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C Spire CEO: T-Mobile & Sprint Should Be Allowed to Merge
In an editorial over at Roll Call, C Spire CEO Hu Meena throws his full support behind behind Sprint's acquisition of T-Mobile, supporting Sprint's argument that the combined companies will create a third, stronger competitor for AT&T and Verizon. Meena's quick to point out AT&T and Verizon's domination of the retail markets, available spectrum, and special access and backhaul markets:
quote:
Consider that, today, AT&T and Verizon control 80 percent of the industry earnings, have 70 percent of the wireless customers in the U.S., own licenses for over 80 percent of the ultra-efficient low band spectrum, and own the networks supplying most of the landline connections to the towers used by all other wireless carriers. Note that AT&T and Verizon did not reach their tremendous size by beating their competition; they did so by buying their competition during an era of unfettered acquisitions and near-total regulatory disinterest.
A merged Sprint and T-Mobile, Meena argues, would finally create a true counterbalance to the twin bell duopoly that has long dominated the sector:
quote:
If the wireless industry is to be competitive and deliver the benefits of competition to the consumer, Sprint and T-Mobile must be allowed to merge and then must work with the nation’s smaller competitive carriers to create both the scale and combined footprint of a third national wireless carrier. Then, and only then, will we have a counterbalance to the wireless Twin Bells, and true competition for the U.S. wireless consumer.
Sprint has historically been a great political ally to C Spire, and Meena likely believes that the larger Sprint gets, the greater ally they'll be. Granted consolidation often doesn't work that way, and Sprint will be an entirely different company under SoftBank ownership. C Spire could find themselves on the short end of the stick when Sprint inevitably starts behaving more like AT&T and Verizon than ever before thanks to the elimination of a fourth competitor (go ask a Canadian).
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IPPlanMan
Holy Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC

IPPlanMan

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Right on cue...

The Potomac Two Step is kicking into high gear...
schmolf4
join:2011-06-23

schmolf4

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Re: Right on cue...

wonder how much he got paid for that endorsement?

Evergreener
Sent By Grocery Clerks
join:2001-02-20
Evergreen, CO

Evergreener

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Re: Right on cue...

Let's just call it "future considerations"... T-Sprint Agrees to Acquire C-Spire for Healthy Market Premium
ITGeeks
join:2014-04-20
Cleveland, OH

ITGeeks

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Re: Right on cue...

No, after the merger of Sprint-TMO USA (if allowed- which it should NOT be allowed), It the headline would read "TMO-Sprint USA to Acquire C-Spire". Then they'd all claim this is needed to compete against everyone else.

bigballer
@205.217.226.x

1 recommendation

bigballer

Anon

well....

according to tmobile's Q2 results, they seem to be doing fine on their own. The only complaints people seem to have is lack of 4G in their area which should be resolved with verizon's 700 mhz spectrum, the upcoming 600 mhz, and refarming 2g edge to lte

now sprint on the other hand....

WiFiguru
To infinity... and beyond
Premium Member
join:2005-06-21
Seattle, WA

WiFiguru

Premium Member

Hmmm

Maybe Cspire and Sprint need to merge... and in that deal, Hu loses his job.

Actually, maybe this is what he wants. For Sprint to buy up Cspire.
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch

Member

Could he be hoping for a buyout?

Could C Spire be angling for a possible buyout by the merged company? As it stands, neither Sprint nor T-Mobile have big network buildouts in most of C Spire's service area, and C Spire runs both CDMA and LTE, which would mesh nicely with what a combined Sprint/T-Mobile would be running. At the very least, even if there wasn't a buyout, C Spire would be in a good position to offer roaming to the new carrier.
nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ

nonymous (banned)

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Re: Could he be hoping for a buyout?

Rural Carrier with sprint tmobile.
tabernak4
join:2013-08-10

tabernak4 to ISurfTooMuch

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to ISurfTooMuch
They already have roaming agreements together, it'd make sense. I think every CEO of a small company wants to be bought out, big payday for them. As a CSpire customer I'd not be a big fan of it. Theoretically the 2 combined would have more spectrum and resources for rural Mississippi, but I'd expect Sprint to just try to absorb CSpire's customers and upgrading infrastructure in Mississippi would be at the bottom of their list after the acquisition.
nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ

nonymous (banned)

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Re: Could he be hoping for a buyout?

