Are Sprint's WiMax Plans In Trouble?Nervous investors start to whine... ( old news - 11:25AM Wednesday Oct 10 2007) tags: competition · business · wireless · trouble · Sprint Mobile BroadbandWith the departure of Sprint CEO Gary Forsee, there's ample speculation this week that impatient investors will force the company's new, as yet unselected CEO to put the brakes on Xohm -- Sprint's mobile WiMax service slated for launch next year (to the tune of $5 billion). The service, which is supposed to offer users 2-4Mbps wireless broadband for around $40-$50, was championed heavily by the now-departed CEO. Wall Street analysts and investors say Sprint's WiMax dreams are an unnecessary and dangerous diversion for the company. . . . "They should stop the WiMax rollout immediately," said Patrick Comack, an equities analyst with Zachary Research. "They need to get back to the basics and learn how to run a wireless company. This means focusing more on the present rather than the future." Of course, investors felt the same way about Verizon's $23 billion investment in residential fiber, but are starting to come around -- though it took them several years to actually understand the dynamics of the market they're investing in. Like FiOS, Xohm is Sprint's effort to future-proof itself, so we find it hard to believe the project will be scrapped. Scaled back? Quite possibly so. One report suggests that the company's WiMax project will be spun off into a separately operated unit managed by Sprint and Clearwire -- with the goal of dumping the capex requirement on Clearwire. Sprint had previously planned to split the network build with Clearwire 65/35.
Related:- Wireless Carriers Struggle to Adapt to Changing Times
- Sprint Scraps Clearwire Partnership
- Sprint and Nextel Never Really Merged
- Sprint Takes a Beating
- Sprint Jumps the Gun with Lawsuit to Protect WiMax Venture
- Analyst Predicts Continued Decline of Motorola Handset Sales
- Qualcomm Fined For Violating Chips Injunction
- Xohm Baltimore Launch October 6
|
 
Nightshade
sic semper tyrannis
Premium
join:2002-05-26
Salem, OR
2 edits | Hopefully It don't matter if it's the best thing in the world for sprint. If the investors don't want it, then it will not happen.
Hopefully the investors will feel the same way about Xohm as they do about residental fiber.
Hopefully the investors will not shoot themselves in the foot by worrying about the here and now, rather what is best for the company's future.
Only time will tell. | |
|  | RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11 | Re: Hopefully Sprint has never, ever, followed through on any project outside their core business. This won't be any different. Ask anyone who lived through Sprint Broadband Direct or ION for details.
--
Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
| | | xenophon
join:2007-09-17
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| Re: Hopefully said by RadioDoc  :Sprint has never, ever, followed through on any project outside their core business. This won't be any different. Ask anyone who lived through Sprint Broadband Direct or ION for details. They have been very successful with the EVDO rollout. Check out evdoforums.com as Sprint is outselling Verizon 2-1 with EVDO cards. | |
| | | | 
rec9140
Provoice just DO it
join:2003-07-29
Mulberry, FL
| Re: Hopefully said by xenophon :
They have been very successful with the EVDO rollout. Check out evdoforums.com as Sprint is outselling Verizon 2-1 with EVDO cards.
Theres a very simple reason for that:
TOS
VZW - Draconian
Sprint - Slurp away.
VZW has a better network coverage wise, but its TOS is absolutely useless for real use. I've had VZW for my cell service long before it even was VZW, but I will never use them for data.
--
Lorem ipsum ei pro stet equidem labores, at enim animal expetenda nec. Ea vix argumentum dissentiunt, usu esse ridens ex. | |
| | | | | xenophon
join:2007-09-17
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| Re: Hopefully Sprint has slightly better EVDO coverage on average than Verizon and Sprint has EVDO roaming on Alltel while Verizon does not. Huge EVDO rural areas in some states.
The only area where Verizon EVDO is better than Sprint may be in customer support. Verizon's support is still poor compared to consumer products, but Sprint is even worse.
But, true, Verizon's draconian TOS has helped Sprint. | |
| | | | RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
 ·AT&T Midwest
| said by xenophon :said by RadioDoc :Sprint has never, ever, followed through on any project outside their core business. This won't be any different. Ask anyone who lived through Sprint Broadband Direct or ION for details. They have been very successful with the EVDO rollout. Check out evdoforums.com as Sprint is outselling Verizon 2-1 with EVDO cards. Doesn't change this situation one bit. Outselling Verizon is no great achievement given Verizon's TOS silliness. They'll punt WiMax like they did everything else outside their core business.
