RedSpark

Not sure if others here have seen it, but Sprint has a new "Status Page" with FAQ's for the Magic Box: https://www.sprint.com/content/Sprint/sprint_com/us/en/shop/services/magic-box/status.html This page is accessible via a link at the top of the Magic Box "Info Page": https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/services/magic-box.html

Love it!

Wow. Totally unexpected move here. I wonder how long the "exclusive" deal is for and how much money was involved.

Switch to Sprint and get FREE Unlimited for 1 year. https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/offers/free-unlimited.html?ECID=vanity:1yearfree Save more than $900 in the first year vs. Verizon Get Unlimited data, talk & text free for 1 year Keep your phone and phone number No annual contracts, no activation fees - a $30 savings! (Offer ends June 30th) Between this and 6 free Months of Tidal Hi-Fi, Sprint is using a lot of cash on customer acquisition.

Very encouraging to see this! Sprint just has to keep taking waste out of the business and pay down its debt to enable more CapEx. This only gets better/easier over time.

Didn't see this coming... Softbank is buying robotics firms Boston Dynamics and Schaft from Alphabet https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/08/softbank-is-buying-robotics-firm-boston-dynamics-and-schaft-from-alphabet/

Sprint and TIDAL Partnership Brings Exclusive Music and Entertainment to New and Current Sprint Customers with a Complimentary Six-Month Trial of TIDAL HiFi http://newsroom.sprint.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=12517 And there it is...

I plan to go as a 64x64 massive MIMO antenna system for Halloween this year.

http://newsroom.sprint.com/news-releases/sprint-to-bring-new-jobs-and-stores-to-connecticut-massachusetts-new-hampshire-rhode-island-and-upstate-new-york-over-the-next-18-months.htm Nice to see Sprint making investments in the New England Area, but I don't understand the need for additional store locations. Good progress on the network though.

You're referring to his MFG sign off?

Sounds like they make a huge difference. Sprint should just drive around in a truck and hand these out like Thanksgiving turkeys at locations where major coverage issues have been reported in My Sprint.

I didn't.... honestly. Really, I want to get it.

Marcelo said it would be happening: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4075474-sprints-ceo-marcelo-claure-presents-j-p-morgan-global-technology-media-telecom-conference "What are we doing from distribution? We are tremendously under distributed at least from a company-owned, so we are growing from a 1,000 company-owned store to what 1,800, so it’s a big growth for Sprint. We are going to add 100 stores. We are going to add over a 1,000 boosters in our prepaid business. So that’s big growth. I mean, Sprint hadn’t open stores in many years. At the same time we are growing through dealers. So it’s a combination of direct and indirect growth."

Why would Sprint spend so much money on new store locations if it was the target of an acquisition? I can understand getting costs out of the business as being aligned with a takeover, but spending on distribution channels doesn't seem to be.

How much does a new Macro Site Build cost? How much does a Macro Site Upgrade cost? How much does a new Mini Macro Build cost? How much is a GMO conversion? How much does a Magic Box cost Sprint wholesale? Trying to square Marcelo's/Tarek's comments for planned CapEx in the coming years for what can be accomplished with additonal commited funding.

What do you think was the strategy behind it?

Tarek was right on the money with his assessment that Sprint should end its NASCAR sponsorship. I'm not sure what Sprint saw or still sees in Tidal to have put $200 Million in it. Too many other big players: Apple Music, Pandora, Spotify, etc. For what my opinion is worth, I'd love to see Tidal get bought out so Sprint can get its money back.

It was definitely publicity, and Miss Sprint Cup was nice of course. :-) However, it cost a lot of money that should have gone towards the network or debt servicing: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nascar/2016/10/16/nascar-next-title-sponsor-may-bring-less-money-table/92151830/ CSM Sport & Entertainment CEO Zak Brown said the deal will not be as lucrative as the pact NASCAR is finishing with Sprint given the current market climate. Nextel signed a $750 million, 10-year deal to become title sponsor beginning in 2004, according to the Kansas City Star, and Sprint inked a three-year extension through the end of this season at a reduced rate of about $50 million in rights and activations fees, according to Sports Business Daily. Sprint announced in December 2014 that it would not renew. So glad this is over.