Or they may be happy with a decent agreement long term and still have their own sperate company. Not everyone os looking for a payday. Or they missed the Verizon and ATT rural expansions.
I think for now Sprint would ne happier with solid roaming agreements in some rural areas and not buyouts or their own expansions. Offer the rural carriers decent deals and help and maybe make sure no sellouts to a Verizon afterwards. Plus may help a little by keeping some competition even if smaller for any government scrutiny.
nonymous

nonymous (banned)

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Re: Could he be hoping for a buyout?

A merger with Tmobile even though lots of overlap and upgrade all Tmobiles 2g 3g to something else and the rural carriers would make for decent coverage in AZ and NM. Maybe not Verizon type but close.
ITGeeks
join:2014-04-20
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That long term agreement would work, it did with Cingular and TMO USA for California.
ITGeeks

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They could offer roaming without even using Sprint.
biochemistry
Premium Member
join:2003-05-09
92361

biochemistry

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No C

Having four competitors is too important to destroy now. Yes 3 and 4 are weak now but that could easily change.
mlcarson
join:2001-09-20
Santa Maria, CA

mlcarson

Member

Nextel again?

I don't even know why they would want to merge. The phone networks are incompatible. You'd think Sprint would have learned from their Nextel purchase that this isn't a good idea.
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch

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Re: Nextel again?

I wonder if this is being pushed more by Softbank than Sprint. Could be that they realized they bought the wrong company.

IPPlanMan
Holy Cable Modem Batman
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IPPlanMan

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Re: Nextel again?

That's what I've been saying all along.
ITGeeks
join:2014-04-20
Cleveland, OH

ITGeeks

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Re: Nextel again?

Same here!
clone (banned)
join:2000-12-11
Portage, IN

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to mlcarson
What was there to learn? Plenty of networks with different technologies have merged in the past all over the world just fine.

Sprint's issue when they purchased Nextel was that the Nextel/iDEN customers were a huge source of solid, reliable business revenue at a time when their CDMA network was seeing massive subscriber losses. They wanted to shut the whole thing down and move it to CDMA, but doing that would have been suicide. They just screwed themselves through mismanagement; air interfaces had nothing to do with that.

I'm all for the T-Mobile/Sprint merger, if it means the T-Mobile management team is now in charge of the combined assets of the two entities. That kind of force in the industry would be unstoppable.

Doing the opposite would be utter nonsense, and would only serve to further entrench the incumbents (VZ/T). If I were a stockholder, I'd sue if Hesse and crew were put at the helm of the new combined Sprint/T-Mo.
nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
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nonymous (banned)

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Re: Nextel again?

Sprints management has already been tweaked by Softbank. Management has been lt go and Softbank is more in charge of Sprint. It really has not been that long and changes in upper management have happened but not screames to the world.
I think Son is being a little more subtle here than falling on his sword in Japan.
The rural carriers agreements will hopefully help the old altell now verizon coverage for the future.
sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
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There is something wrong with you if you think putting t-mobile's management team in charge would make a lick of difference. There would still only be 3 carriers with absolutely no reason to compete with each other on price.
ITGeeks
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The combined company would be in no better position than they are now. Sprint still wouldn't have any money and still would lag. They're nowhere near the improvements TMO USA has made, especially just now offering WiFi Calling, which TMO has had for YEARS. Vo-LTE? Never anytime soon with Sprint as they're not even using the same advanced LTE technology/equipment that TMO is using. Sprint is putting themselves behind the 8 ball again. Just as they were to start off with.

herbert12846
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The majority of sprint phones area both cmda and gsm capable. So a merger would actually help sprint expand their network without much upgrade other then phone firmware to be told to scan both types of networks

IPPlanMan
Holy Cable Modem Batman
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IPPlanMan

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Re: Nextel again?

You mean for all those Sprint iPhones, as far back as the iPhone 4S, which support both standards but are permanently locked to prevent use on domestic GSM carriers?

Are those the phones you're talking about?
nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ

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The move is to lte and volte. So in tbe end networks will not be incompatible. Plus newer handsets can handle more bands.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
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Voice will evolve to VOLTE for all carriers (making the GSM/CDMA distinction moot).. then it's a matter of programming the roaming and frequency ranges. However, there are other reasons why Sprint should not have access to more customers & spectrum through another company. Just about all of those reasons align with a negative outcome for the consumer if it were to happen.
tkdslr
join:2004-04-24
Pompano Beach, FL

tkdslr

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C-spire is a Sprint partner..

They partnered up to deploy LTE roaming.. Not exactly unbiased..

»s4gru.com/index.php?/top ··· roaming/
nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
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nonymous (banned)

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Re: C-spire is a Sprint partner..

said by tkdslr:

They partnered up to deploy LTE roaming.. Not exactly unbiased..