--
Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
| | 
KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK | Hopefully the investors will feel the same way about residential fiber as they do about Xohm. Are you saying you hope the investors NIX residential fiber, or did you mean "Don't feel the same way"? | |
| | |
Nightshade
sic semper tyrannis
Premium
join:2002-05-26
Salem, OR
| Re: Hopefully Actually, it should of said, "Hopefully the investors will feel the same way about Xohm as they do about residental fiber."
Thanks for catching that. 
--
True Happiness Must Come From Within | |
| | 
tc1uscg
join:2005-03-09
Saint Clair Shores, MI
| said by Nightshade :It don't matter if it's the best thing in the world for sprint. If the investors don't want it, then it will not happen. Hopefully the investors will feel the same way about Xohm as they do about residental fiber. Hopefully the investors will not shoot themselves in the foot by worrying about the here and now, rather what is best for the company's future. Only time will tell. Your right, and what the investors need to know is it will strike a big blow to Sprints employee's moral, which in turn, isn't going to help the company go anywhere but down the tubes. | |
| | 
hitman_001
Premium
join:2006-11-20
Laredo, TX
| If they stop now they are done. quote:
They should stop the WiMax rollout immediately," said Patrick Comack, an equities analyst with Zachary Research. "They need to get back to the basics and learn how to run a wireless company. This means focusing more on the present rather than the future."
I'm sorry but thats about the most retarded thing i've ever heard. People scream and moan about incumbant providers and how things should change to better serve the customer. Sprint was heading down that path with Wimax, no contracts, no subsidies, Wimax would service thousands of items in our everyday lives. Its the one thing that would boost sprint above and beyond any wireless provider today, with the restrictions and limits and 2 year contracts they shove down your throats with early termination fee's, the list could go on. If anything all these companies should FORGET how to run a wireless company, and start over fresh, doing it right this time. Sprint isnt perfect, and Gary Forsee certainly wasnt. But if there was one thing Sprint had going for them, it was Wimax.
--
Hn7000s Small Office plan/.74m dish & 1Watt Trans on Satmex 5 Signal: 86/Win XP Pro SP2/P4 3gig, 2Gigs Ram, Radeon X1300 500meg video | |
| | 
BillRoland
Premium
join:2001-01-21
Ocala, FL
clubs:
 ·Cox HSI
| Re: If they stop now they are done. You're not looking at reality though. They are going to lose another 300,000 contract subscribers, this quarter alone. You can't possibly build out a successful WiMAX network if you don't even know how to run what you've got. The problem is that Sprint is now hemorrhaging subscribers and money at alarming rates. If this keeps up, there will be nothing left to spend on WiMAX anyway. I don't think anyone is arguing that WiMAX is a bad idea, but you've got to have your own house in order before you go out and attempt something like this, and Sprint doesn't even know where its house is, much less how to put it in order.
And sorry, but comparing Sprint investors on the WiMAX situation to Verizon's investors on the FiOS project is like comparing apples to beef. The Sprint investors have legitimate concerns.
--
"Don't steal. The government hates competition."
Fred Thompson For President 2008 »www.fred08.com | |
| | | 
en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
| Re: If they stop now they are done. said by BillRoland :You're not looking at reality though. They are going to lose another 300,000 contract subscribers, this quarter alone. You can't possibly build out a successful WiMAX network if you don't even know how to run what you've got. The problem is that Sprint is now hemorrhaging subscribers and money at alarming rates. If this keeps up, there will be nothing left to spend on WiMAX anyway. I don't think anyone is arguing that WiMAX is a bad idea, but you've got to have your own house in order before you go out and attempt something like this, and Sprint doesn't even know where its house is, much less how to put it in order. And sorry, but comparing Sprint investors on the WiMAX situation to Verizon's investors on the FiOS project is like comparing apples to beef. The Sprint investors have legitimate concerns. I tend to agree... WiMAX may be a good offering, but if Sprint can't keep its CURRENT business floating (dumping Gary was to appease investors, I assume), then it may find itself in a tight financial crunch attempting to deploy WiMAX.
--
Canada = Hollywood North | |
| | |
hitman_001
Premium
join:2006-11-20
Laredo, TX
| I believe im looking at reality correctly.. And i certainly dont disagree with putting the house in order, Sprint has to get themselves and nextel together and dear lord... Fix that awfull customer service, Finish deploying evdo, and quit leaving jobs half ass done before they start on Wimax. But completely shutting it down? lol.. I dont think thats the right thing to do at all.
