RedSpark

Sprint is still carrying a substantial amount of debt. We'll get an update on things at the upcoming Earnings Conference Call on August 1st, but this shows what Sprint's up against in terms of having sufficient funds for CapEx across its network. http://investors.sprint.com/financials/default.aspx Debt Maturities as of March 31, 2017 FY 17': $4.875 Billion FY 18': $6.032 Billion FY 19': $4.085 Billion FY 20': $2.532 Billion FY 21': $3.755 Billion FY 22': $2.520 Billion FY 23': $8.010 Billion (That's quite a bit right there.... although they have a few years of breathing space before it hits.) FY 24': $4.000 Billion FY 28': $2.475 Billion FY 31': $2.000 Billion

Good points JustinRP37. To add to what you said, it's not just the data experience you have for yourself. It's also the experience that others see when you want to load something on your phone to tell them or show them. If it's slow or doesn't load, they inevitably ask what carrier you have. In my opinion, that's on par with a dropped or blocked call, but it's worse in that it's happening right in front of them. The phone has a Sprint logo on it or just in the top bar like it does on iOS and it's essentially a testimonial saying "Sprint doesn't have good data coverage/service for what you're doing right now." The entire purpose of this interaction between people is to show/share media or content and if Sprint's data network doesn't perform well for it to happen with a good experience, you'll essentially have a Sprint customer showing another prospective customer firsthand that Sprint may not meet their needs. And then you'll have the other person take out their device from a competitor and if it loads better, you'll have them ask the Sprint customer why they're with Sprint. I'm curious if Sprint's Satisfaction Survey accounts for this.

Thanks JohnnygATL. I recall Marcelo putting a priority on Call/Text performance as part of his turnaround strategy early on in his tenure and it clearly shows. Sprint has a great CDMA network for Voice/Text (which hopefully turns into VoLTE at the right time when Sprint can ensure a good experience on par with its current CDMA/1x Advanced Network.) Data performance wasn't given the same priority and now we are where we are... better than what it used to be but not good enough to have the customer gains that T-Mobile is having. The Survey that Saw is referring to seems to be missing the market segment that's contributing to T-Mobile's growth. Essentially, Sprint's data performance is a deal breaker for that market segment. Instead, Saw's referring to a Survey which is telling him (and other Sprint executives) that Call/Text is the main customer satisfaction driver. If this was truly the case, Sprint would be having these Customer gains, not T-Mobile. Unless we want to attribute all of these Customer gains to T-Mobile's millennial marketing (which has been targeted and effective), I think Sprint's executives are relying on bad information and it's guided their strategy to this point for network priorities. Sprint's network will eventually get better (and it is). It's just hard to win Customers back. For the past 6 weeks, Sprint has been offering 1 Year of free service for people to bring their own device. Unless we're seeing substantial gains from other carriers, it means that those customers are satisfied with their Call/Text performance on those carriers even if it's worse than Sprint (per Rootmetrics) and may not be coming over because of Sprint's data performance (per Rootmetrics) versus their experience on their current carrier. More significantly, a lack of gains from this indicates that those customers would rather stay on their current carrier than have 1 Year of free service on Sprint. And if we asked them why they're staying put and not coming over to Sprint, I think it comes down to Data performance, not Call/Text.

http://rootmetrics.com/en-US/content/mobile-performance-in-the-us-part-1-united-states-performance-1h-2017 T-Mobile finished 4th in Text, 4th in Call, 3rd in Data (ahead of Sprint) and 3rd in Speed (ahead of Sprint). T-Mobile is gaining customers every quarter, and those customers are coming from AT&T, Verizon and to a certain extent, Sprint as well. All of these carriers have better Text and Call Performance than T-Mobile does. If Call/Text performance was such a deal breaker for customers at large, this level of customer gain wouldn't be happening for T-Mobile. People are joining T-Mobile for other reasons than Call/Text performance. Sprint isn't going to have a "hockey stick" of customer gains until its data performance improves. That's how I read it anyway. If we switched the rankings for Sprint and T-Mobile, I think it would reflect a greater ability for Sprint to get customers based on data performance.... or we could attribute it to really good marketing by T-Mobile... either way, does it matter if there are Customer gains? T-Mobile is gaining customers despite having the worst Call/Text performance according to Rootmetrics. That's the market indicating what it wants and it seemingly contradicts the Satisfaction Survey that Dr. Saw is citing. (http://newsroom.sprint.com/sprint-lte-plus-network-gains-yr-over-yr.htm)

Here's what Dr. Saw wrote that I found most interesting: "For a fifth consecutive time, Sprint ranks #2 nationally (outright or tied) in Call network performance. While Call performance might not get a lot of attention in today’s Unlimited, data-driven world, quality voice service still remains one of the most important contributors to wireless customers’ satisfaction. It’s a fact that most speed differences are not noticeable to customers, but a dropped or blocked call certainly is." I'd be interested to see that "satisfaction" survey he's referring to. Speed differences are definitely noticeable, but on top of that if it's not a good data experience, that's like a blocked/dropped call. 3G vs LTE is noticeable and there are still too many 3G sites out there, or sites that don't have Band 41 on them (or enough sites at all in certain areas) to provide capacity for a good data experience. Maybe it's just me, but I see people standing around using data on their devices more often than talking on them. A good data experience is important to those people and if it's not on Sprint, they'll go get it from another carrier.

The good thing about Zazzle (https://www.zazzle.com/sell) is that they handle orders, fulfillment and shipping. You don't have to carry inventory or handle shipping.

