Sprint and Clearwire Merge WiMax Businesses

I don't think Sprint is going to sell.
Seems to me like Sprint has a great deal starting for them.

Don't forget that Sprint is still number 3 in the industry making billions a year even after the bad press and hate breeders.

Sprint is not worried or in trouble.

I don't think Sprint is going to sell either. I think the public is finally starting to see the changes that Sprint employees have been seeing since the letting go of Gary Foresee. A lot of the backlash we see today are failed programs under Foresee. Dan Hesse has been making big changes, but they have been on the company side of things more than consumer.

Still, I don't know what to make of starting a brand new company. Sprint holds 51% of the stock, which is great because basically, they are the majority. But why not keep it as Sprint? I guess acquiring Clearwire would have been too costly.

I am excited for the changes though. I'm not going to hate on Verizon or AT&T, but I wonder what doing 4G two years before those two companies ...
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I figured their keeping the name clearwire because sprints name has been drug thru the mud. So they figured we own more then half the company so we would pick use clearwires name and get paid 😎

I agree. Plus when it succeeds Sprint can take the credit and continue rebuilding their rep. Good move imo

nexsprint said:
I agree. Plus when it succeeds Sprint can take the credit and continue rebuilding their rep. Good move imo

In terms of consumers, Sprint wouldn't be able to take credit very easily. I would compare that Vodafone taking credit for Verizon Wireless. While Voda has influence on it, consumers don't asociate Voda around the globe with Verizon Wireless in the U.S. They could try to schmooze shareholders or other investors, but consumer-wise the only way to recognize the brands would be to drop the Sprint name altogether and migrate all cell phones to ClearWire.

I suspect that with the various investors (from Intel, Comcast, Clearwire, Google and various other companies), a new name is justified.

Also, as a new company, it won't be 'tied' to Sprint, Clearwire, Google or Comcast directly for good or bad.

Hopefully this will help turn around Sprint financially.

Q4 of 2007 and Q1 of 08 definitely show that.

To me this is another sign they are organizing to sell. They own 51% of Clearwire and they don't even have the Sprint Nextel name in there. They've lowered their plan prices and have been making all these changes. It's either a last attempt to bring the company around or preparing to sell.

Um, Sprint hasnt changed a thing with its core plans since early 2007, if not earlier. The Simply Everything series of plans are all exactly the same when you break them down as the old plans, the only thing offered cheaper WAS the $99 SE 🙄

So how long has the company been putting 50% of reps pay on the line based on customer feedback? Since 07? That's a long time of not getting paid. T-Mob doesn't even do that unless you're in management.

It's 40% and it doesn't start until August... Brilliant move really.

But knid of out of the rep's hands...How do you diffferentiate if the cust was dissatisfied with the rep or just pissed at sprint? And that is going to affect pay?

Great idea to improve cust service and i think it is a good thing, but how can you ensure correct payment?

Well, there are two ways to do that. My buddy works for T-Mobile and they do the same kind of Customer Satisfaction reporting and base their commission on it.

Basically, you make sure the customer leaves the store happy no matter what they feel about Sprint upon entering. When they leave, let them know that they are going to get a call based on the service they recieved in store. Let them know, this call will be about my performance, not Sprint as a whole. That way, when they get the call, they will give you a good review despite how they feel about Sprint. At the same time, I think there is a way you can dispute scores to get the money anyway.

JeffdaBeat said:
Well, there are two ways to do that. My buddy works for T-Mobile and they do the same kind of Customer Satisfaction reporting and base their commission on it.

Basically, you make sure the customer leaves the store happy no matter what they feel about Sprint upon entering. When they leave, let them know that they are going to get a call based on the service they recieved in store. Let them know, this call will be about my performance, not Sprint as a whole. That way, when they get the call, they will give you a good review despite how they feel about Sprint. At the same time, I think there is a way you can dispute scores to get the money anyway.

Sprint will do what it can to save money, in...
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knx2 said:
I don't think Sprint is going to sell.
Seems to me like Sprint has a great deal starting for them.

Don't forget that Sprint is still number 3 in the industry making billions a year even after the bad press and hate breeders.

Sprint is not worried or in trouble.

I think it's too early to tell. AT&T Wireless put itself on the auction block, and Sprint could do the same thing. If Sprint can get its act in order, it will become more viable on its own. However, if the price is right, I'm sure a deal will happen.

Agreed. The whole thing seems like they are just trying to get top dollar from DT. Selling nextel also seems like it would be a good idea to get DT more interested because that will make it so DT only has to worry about CDMA -> GSM conversions, not iDEN on top of it.

And to the person that said Sprint is still the 3rd largest and makes billions a year... Untrue. They may be the 3rd largest, but they are also losing customers faster than any business in the united states. On top of that, they aren't making billions, in fact, they are losing millions. A takeover by DT is the only way for Sprint to turn a profit at this point.

They are losing customers, and fast. And a new rateplan by Hesse isn't going to change that. They have the worst ...
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...wait a second...I am pretty sure Dell has worst customer care than Sprint.

I will say this and lets really think about it. Sprint has about 50 million subscribers. They lost about 500,000 last quarter. A ton, but not enough to completely break the company. They are still getting a lot of money and will continue to as time progresses, but what people are afraid of is a continuous loss of customers. A continuous loss of revenue. Like I said, Hesse was brought in to turn the company around so it could stand on its own two feet again.

Plus, I am pretty sure if you strip T-Mobile's roaming agreements from their network, they have the least amount of coverage area wise. It would be easier to go from GSM to CDMA...but that's just me saying...
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Well DT or any other company for that matter. Even Alltel and its private equity owners could perhaps pursue Sprint. Comcast, Google, DT, Kddi, and others are all in the running for this company, but DT is more suitable because of their great T-mobile USA operations that continue to do well without a true 3G network.

There seems to be more negatives that outweigh the benefits though.

Positives;
1. Increase the spectrum position
2. Increase the subscriber base
3. Enter the enterprise market
4. Can reach synergies

Negs;
1. Market share loss and brand loss.
2. Nextel network and re-branding.
3. Regulatory risk
4. Integrating the CDMA network.
5. Financial issues.

nextel18 said:
Negs;
1. Market share loss and brand loss.

I wouldn't necessarily consider the dropping of the Sprint brand a loss. Ask Bank of America if the Nations Bank brand retirement was a loss, or Wachovia if First Union and SouthTrust name retirements were losses, or Regions Financial if AmSouth Bank was a loss. Even AT&T felt the Cingular name wasn't a loss as there would be more synergies with the AT&T brand.

Sprint has been running the name into the ground with consumers, so for consumers to forget the brand and horrible customer service associated with it might be a good thing.

There would just be confusion again over brands, and that leads to dilution of all brands, which affects the results.