RedSpark

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.

Dr. Saw with the Year-End Network Update and what’s on the horizon for 2018 and beyond: http://newsroom.sprint.com/celebrating-and-accelerating.htm

Lowering tax expense sets the stage for having more available funds to increase CapEx to improve the network, hopefully bring back Care jobs to the States, and paying down debt faster to accelerate Sprint’s turnaround. I think Marcelo is simply stating that can now happen. Not all of Tim Cook’s opinions make his Twitter feed. He also states them in interviews, Earnings Calls and in company letters. I’d like to hear more about this during Sprint’s next earnings call.

True. Twitter has policies and terms of use for what you can post. Had this been a general news release by Sprint’s Comms Team or on the “Sprint/Sprint News” Twitter Handle, it still would have gotten comments and it still would have been linked back to Marcelo. As CEO, he’s ultimately accountable for statements made by the company as a matter of policy. Marcelo genuinely believes that this will be good for Sprint as a company and for us as customers. If Sprint can devote additional CapEx because of this tax bill and if Sprint’s network and customer service improves as a result and if Sprint’s jobs are brought back from overseas and if employee wages go up and if many of its customers have more money in their pockets due to the tax cut (which they could potentially spend on additonal Sprint Devices or Services if they choose to), I’m trying to understand how that’s a bad thing for us as Sprint customers, for Sprint as a company and for its employees. Marcelo was a Democratic Party donor and hosted a fundraising dinner for Hillary at his home in Florida: http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article103428377.html I think as CEO he was entitled to do that, and the same applies here. He speaks for Sprint’s values and principles. Other CEO’s, like Tim Cook, do the same thing and I similarly support it.

Not sure what you mean by this here. Not sure I understand what distinction you are making? Had Sprint released this as a company statement/tweet from @Sprint, would the reactions have been any different than what we’re seeing on Marcelo’s Tweet? You have multiple executives going on the record in that article I linked to.

People can post whatever they want on Twitter. That’s something that can’t be controlled and “trolling” mentions/replies is nothing new over there. A substantial number of companies have made public statements (including on Twitter) on what the Tax Bill means for their companies and employees going forward: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/business/corporations-tax-cut-gop-tax-bill Given these other companies’ statements, why should Marcelo have refrained from commenting on it?

This isn’t the first time Marcelo has taken a public position on issues: http://newsroom.sprint.com/racism-has-no-place-at-sprint.htm I hope this new Tax structure results in higher CapEx by Sprint and better salaries/benefits for its employees.

With Tax Reform, AT&T Plans to Increase U.S. Capital Spending $1 Billion and Provide $1,000 Special Bonus to more than 200,000 U.S. Employees http://about.att.com/story/att_tax_reform.html Would love to see Sprint announce something similar.

Very nice. I wonder what the invitation criteria are.