Re: Rock and a Hard Place for SprintThat is the alternative, Desi, and it might not be a bad one if Sprint can get its act together. About the time Sprint completes Network Vision and stops losing customers who churned because of it could be the time all the money T-Mobile has spent trying to gain new customers starts to really hurt it. The industry is always in flux and fortunes could change.
Re: Rock and a Hard Place for Sprint@desi, good strategy! I agree, they either need to pass up the opportunity, with strategic reasons, not just letting the train go by, or get on board and fully compete. But, as you point out, they need to define where they want to go.
Re: Rock and a Hard Place for SprintAlternatively, Sprint says no deal, executes on its Spark, small cell, MVNO, etc. projects, and stays #3, but puts some distance between itself and TMo (which is what is hurting Sprint the most right now), and ignores the virtualization fad as it stanches the bleeding. DT gets fed up of being 4th and not moving up, and gets off its opportunistic high horse. You can only lose money buying customers for so long.
Not that this is an easy merger - Sprint needs better LTE coverage sooner in order to pull this off (both pre and post merger) because running both a legacy CDMA and a GSM/UMTS network is a high price.
On the other hand, being #3 (as the combo would be) is still a great place to be, all the growth with none of the quality expectations.
Re: Rock and a Hard Place for Sprint@Sarah, interesting poker game!
T-Mobile is definitely in the winning position, which is why Sprint is going to have to make a bold move and leverage its bets. Absolutely, the upcoming auctions and regulatory winds will affect them. It appears the only way they will strengthen their position now is to align T-Mobile on one side or the other of the way they are going to play the game. Then ante up and go for it, if they move forward on acqusition - including the Pre-nup.
They are going to have to pull the rabbit out of the hat and go for it. They might just win!
Re: Rock and a hard place for SprintSoftbank owns 37% of Alibaba which the IPO is valued at approximately $190B. Softbank's $200 million investment now worth approximatel $70 Billion, not bad. Softbank seem to have plenty of resourses to pump billions in to Sprint when needed. Bloomberg's recent article:
Re: Rock and a hard place for SprintT-Mobile is already stealing a lot of Sprint's customers as of the first quarter, and it's struggling to maintain those it has left as it works through Network Vision. But, I really said that because that is what Son has been suggesting as he tries to convince everyone the merger is necessary. If it's true, then it needs to move now, but now might not be the best time given the auctions and regulatory environment. It's a win-win for T-Mobile, but definitely not for SPrint.
Re: Rock and a hard place for SprintMay I ask why wouldn't Sprint be able to compete without T-Mobile?
They have massive potential with spectrum and Masa's cash. They have been setup for success already. It's their management that's completely incompetent that should've been replaced years ago.
Picking up T-Mobile isn't going to bring much good to US consumers, it'll most likely slow down or halt T-Mobile's resurgence, and ensure that Sprint's NewCo won't have access to that allocated 30MHz of spectrum going into TV Incentive auction in 2015. Also, they will most likely have to divest that massive spectrum if the merger goes trhough... It's a terrible, terrible proposition.
Re: Rock and a hard place for SprintT-Mobile can make more money whenever a suitor got chased off by DOJ, not that there are too many more suitors left
Rock and a hard place for SprintThis is a tough spot for Sprint to be in. It may not be able to compete much longer without a T-Mobile merger (potentially), but there's a good chance it doesn't go through, in which case T-Mobile would be able to crush it in the market with the cash on hand. Really not sure if it makes sense for it to wait on this one or try its luck.
Not that this is an easy merger - Sprint needs better LTE coverage sooner in order to pull this off (both pre and post merger) because running both a legacy CDMA and a GSM/UMTS network is a high price.
On the other hand, being #3 (as the combo would be) is still a great place to be, all the growth with none of the quality expectations.
-desi
T-Mobile is definitely in the winning position, which is why Sprint is going to have to make a bold move and leverage its bets. Absolutely, the upcoming auctions and regulatory winds will affect them. It appears the only way they will strengthen their position now is to align T-Mobile on one side or the other of the way they are going to play the game. Then ante up and go for it, if they move forward on acqusition - including the Pre-nup.
They are going to have to pull the rabbit out of the hat and go for it. They might just win!
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-06/softbank-plans-to-keep-alibaba-stake-as-public-listing-looms.html
They have massive potential with spectrum and Masa's cash. They have been setup for success already. It's their management that's completely incompetent that should've been replaced years ago.
Picking up T-Mobile isn't going to bring much good to US consumers, it'll most likely slow down or halt T-Mobile's resurgence, and ensure that Sprint's NewCo won't have access to that allocated 30MHz of spectrum going into TV Incentive auction in 2015. Also, they will most likely have to divest that massive spectrum if the merger goes trhough... It's a terrible, terrible proposition.