Fueled by little more than a few analyst quotes and the fact that CenturyLink doesn't have a wireless division, Bloomberg suggests that Sprint might be a delicious acquisition target for CenturyLink. CenturyLink has been on a bit of a tear lately, first acquiring Embarq and changing their name from CenturyTel to CenturyLink, than only a little while later acquiring Qwest. During a hearing on the AT&T and T-Mobile deal last week, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse insisted that the deal will trigger further consolidation, and that his company -- which would have a 17% market share post deal -- would be the next likely target. The article notes the other possible path for Sprint is "bulking up," either through an acquisition of partner Clearwire (in which they own a 53% stake already), or through partnerships with Leap Wireless. If CenturyLink does make a move, they would likely wait until Sprint's $5 billion base station LTE retrofit is completed.
When I moved to Eustis, Florida my land line telephone service was provided by Sprint. When Sprint acquired Nextel they were required to divest their land line business and formed Embarq. If Bloomberg is right the divorce will be over and Sprint wireless and Embarq customers will again be served by the same company.
When I moved to Eustis, Florida my land line telephone service was provided by Sprint. When Sprint acquired Nextel they were required to divest their land line business and formed Embarq. If Bloomberg is right the divorce will be over and Sprint wireless and Embarq customers will again be served by the same company.
Seriously.
Here in NJ, I've been through the following either merged and/or acquired in this order:
West Jersey Telephone -> New Jersey Telephone -> United Telephone -> (~2007) Sprint -> (~2009) Embarq -> (Present) CenturyLink (We still are not even fully CL yet, and remain technically ("Formerly") Embarq, - as shown in my posting tag).
(From a relocated Bell Atlantic-Verizon NJ guy who knew about that chunk of NJ missing in the area code guide in the front of the VZ/BA Directory..... )
I never understood why Sprint/Nextel spun off Embarq in the first place. I think everyone pretty much agreed that you need a landline cash cow to subsidize the build out of the wireless network, and then you use the wireless network to subsidize the eventual land line losses. Oh well what do I know?
Seeing how U.S Cellular is already in part controlled by TDS telecom (who eventually want to sell it) I'm not sure why now is not the time to do it.
EDIT As a U.S Cellular customer myself bring on the eventual iPhone as it is only a matter of time before the BIG 3 Wireless companies gobble up Metro PCS, Cricket and US Cellular among others.
I never understood why Sprint/Nextel spun off Embarq in the first place. I think everyone pretty much agreed that you need a landline cash cow to subsidize the build out of the wireless network, and then you use the wireless network to subsidize the eventual land line losses. Oh well what do I know?
Obviously more than the FCC at the time who forced Sprint to dump the landline business.
Well it's a pretty weak speculation to begin with. Bloomberg is essentially just suggesting the idea. They are not stating there is an actual desire from CL.
That CenturyLink is thinking about it. As Qwest is the 2nd biggest shareholder in CL it would almost be as if Ma Bell now controls mobile telephony. If they weren't thinking about it already Goldman and JP Morgan/Chase are talking with them this morning.
Based on T-Mobile's $39 billion price Sprint with its massive spectrum holdings and 14 million more customers (that's approximate) would probably be in the $60-$70 billion range.
What the hell? Sprint has become a significant player in wireless by acquiring Nextel and now you want to put it together with Sprint? Somebody is out of their god damned mind for even for floating this idea, let alone trying to push forward with it..
back in march, glenn post, ceo of centurylink stated that they had increased their annual budget to $1 billion, which it included running more fiber to verizon cell towers and putting up more towers of their own. Since qwest has a nice deal wither verizon, it seemed that centurylink would be putting itself into position to be bought out by verizon if the at&t/t-mobile deal goes through.
in the 2 1/2 years since centurytel has bought embarq, qwest and now a purchase of savvis, a cloud based hosting company, they have spent close to $40 billion alone.
not going to talk about how the service levels have dropped drastically.
i could see them buying sprint. what i cant see is later on, verizon buying out centurylink after the purchase of sprint if it goes that route. I don't think the govt would allow only 2 major cell carriers and a butt load of small ones. but then again, has the govt done anything decent for it's people?
my biggest concern is, since hesse took over sprint again after leaving embarq, their service levels have actually gone up. im even a sprint customer who has had no issues and have had nothing but good experience the 2 comes i have called customer service. i'm afraid if centurylink does buy out sprint, things may change too much for them and sprint service levels will drop once again.
When I moved to Eustis, Florida my land line telephone service was provided by Sprint. When Sprint acquired Nextel they were required to divest their land line business and formed Embarq. If Bloomberg is right the divorce will be over and Sprint wireless and Embarq customers will again be served by the same company.
Wireless companies gobble up Metro PCS, Cricket and US Cellular among others.