We have a winner! :-)

I would love to see S4GRU gear on Zazzle (https://www.zazzle.com/sell) or through CustomInk (https://www.customink.com).

http://investors.sprint.com/news-and-events/press-releases/press-release-details/2017/Sprint-Expands-in-Northern-California-with-43-New-Retail-Stores-Creating-More-Than-300-Jobs/default.aspx More stores (and network improvements) coming to Northern CA/NV!

This was the unreleased Motorola device that was "under wraps" during Sprint's Gigabit LTE demonstration in New Orleans, LA. http://newsroom.sprint.com/sprint-debuts-gigabit-class-lte-in-new-orleans.htm http://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/sprint-shows-off-gigabit-class-lte-qualcomm-motorola-new-orleans I was under the impression the HTC U11 was a Gigabit LTE handset.

SoftBank Emerges as the Lead Financier for Uber Rivals https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-24/uber-in-the-crosshairs-as-softbank-helps-rivals-raise-9-billion Grab gets $2B from Didi and SoftBank to fuel bid to defeat Uber in Southeast Asia https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/23/grab-raises-2b-from-didi-chuxing-and-softbank/ Feel better? :-)

Good story about Magic Boxes: http://newsroom.sprint.com/sprint-magic-box-poplar-grove.htm To close the deal, Sprint included a Magic Box at each school's main entrance. Mr. Rudolph had this to say: “I wish everyone had a Sprint Magic Box,” Rudolph said. “In fact, Sprint should just package them up with their phones – it would create a big powerful network.” Sprint ended last quarter with 59.7 million connections: 31.6 million postpaid, 12.0 million prepaid, and 16.1 million wholesale and affiliate connections. Marcelo did say "millions of units": "Carriers have traditionally been shy about mentioning signal boosters because they're a tacit admission that network coverage can be spotty. But Sprint said it will likely be more proactive in pushing these boxes because they offer a benefit to the customer and the surrounding area. Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure said he expects to ship millions of the units over the next few years." (https://www.cnet.com/news/sprint-to-offer-free-wireless-signal-booster-magic-box-small-cell/) The more the merrier in my opinion. Eventually the unit cost will drop to a relative pittance.

http://newsroom.sprint.com/twice-price-store-announces-grand-opening-in-new-york.htm Genius!

Marcelo acknowledged T-Mobile's results this past quarter: https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/888279149327941632 Hopefully we see a strong performance from Sprint at the Earnings Conference Call. (http://investors.sprint.com/news-and-events/press-releases/press-release-details/2017/Sprint-Corporation-Schedules-Fiscal-2017-First-Quarter-Results-Announcement/default.aspx)

Sprint offers a "Premium International Experience" as part of Global Roaming with Unlimited Freedom: https://www.sprint.com/content/sprint/sprint_com/us/en/support/solutions/international/faqs-about-premium-international-experience.html Otherwise, these costs apply to Global Roaming: https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/services/global-roaming.html?ECID=vanity:globalroaming Sprint Open World is no longer available for purchase: https://www.sprint.com/en/support/solutions/international/faqs-about-sprint-open-world.html If you have it, you can keep it. If you remove it, you can't add it back.

Earnings Call: http://investors.sprint.com/news-and-events/press-releases/press-release-details/2017/Sprint-Corporation-Schedules-Fiscal-2017-First-Quarter-Results-Announcement/default.aspx 8/1/2017 Get ready!

Gunther gives a shoutout to S4GRU on lilotimz's Magic Box Blog Post: https://twitter.com/guengott68/status/887380940208656385

New Sprint Ad:

Sprint's new Leasing Program: http://newsroom.sprint.com/sprint-flex-is-best-way-to-get-latest-smartphone.htm Sprint Flex Sprint Deals

Hopefully it will one day. Magic Boxes coming this Fall apparently: https://www.sprint.com/content/Sprint/sprint_com/us/en/shop/services/magic-box/status.html (Updated: June 30, 2017) Tidal is still acting as a money sink in my opinion. Sprint should sell its $200M stake (assuming it can get that much or more) and put the money into CapEx for the worst of the worst sites. Assuming $100,000 per site, that could be 2,000 new/upgraded sites which is an appreciable amount. That would be a substantial performance boost for the network in the most needed locations. Sprint actually bought Digital copies of Jay-Z's album which helped it go Platinum in six days: http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7857108/jay-z-444-certified-platinum-riaa-sprint-promotion

RadioShack creditors' lawsuit says Sprint killed 6,000 jobs "Sprint Corp used confidential information from its alliance with RadioShack Corp to open competing mobile phone stores, dooming the comeback by the electronics retailer and destroying jobs, according to a lawsuit filed on Wednesday by RadioShack creditors." Not sure how much merit this lawsuit has, but claiming $500 Million in damages is totally nuts.

Sprint has just extended its "1 Year of Free Service" Promotion, which was set to expire today, through July 30th. https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/offers/free-unlimited.html?ECID=vanity:1yearfree What do you all think this means?

I hope Sprint is bringing a COW as well given the expected crowd. You could Tweet at Jim Mills (President of the Illinois and Wisconsin Region) and ask him: https://twitter.com/jimmills22 There's also this Twitter Handle as well (Official handle for Sprint Illinois & Wisconsin region): https://twitter.com/Sprint4Chi You can reach out to them via email to ask if Sprint plans to bring in a COW: Sprint4Chi@sprint.com Lastly, you could Tweet at Marcelo and ask him: https://twitter.com/marceloclaure Curious to hear what you find out!

Günther's making his 5G pitch to the US Conference of Mayors: https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/879508066638671872 The Mayor of Miami Beach seems supportive: https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/879508872305803271

Marcelo speaks at 13:48 and 23:52. Great presentation. Glad to see a recommendation letter is coming out of it!