bigsnake49

Sprint needed more PCS spectrum in certain markets they were deficient in. This is just the first step to strengthen their PCS spectrum position. There will be others (excess spectrum from the T-Mobile/Metro merger, Leap).

It will just increase the spectrum depth. It will do nothing for coverage.

Yeah, never mind, that was the first cash infusion. There is more coming.

What do you mean by 2.5 billion still left?

Don't be surprised if this is followed by a MetroPCS sale of PCS spectrum to Sprint so that Sprint does not make a competing bid to T-Mobile's.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sprint (NYSE: S) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with U.S. Cellular (NYSE: USM) to acquire PCS spectrum and customers in parts of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio including the Chicago and St. Louis markets for $480 million in cash and the assumption of certain liabilities. The additional spectrum will be used to supplement Sprint’s coverage in these areas as it continues to deploy its Network Vision upgrade and roll out 4G LTE nationally. “This transaction will enable us to strengthen our business and become a more robust competitor” “This transaction will enable us to strengthen our business and become a more robust competitor,” said Dan Hesse, Sprint’s CEO. “Acquiring this spectrum will significantly increase Sprint’s network capacity and improve the customer experience in several important Midwest markets including Chicago and St. Louis. We welcome the new customers in these markets and look forward to providing them with Sprint’s unique combination of unlimited plans, an iconic device portfolio and unmatched customer service.” Under the terms of the agreement, Sprint will acquire 20 MHz of PCS spectrum in the 1900 MHz band in various Midwest markets including Chicago, South Bend, Ind. and Champaign, Ill. and 10 MHz of PCS spectrum in the St. Louis market. In addition, the transaction involves approximately 585,000 U.S. Cellular customers. U.S Cellular will continue its business operations outside of these markets following the closing. http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20121107005545/en/Sprint-Acquire-Spectrum-Customers-Midwest-U.S.-Cellular It's beginning boys and girls.

If you're moving to Springfield, be very careful. The T-Mobile network leaves a lot to be desired. I would recomend Straight Talk with a AT&T sime card and the $45 unlimited plan.

Yeah, particularly since you can acquire the whole company for its debt, pretty much. Although if you buy the company then you assume all the site leases. Are those counted in the debt?

FierceWireless: Can you talk about any specific discussions Leap has had about network or spectrum sharing? Hutcheson: The European model on that is something I think has merit to be thought about here in the U.S. as well, particularly when you look at that spectrum asset that we have. It really is a circumstance for collaboration that could make a lot of sense. With that said I don't have any specific comments about any one conversation. FierceWireless: What about an outright sale of Leap's excess spectrum? Hutcheson: That's not what I'm talking about here, but the concept on that is to focus on benefitting the shareholder appropriately. FierceWireless: Do you have a value assigned to your spectrum? Hutcheson: Our spectrum portfolio [both used and unused spectrum] is worth about $3 billion. FierceWireless: Some analysts have suggested that Leap could potentially sell all its spectrum and its network and become an MVNO. Read more: Leap CEO: 60% of our spectrum is not being used, and we're interested in network, spectrum sharing - FierceWireless http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/leap-ceo-60-our-spectrum-not-being-used-and-were-interested-network-spectru/2012-11-01#ixzz2B49JzePB I agree with the last question. Leap should let Sprint host its spectrum and become an MVNO.

I fully agree with you. Clearwire has been trying to sell their excess spectrum for couple of years now. Nobody is biting. I'm not privy to the partnership agreement but I'm pretty sure that Sprint has a right of first refusal to the spectrum they brought in to Clearwire (they would be total fools if they did not). Which leaves only the spectrum that old Clear brought in which is basically leased spectrum from educational institutions and the Catholic Church. Since it's leased spectrum, it does not have as much value.

That why I do not like small slices of spectrum like this in different band classes. It was a recipe for failure. AT&T and Verizon, through their participation in standard bodies, got their band classes approved. They can still just license Sprint's SMR spectrum and get devices, no problem. I think the FCC needs to do something because it will leave a bad taste in their mouth and they will not bid on the next auction.