It's nice to see Sprint doing this for coverage at venues instead of spending substantial sums on sponsorships which didn't improve the network itself: https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/871397147383615488 As Tarek Robbiati once said about the NASCAR Sponsorship: ------ Robbiati also singled out one marketing cost that Sprint already has said would end, namely its 36-race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series sponsorship. Telecom companies, Robbiati said, have an unjustified love of “fast cars” in their marketing. He said British-based Orange, a telecommunications company where he worked from 2003 through 2005, had a thing for Formula 1 racing. “There’s no correlation between fast cars and the branding of a network. It just doesn’t make any sense,” he said. Better, he said, to spend money where customers are making decisions, in retail stores and other sales channels, and especially locally where marketing is more effective. “Customers remember this and probably will never remember the car that is running past them at too fast a speed to remember the little sticker that says Sprint on it,” Robbiati said. ------ http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/technology/article47942890.html What bands are on that COW?

Sprint’s Claure praised for $5B in cost cuts—with more on the way http://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/sprint-s-claure-praised-for-5b-cost-cuts-more-way "BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk said Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure “deserves praise for succeeding where those before him had failed.” Over the past three years, he explained, Sprint has cut its cost base by roughly $5 billion through initiatives including the shutdown of Sprint’s WiMAX network, discounting Sprint’s NASCAR sponsorship and layoffs." Amazing how much cost he took out of the business. -------- "Indeed, Sprint’s CFO recently promised the carrier would double its spending on its network this year after cutting it back dramatically in 2016. Specifically, Sprint’s Tarek Robbiati said Sprint would spend $3.5 billion to $4 billion each of the next three years “as we ramp up our densification and utilize the expanded toolbox of the various cost-efficient coverage and capacity options,” according to a Seeking Alpha transcript of Sprint’s recently quarterly earnings call." Looks like Sprint needed some breathing room on its debt. Now it can move forward with higher CapEx.

Ahhhh.... thanks for the info on that. It's a nice layout. I agree. Sprint has some flagship locations which are pretty nice too. The Store at the Flatiron building in NYC is really nice. It also became a broadcasting location for Cheddar. (https://cheddar.com) https://news.cheddar.com/cheddar-opens-live-studio-in-flatiron-building-sprint-store-cdef3b19819d http://onesprint.sprint.com/cheddar-studio-flatiron-sprint/ https://www.facebook.com/cheddar/videos/1680784078908990/ Marcelo has emphasized that Sprint Retail is an important Retail Channel, but at the same time, he's said that they're trying to move as much to digital as possible. If you haven't already seen them, have a look at his most recent remarks on Retail: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4075474-sprints-ceo-marcelo-claure-presents-j-p-morgan-global-technology-media-telecom-conference The specific Q/A for retail is near the end.

Marcelo's post appears to refer to Verizon's redesigned physical stores, not call centers. Why is Verizon opening more call centers? "Get out the red" promo?

Does Marcelo have more good numbers? https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/870464471063556098 Here's the press release from Sprint's last Earnings Report: http://s21.q4cdn.com/487940486/files/doc_financials/quarterly/2016/Q4/1-Fiscal-4Q16-Earnings-Release-FINAL.pdf • Fiscal year 2016 postpaid phone net additions of 930,000 more than doubled year-over-year o Highest postpaid phone gross additions in four years o Fiscal fourth quarter postpaid phone net additions of 42,000 were the tenth consecutive quarter of year-over-year improvement

https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/302038/sprint-shifts-its-700-million-media-account-to-ho.html Curious to see the new strategy/approach.

Sprint has confirmed support for it. (https://www.cnet.com/uk/news/is-andy-rubin-android-founder-essential-phone-well-essential/) "Spokesmen for Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint declined to comment about carrying the phone, although Sprint and T-Mobile confirmed it would work on their networks. AT&T couldn't immediately be reached for comment."