bigsnake49

Actually Sprint has refinanced a lot of it's high interest debt and will continue to do so by putting up spectrum as collateral.

For those that think that Sprint is overleveraged, T-Mobile has an approximate $28B debt load. If it wasn't for the $5B debt forgiveness from DT at the time of the MetroPCS merger and the $6B AT&T breakup fee, T-mobile would be thought as beleaguered.

I think that at some point they will need to promise to match or exceed Verizon's coverage.

Yep and we're not even talking about 5G with an new air link protocol and probably new basestation updates.

Any time they have a positive free cash flow is OK by me but if they just accumulate cash by not spending on the network then it is a problem. Unless they are accumulating cash so they can spend it on the network :).

Sprint did have a good quarter overall although the debt load is worrisome. They also spend $682M in Capex for the network.

For exurban and rural sites, microwave and satellite backhaul are often used.

Life goes on before and after the merger and I am sure that the agreement will be looked at after the merger.

You mean beyond the earnings report?

T-Mobile just did: https://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news-and-blogs/tmobile-q3-earnings.htm

I have advocated a merged network while the parent companies remain separate for a little while now. But failing that, a traditional merger. Just remember that it can only be rejected on anti-trust grounds. I don't think that anybody can find antitrust grounds for this merger. Reduced customer choice, yes but anti-trust, no!

Tells me that the announcement of the merger is close at hand.

It was a carrier update for the iPhone. I think they are using it as an auxiliary band running on Project Loon balloons. So yes you had to download it from somewhere. Maybe go to a AT&T store that has either other bands or WiFi or both.

Apple and AT&T in conjunction with Project Loon are using Band 8 in Puerto Rico. Band 8 is from 880-915 and 925-960. It is in effect in the rest of the world but not the US. It must be unencumbered in Puerto Rico. I guess anything to help restore service. http://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/loon-working-at-t-to-get-basic-services-to-puerto-rico

OK they will be building towers for Sprint and other companies to share. They will buy sites and build sites for Sprint and then lease them back to sprint thereby contributing money to Sprint and freeing Capex. But then opex will increase.

That was speculation by an analyst and not part of the announcement. Unless he knows something nobody else knows...

I don't understand your take on the second one. Softbank will invest in a tower company which does not have any towers right now which means that they have to construct them. So how does it freaup capital for Sprint? Maybe I am dense.

The cleanest way to do that is to form a third not for profit company that leases the spectrum from the parent company and is solely responsible for network deployment and maintenance. The parent company will then pay the network company for service.

I am hoping that they merge their networks in some fashion whether with a full on merger or just merging the networks. I admire what T-Mobile has done but I wonder where they would be without the break up fee from AT&T and the $5Bdebt forgiveness that they got from the mothership?

It proves that Sprint's promises are just that, promises. They should be taken with a giant block of salt. Himalayan salt at that :). The proof is in the pudding and so far all that Sprint has is the water, no eggs, no nothing.

“When you look at our guidance for fiscal year ’16, we continue to say that we expect adjusted cash flow to be around breakeven, which reflects the fact that we are reducing our capex guidance from less than $3 billion to (a range of) $2 billion to $2.3 billion,” CFO Tarek Robbiati said during an earnings call this morning. The move marks at least the third time Sprint has lowered its capex guidance for fiscal year 2016. In May it reduced the figure from $4.5 billion to $3 billion, then in October it lowered it from $3 billion to “less than $3 billion.” http://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/sprint-lowers-capex-guidance-again-raising-concerns-over-network

They have a 5Mhz license that covers 3/4 of the US but not the East coast and Northeast nor Florida. Their holdings are scattered. It would be beneficial if Sprint acquired them and horsetraded with carriers that already own AWS spectrum for some PCS spectrum. Adding yet another band to support is probably not worth it for Sprint and USCC has not deployed that spectrum either.

We have all heard those promises before, like in 2016.

Can you provide me with a reference to their nationwide spectrum?

It is too late. They don't have the money to improve their network so they have to compete on price. When they compete on price they don't have the money to improve their network. It's a vicious cycle. It does not help that T-Mobile has realized most of their gains in customers at the expense of Sprint. If T-mobile actually makes good on their promise of deploying 600Mhz spectrum on an accelerated spectrum, you can kiss Sprint's behind goodbye. I am sure they can then make an alliance with Dish to get access to Dish's spectrum. T-Mobile can make it alone. Sprint cannot. Not as a truly nationwide provider.