support-great-american-tradition-presidential-inauguration.htm Here’s how Sprint prepared for the Pope to visit DC (and elsewhere) before that: http://newsroom.sprint.com/preparing-for-pope-francis.htm And here’s the after-action report: http://newsroom.sprint.com/capturing-and-sharing-the-pope-francis-visit.htm Perhaps we need a “Big Game” in DC!

Massive MIMO will make a huge difference in dense urban areas. DC’s in-town population has grown substantially since I’ve lived here. Tons of condos and new developments all over the place. Pehaps we’ll get a sense of where things stand during the next Earnings Call. (TBD, but at the end of January I believe based on past practice.)

Yes. Absolutely! Hopefully Dr. Saw (https://twitter.com/SprintCTO) and Joe Meyer (https://twitter.com/SprintNetwk) continue the strong advocacy for Sprint’s network tech that Günther did such a good job communicating on. Made it out to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA today. (https://airandspace.si.edu/udvar-hazy-center) Amazing exhibits of planes, rockets, etc.. Of course I mapped the network a little too!

Happy New Year’s! Looks like Rootmetrics Maps are working again for Speed Test mapping in its Coverage Map App on iOS. Did some speed tests walking around the DuPont Circle area of DC yesterday around lunchtime. Saw the hexes were updated with my Tests this morning! Great progress with more to come hopefully this year as more small cells/sites are deployed and as all sites are upgraded with all three LTE bands.

Günther’s passing the baton... https://twitter.com/guengott68/status/946714104038903809 to Joe Meyer... https://twitter.com/SprintNetwk Dr. John Saw will hopefully take this up as well: https://twitter.com/SprintCTO

I’ve got some family out in Derwood too! Sprint definitely needs some more towers out there. Coverage really drops off in the area between Rockville/Gaithersburg and Olney, north of Norbeck Country Club. I report the network issues as often as I can.

Sascha Segan is highlighting some Sprint improvements in NYC: https://twitter.com/saschasegan/status/945682340105289729 https://twitter.com/saschasegan/status/945688172943593473 https://twitter.com/saschasegan/status/945746289827950592 So nice to see this happening. Bring the network love to DC!

Title II regulation is going to deter and prevent exactly the kind of competition and investments you want to have happen.

Do you want full Title II designation and regulation, or something less than that?

Is HPUE limited to Qualcomm devices?

Hopefully by the time an HPUE iPhone is released for my annual upgrade in the Fall, Sprint will have Band 41 on many more of its cell sites and there will be a greater difference in performance between HPUE and Non-HPUE Devices.

If he had combined his Tweet with announcing that Sprint was increasing CapEx by $1 Billion as a result or bringing back US Care jobs, that would be better? I’d be happy about it too. I hope it happens. Even if Marcelo doesn’t Tweet it, anything he says during an earnings call or other interview can get picked up by a site and spread around to Social Media the same way. It’s true that Apple (and Tim Cook) is in a financial position to not care what anyone thinks about most things... but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t closely scrutinized on everything coming out of that place.

Sprint’s going all-in in Minneapolis: http://newsroom.sprint.com/network-big-game.htm Great stuff.