--
Hn7000s Small Office plan/.74m dish & 1Watt Trans on Satmex 5 Signal: 86/Win XP Pro SP2/P4 3gig, 2Gigs Ram, Radeon X1300 500meg video | |
| | | |
en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
| Re: If they stop now they are done. With the amount of investment in spectrum (100MHz of 2.5GHz is HUGE!), they'll have to perform, or some other company will purchase them while their stock is hurting, or Sprint will be forced (by nervous investors) to spin off Xohm.
--
Canada = Hollywood North | |
| | | | 
calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA
| said by hitman_001 :... And i certainly dont disagree with putting the house in order, Sprint has to get themselves and nextel together and dear lord... Amen to that. The WSJ reported that a MAJOR part of Forsee's exit package negotiations involved his fervent wish that Sprint HQ revert to Kansas--for a company he's LEAVING!
As a veteran of several telecom mergers, I have to say that such a parochial HQ location attitude smacks of divisiveness and a fostering of the "us against them" mentality which can easily sink a merger. Why in the WORLD would he care after he's gone?
calvoiper
--
VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! | |
| | 
wifi4milez
Big Russ, 1918 to 2008. Rest in Peace
join:2004-08-07
New York, NY
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·RoadRunner Cable
 ·BroadVoice
| said by hitman_001 : quote:
They should stop the WiMax rollout immediately," said Patrick Comack, an equities analyst with Zachary Research. "They need to get back to the basics and learn how to run a wireless company. This means focusing more on the present rather than the future."
I'm sorry but thats about the most retarded thing i've ever heard. People scream and moan about incumbant providers and how things should change to better serve the customer. Sprint was heading down that path with Wimax, no contracts, no subsidies, Wimax would service thousands of items in our everyday lives. Its the one thing that would boost sprint above and beyond any wireless provider today, with the restrictions and limits and 2 year contracts they shove down your throats with early termination fee's, the list could go on. If anything all these companies should FORGET how to run a wireless company, and start over fresh, doing it right this time. Sprint isnt perfect, and Gary Forsee certainly wasnt. But if there was one thing Sprint had going for them, it was Wimax. The thing people dont understand is that Wimax doesnt need to be limited to a "wireless" offering. Wimax can take the place of standard "wired" offerings like DSL and cable if implemented correctly. Sprint has the opportunity to reach vast numbers of customers (both business and residential) without spending a single penny digging up roads and building conduit. For residential users who dont need super strong SLA's, this is a no brainer for Sprint.
--
я люблю Денди! | |
| | | myokitis
join:2004-06-19
Alexandria, VA
| Re: If they stop now they are done. I think you're partially correct but I disagree w/ your conclusion . . . Keep in-mind that while FTTH is indeed expensive, it is an established technology. WiMax is still an unproven pie-in-the-sky technology that's never been deployed on a large scale. Given the high amount of financial risk (i.e. uncertainty)invloved, investors have a legitimate concern of a large investment (bet?) in an unproven technology by a company in Sprint's condition.
If they bet the farm on this and run into some sort of unforseen operational difficulties, Sprint will be finished, quickly. If they stabilize their core operations, however, then they can afford to bear more risk. | |
| | | |
wifi4milez
Big Russ, 1918 to 2008. Rest in Peace
join:2004-08-07
New York, NY
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·RoadRunner Cable
·BroadVoice
| Re: If they stop now they are done. said by myokitis :I think you're partially correct but I disagree w/ your conclusion . . . Keep in-mind that while FTTH is indeed expensive, it is an established technology. WiMax is still an unproven pie-in-the-sky technology that's never been deployed on a large scale. Given the high amount of financial risk (i.e. uncertainty)invloved, investors have a legitimate concern of a large investment (bet?) in an unproven technology by a company in Sprint's condition. If they bet the farm on this and run into some sort of unforseen operational difficulties, Sprint will be finished, quickly. If they stabilize their core operations, however, then they can afford to bear more risk. Well, yes and no. FTTH has only become an "established" technology here in the US in the past 2 or 3 years. In the grand scheme of telecom that doesnt mean much! While you are correct the Wimax is largely unproven on a scale of this size, there are a few things to consider. First, Wimax has been in development and testing for years. Secondly, it has been rolled out on a fairly large scale in other countries and even here in the US on a smaller scale (Clearwire has been offering it for a few years themselves). The other thing to consider is that a good percentage of the business Sprint will gain with this is consumer, meaning that "best effort" is just that. Overall, $5B is not that much money for a large company like Sprint, especially considering Clearwire will be footing part of the bill. In all honesty, the nationwide rollout (if it ever happens) will happen in a tiered way, thus giving Sprint time to "iron out the wrinkles".
