bigsnake49

Well, the backup generators are sized 20-40kw. It depends on how many bands and how wide the spectrum is, the number of panels, how old the base station equipment is.

So let's say they do that and it only nets them, let's say, 5 million customers, then what?

$5.5 billion ending cash position $14.6 billion net debt excluding towers http://investor.t-mobile.com/Cache/1001186493.PDF?Y=&O=PDF&D=&fid=1001186493&T=&iid=4091145 where net debt = total debt - cash at hand so total debt is $20.1B

Don't know...all I know is $40B is not the total value of the deal, since there will be stock involved. DT will end up owning around 20% of the NewCo.

No, network and spectrum sharing would cure it as well. But if they're going to do that why the heck did they wait so freaking long...

$40B is the total amount to be financed. Not all of it is T-Mobile debt. Only $20B is T-Mobile debt that needs to be refinanced.

I think Dish wants to be more than just a mobile operator. They want to be able to offer fixed and mobile broadband to their subscribers. Plus if they are patient they could probably pick up more spectrum and a lot of T-Mobiles's network for a discount after T-Mobile is integrated into Sprint. Now will that get done before 2017 which is their deadline? I don't know!

Oh, I definitely think this is a "sponsored" article .

Then who are they going to unload EBS spectrum to? I was hoping that the creation of a 4th carrier out of Dish will help grease the skids for the Sprint/T-Mobile merger...

You know I hate the NY Post and it sounds like an article that Ergen probably paid for, but it speculates that Verizon might be interested in Dish spectrum: http://nypost.com/2014/06/19/verizon-wireless-eyeing-dish-network-spectrum/ A lot of stuff thrown against the wall to see if it sticks. $17B for Dish spectrum, I don't think so !

They have 64% of the market by revenue with the rest of them splitting the 36%.

Yes it is possible with CDMA. I believe it is also possible with VoLTE.

I wonder if SoLinc would like to take Sprint's 900MHz spectrum holdings off of Sprint's hands

Does anybody think that if Sprint has to divest some spectrum, they might sell PCS block G to Dish eventually? If Dish also bids for the AWS-3 uplink (1695-1710MHz), they can then pair that with their 2180-2200Mhz spectrum for a 20x15MHz block and then aggregate their 2000-2020MHz spectrum with blocks G&H for a 30x10 block. Who knows how much EBS spectrum Sprint will also have to divest, preferably to them. Dish could then turnaround and use EBS spectrum for fixed broadband and their FDD spectrum for mobile broadband. Of course they won't have a network but if they can get Sprint or somebody else to host it for them or purchase T-Mobile's network (after it's integrated with Sprint) they could be quite formidable.

I think Neville definitely will transition over and I would not be surprised to see his whole team do. While John Saw has done a very good job since he took over, I don't think he will survive for very long.

A pretty nice article by Sue Marek on the pitfalls and lessons of Carrier Aggregation: http://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/story/lte-advanced-carrier-aggregations-pitfalls-are-few-and-far-between/2014-06-11 The main points are that carrier aggregation eats up battery life (I say no more or less than contiguous band of equal MHz), and that in the case of inter band aggregation, the subcarrier assignment to each band. We have talked about both points on this site.

There's no doubt that both Sprint and T-Mobile can go it alone. With the upcoming 600Mhz and the other sub 1GHz holdings that bothe have and the roaming on rural partners they might even have true nationwide coverage. They can both survive but neither will thrive. The capex required to have a truly nationwide network is mind boggling and it is much better to spread it over a much larger customer base. Could they merge their networks and realize the economies of scale. Sure and they should have done it 3 years ago. But DT wants out of this market because it realizes that it can't truly compete in this market with the big two. Could they sell T-mobile USA to Dish? Absolutely!!! Can Dish afford it and will the banks finance it? I am doubtful.

Actually I mean completion of band 25+26 by the end of 2014, completion of band41 buildout by the end of 2015.

You can get 9+9MHz by occupying the guard and expansion band. You only need another 1MHz. If I was Sprint I would pay the mixed use PS +B/ILT and move them to the 700MHz PS band which is actually adjacent to the 700MHz PS broadband band. Come to think of it, I would reband them all of them and move them to 700MHz PS voice band.

It's a fall back position. They definitely want to bid in the 600Mhz auction.

I have been wanting that for more than a decade, make it 15 years. In order of priority here is my wishful thinking list: 1. Completion band 25+26 buildout by end of 2015, period, end of story, no freaking excuses 2. USCC + CSpire buyout 3. 10MHz+10Mhz of 800MHz SMR with no IBEZ restrictions 4. Approval of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger

It depends. If Sprint is the one that has imposed the firmware locks, then they can unlock them. However if it is the manufacturer, they want to sell you a new phone.

I have not delved into which current Sprint handsets are capable of supporting DC-HSPA+ in hardware but prevented by firmware.

DC-HSPA+ only gives you higher peak speeds. It does not really give you better capacity than 2 single channels of HSPA+

Yes, if the hardware is capable but is locked in firmware then they will unlock it in firmware. Something tells me that the firmware will also have to be modified to scan for that band. I don't know what modifications need to be made to csfb or ecsfb software at the base station or switch to enable smooth transition between bands.