Why would the billing become problematic? You're dealing with Apple or Samsung. Both the call and the data session can be continued on another carrier. The technology exists. It just has not been implemented.

Yes, I think that Sprint and Softbank can now be very aggressive and think strategically, not just tactically, quarter to quarter. I would like for them to acquire more PCS spectrum so that they can offer more services. For example internet radio. I would gladly pay an extra $10/mo if it did not count against my data plan. That way I could move away from unlimited and to a usage based pricing scenario.

From the earnings call: Recently, we have had discussions on opportunities to better align our respective build schedules. Based on our determination of when Sprint expects to start utilizing Clearwire's LTE capacity, we have decided to adjust our LTE rollout to now target 2,000 sites on-air by the end of June 2013, while keeping content the longer-term goal of expanding our LTE network to up to 8,000 sites. With more than 2,200 NTPs in hand, our sites are on pace to meet the 2,000 site target. In fact we already have sites fully commissioned with LTE awaiting connection to Sprint's core and expect the build activity to ramp in the fourth quarter, to end the year with approximately 800 LTE commissioned sites. http://seekingalpha.com/article/952651-clearwire-management-discusses-q3-2012-results-earnings-call-transcript?page=3 So yes, they are aligning their plans with Sprint's and since Sprint is at least a quarter behind schedule, they will not need the capacity until later.

Yes, you have heard it before. Carriers are becoming too insular and they all have their weak spots. What if there was an MVNO that bought capacity from AT&T, Sprint and Verizon, hey might as well throw T-Mobile in there and then chose the best signal or best available data capacity from the available choices. The customer would be oblivious to which carrier was getting used at any particular time. Now we all know that it might be limited by how many radios you could cram in your handset, but let's just say that the technical problems could be solved, what's to stop Apple, Microsoft or Samsung from becoming their own MVNO? They deal directly with the consumer and the carrier is just a dumb pipe. Will there be push back from the carriers?

Sometimes, they assign a new MDN.

Yeah, I don't think these prices will convince anybody to switch to Sprint or choose Sprint instead of the others. They probably don't want too many people signing on right now either, then complaining that they can't get LTE.

You ask them to re-provision your phone. Basically erase your phone from their system and re-add it. Then after they do that they ask you to reprogram your phone with a new MDN.

You can tell us until you're blue in the face but it will do you any good. This is not your usual Sprint site where they have a rant section where people complain about their service or their phone. You just need to get them to replace your device and see if you still have problems. If you still do, it maybe that your phone is provisioned incorrectly and needs to be reprovisioned and programmed correctly.

Terminating leases is pretty expensive as well.

Kimchi, there's kimchi? Where?

Sprint has suffered a $767 million net loss and an operating loss of $231 million, ess than the $629 million operating loss it suffered in Q2, a. The business did manage to bring in total revenues of $8.8 billion. It had a negative free cash flow of $487 million. We all know that Financials will start to improve next year, right? The Sprint platform added 410,000 net postpaid customers during the quarter. The Nextel platform lost 866,000 net postpaid additions and Nextel platform postpaid net subscriber losses include 516,000 net subscribers from the Nextel platform acquired on the Sprint platform. • The company added 19,000 net prepaid subscribers during the quarter, which incladditions of 459,000 prepaid Sprint platform customers, offset by net prepaid Nextel platform customers. Sprint platform prepaid net additions and Nextel platform prepaid net losses include 152,000 net subscribers from the Nextel platform acquired on Sprint platform. For the quarter, the company reported net additions of 14,000 wholesale and affiliate subscribers. http://investors.sprint.com/Cache/1001169639.PDF?D=&O=PDF&iid=4057219&Y=&T=&fid=1001169639

I think they are in a buying mood. I predict a counter offer for Metro any time now. I also predict a Leap buyout.

I thought that was Samsung.

There are couple of cons to wider channels. If that wider channel card goes out, the whole sector goes out unless you have a standby spare you can automatically provision remotely. if one of your 4 5x5 goes out, you have 3 left. On the handset side, transmission over a wider channel, if allocated the maximum number of subcarriers sucks the battery up.