--
я люблю Денди! | |
| | | | |
calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA
| Re: If they stop now they are done. Yes, but remember that wireless frequencies are shared among all users, while fiber routes are not. Wireless channels are much more limited than fiber, and the company that wastes them on fixed applications will find itself competing with fiber--but the company that stresses wireless applications will have greater demand in the mobile market.
calvoiper
--
VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! | |
| | | | | |
wifi4milez
Big Russ, 1918 to 2008. Rest in Peace
join:2004-08-07
New York, NY
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·RoadRunner Cable
·BroadVoice
| Re: If they stop now they are done. said by calvoiper :Yes, but remember that wireless frequencies are shared among all users, while fiber routes are not. Wireless channels are much more limited than fiber, and the company that wastes them on fixed applications will find itself competing with fiber--but the company that stresses wireless applications will have greater demand in the mobile market. calvoiper While that is true, this service is initially being offered as a wired service (DSL, cable) replacement. Sprint is leaning towards using this network as their 4G solution, however from the start it will be geared towards home based users. Laptop cards will probably be the first wireless devices released for Xohm (likely concurrent with launch), followed by cellphones within 24 months.
--
я люблю Денди! | |
| | | | | myokitis
join:2004-06-19
Alexandria, VA | All good points . . . thanks for clarifying. | |
| | | | | | | |
tc1uscg
join:2005-03-09
Saint Clair Shores, MI
| They should stop the WiMax rollout immediately," said Patrick Comack, an equities analyst with Zachary Research. "They need to get back to the basics and learn how to run a wireless company. This means focusing more on the present rather than the future."
Yes.. this is a wreckless statement. Lets kill off another form of innovative telecommunications before it gets a chance. While the investors and these brain dead analyst, who get paid to make people paranoid, try to make WiMAX seem like a waist of time should have jumped on the same bandwagon for the rollout of the iPhone. If every company listened to these idiots everytime they tried to spend some money and take a chance, we would still be on party lines and using roadside payphones. Leave Sprint alone. Let them do what they do best. Spend lots of money to make something innovative and work. Just like ION. It could have worked but the investors didn't have the balls to stay the course. If you look at AT&T's uVerse, that was Sprint 8 years ago. Can you dream of where they would be today if they were allowed to continue with that project? That 2billion they lost would be chicken feed today. Lesson learned. At least for some.  | |
| 
jgkolt
Premium
join:2004-02-21
Lakewood, OH
clubs:
| nextel they need to work on maintaining one single platform. Push all the nextel customers to sprint and make sure the towers are in place before they do this (to replace the nextel ones).
--
3 free for you/3 free for me: Investing Trades : PM Me | |
| |
rec9140
Provoice just DO it
join:2003-07-29
Mulberry, FL
| Re: nextel said by jgkolt :
they need to work on maintaining one single platform. Push all the nextel customers to sprint and make sure the towers are in place before they do this (to replace the nextel ones).
As much as I detest nexhell... You don't understand what nexhell is and who its customers are. Neither does sprint.
nexhell is pretty much killed all the little mom and pop radio shops that provided local business users 2 way radio service. Its now all on nexhell.
nexhell is NOT, N O T a cell service! Its a massive nationwide trunked radio system. One of the features of the system is interconnect or making phone calls.
You simply can not say you need to get sprint CMDA phone and move all these subs to the 1900 CDMA network. You will LOOSE 80-90% of the customers of nexhell. The majority are there for the "chirp/direct connect/walkie talkie" feature of the system. Interconnect/phone calls are not the draw for nexhell customers.
Many companies use group connect as a replacement for their old business radio systems.
The only system that has come close to providing PTT on CDMA networks is Kodiaks and its very limited deploymnet, mostly Alltel. QChat is not up to the task.
Sprint and nexhell never made sense to begin with. Two different network technologies, iDEN and CDMA, two different bands 800 and 1900MHz. Two different classes of customers. All incompatible.
There was no synergy to mesh these two together. Nexhell needs to be spun back off on its own.
--
Lorem ipsum ei pro stet equidem labores, at enim animal expetenda nec. Ea vix argumentum dissentiunt, usu esse ridens ex. | |
| bshelly
Premium
join:2002-02-17
Schaumburg, IL
clubs: | Xohm or bust! This IS the only thing Sprint has going for it going forward. The investors need to relax. This will bring Sprint ahead of all of the competition.
Spend $$$ and build now or fall further behind. | |
| | myokitis
join:2004-06-19
Alexandria, VA
| Re: Xohm or bust! Hypothetically, if Sprint runs into some sort of unforseen operational difficulties that prevent it from recovering a large capital expenditure in a timely fashion, while still hemmoraging it's core business . . . do you think it could continue as a viable business?
So much can go wrong in the real world . . . RF propagation issues, CPE/equipment availability issues, etc.
If the plan isn't implemented flawlessly then they have no cushion to rely upon. | |
| 
texans20
Weapons of Masturbation
Premium
join:2002-09-28
Texas!
clubs: | The Future Investors only care about tomorrow, or next quarter. They fail to think long term, sometimes. Fact of the matter is, data is the future. | |
| jammmin
join:2000-12-14
Upper Marlboro, MD | yes Diversify or die. Its that simple. Verizon has no choice. They were losing close to a million landlines to cable companies a year. It was Verizon's only choice to go fiber. | |
| | |
See 7 replies to this post | |
wonderer
@primesignal.com
| If they don't do it now... Someone else will. I can see AT&T grinning on this development. Why do you think AT&T purchased a swath of 700MHz spectrum yesterday for 2.5$ Billion. They don't have anything in the current spectrum for Wimax specs, but apparently accdg. to Intel the 700 MHz profile is in the works for Wimax as well . I think AT&T saw the potential of Wimax in Chicago and they don't want to be left behind. Anyway, just my specualtion.... | |
| flyingjoey
join:2005-11-07
Jersey City, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
 ·Verizon FIOS
| Does this mean no wireless for me! Does this mean I won't have wireless broadband next year?
FCUK! I really was looking forward to going fulltime wireless. I invested $4k+ on a new laptop to replace my desktop, and was going to drop my cable internet service in favor of (although slower) Wimax so that I could truly be mobile.
Yet again, Sprint breaks my freaken heart, fcuks with my future plans and the investors fail to look at the bigger picture.
Bigger picture according to me:
Verizon is has a good network, yet not very flexible when it comes to data services, AT&T (GSM blows in terms of voice quality), and I’d rather use a 14.4 modem than EDGE, T-Mo I’ve seen data move faster at 300 baud than with T-Mo’s data services now Sprint is a different animal. Sprint’s Data Service is beyond great, flexible and the best and most affordable out there. But they don’t know how to sell themselves. For starters customer service reps should have brains larger than a peanut.
If Sprint scales down their WiMax initiative they might as well become the next MCI. High Speed data services availability is the only thing that sets Sprint apart and only the only advantage it has over the rest of the providers. The only way sprint will have an advantage over the competition is by having HIGHER speeds & data services availability, therefore the next guy has to always play catch up.
Sprint – Verizon – T-Mo – AT&T they all offer the same core of services… a wireless phone and multi-media (who cares about TV on a phone) their costs are very much the same. It what they offer beyond the basic stuff that will set them apart. | |
| |
pepe242
@northwestern.edu
| Re: Does this mean no wireless for me! Interesting. Dump your Cable connection? Wow. It will be quite some time before most folks decide to dump their cable and/or DSL connections. The quality just won't be there yet those of us who are accustomed to low ping times and complex web pages which load nearly instantaneously. The reliability of Cable internet for a lot of people is what will keep us, that's for sure. The upcoming 3G speeds that will be provided by ATT are certainly going to throw a wrench in what's being currently offered by Sprint in the form of EVDO.
It's interesting too that you choose to make such a generalization about the voice quality of GSM (over CDMA). Keep in mind that most of the time it has more to do with where on a particular network you are using the cell service and with a particular piece of hardware (Motorola/Nokia/Samsung). Voice quality can certainly be somewhat different but equally acceptable for GSM and CDMA technologies. Did you stop to consider that where you used ATT/Cingular GSM perhaps the network was the issue(?) I don't comprehend how you could think that is the same in all locations. If GSM were so bad/unacceptable, how would ATT continue to be so huge(?) | |
| | | flyingjoey
join:2005-11-07
Jersey City, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Verizon FIOS
| Re: Does this mean no wireless for me! I carry both a sprint phone and an ATT crackberry. Every where I've been from Toronto, Mont-tremblant, the FL Keys, over to the Nevada, Colorado, California, the caribbean, mexico and everywhere in between where GSM & CDMA services are both active, I get better voice quality using a CDMA phone.
I could be in midtown manhattan and I rather use my sprint phone than my crackberry. 8 out of every 10 calls I make on my crackberry sound horrible, people on the other end sound like robots speaking.
Your average cell phone user doesn't understand or even care how a phone call on a cell phone goes through. GSM & CDMA are foreign terms. | |
| | | |
|
|