»s4gru.com/index.php?/top ··· roaming/

How is that a bad thing. Helps both small carriers and Sprint. Plus I believe Tmobile also bas a stake in some of these alliances where needed.

polymers
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Petal, MS

polymers to tkdslr

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I think this is exactly it. Hu is just covering some of the cost of using Sprint's network for LTE roaming.

If he were looking for a buyout, I'm quite sure Cspire would have sold to Verizon by now.
78036364 (banned)
join:2014-05-06
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78036364 (banned)

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Screw C-Spire

While I agree with them the reason why T-Mobile doesn't have any 700 MHz spectrum in our areas is because C-Spire owns it. Even though they do not provide service in our area and have no intentions of doing so. This is why only the major carriers should have spectrum. Who wants to go with a regional carrier where you're on roaming as soon as you drive 5 miles out of town? Morons perhaps.
nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
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nonymous (banned)

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Re: Screw C-Spire

said by 78036364:

While I agree with them the reason why T-Mobile doesn't have any 700 MHz spectrum in our areas is because C-Spire owns it. Even though they do not provide service in our area and have no intentions of doing so. This is why only the major carriers should have spectrum. Who wants to go with a regional carrier where you're on roaming as soon as you drive 5 miles out of town? Morons perhaps.

The alliances help the small carriers with roaming outside their areas. Now if always outside the area a larger carrier better. But if say vacations and some trips local carrier with roaming may be better.
asdfdfdfdfdf
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asdfdfdfdfdf

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I think the article is correct...

I oppose the other two mergers and generally oppose mergers but neither sprint nor t-mobile is a competitor on their own. T-mobile, despite the good things it is doing for customers, is bleeding money and DT wants out from under it. There also isn't much evidence that t-mobile's behavior is having much impact upon the behavior of ATT or verizon or poses a significant threat to their market share. Nor is it clear that t-mobile can , or will, be able to maintain this behavior in future. Having t-mobile and sprint going back and forth grabbing customers from one another isn't accomplishing anything in the long term. Going from 2 to 3 big competitors would be a bigger benefit to the market than 2 struggling companies and 2 big players. The risks of allowing this seem worth it given the state of the market today.

••••

cb14
join:2013-02-04
Miami Beach, FL

cb14

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Typical corporate propaganda.

I am not going to speculate what's in for Meena to provide this support, one thing is sure, anyone who believes that a 4 to 3 reduction will improve competition lives in lala land. There is a ton of examples from other countries how this worked out.
And look at Sprint. They are not even thinking of lowering prices or becoming disruptive-as they say, they need the money to upgrade the network. Hm-mm, what about Mr. Son and Softbank chipping in some cash first, face some losses in the first few years and then reaping the profits later? off course not, what a crazy idea. Mr. Son will rather spend billions to bulldoze Sprint's most dangerous competitor. Because yes, there are reasons for customers to stay wit Verizon or Tea, but honestly, there are barely any reasons for them to stay with Sprint. This is why they are leaving with millions.
If this deal gets rejected and or of TMO US gets bought by the French as suggested, Mr. Son will have no other alternative than actually spend some of that merger money on Sprint and make it competitive. The other alternative would be Sprint's bankruptcy but son will not let that happen. So, we ,may get a real competition among 4 carriers if the deal gets rejected, or Tea-Verizon-Sprint type of wheeling dealing over the back of the consumers if it does not.
nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ

nonymous (banned)

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Re: Typical corporate propaganda.

Sprint has new plans in limites testing that do tend to be cheaper. Also, depends on if want subsidized phone or buy your own.
The framily was an idea before Softbank. New ones in testing limited markets can be put squarely on the new Softbank sprint.
A few even look good to me.if the go mass market.out of this limited market phase.
roged49
join:2004-07-01
Brentwood, NY

roged49

Member

I dont buy it.

The only people who benefit is the shareholders.

Softbank brought sprint, made a dash to essentially make a new marketing campaign to sell sprint's revamped plans and pitched to buy Tmobile, with small network improvements in between.

I dont see how Sprint buying Tmobile will benefit the end user. Yes, on paper the company is stronger to compete. Then what?

They just spent 30+ billion buying a company... surely the great tmobile deals will continue. REALISTICALLY, we all know its shareholders or consumer happiness, and sure enough, the shareholders will be put first.

We know Tmobile would be consumed for its user base, full stop; and sprints biggest competitor removed. Where is the incentive to compete? Without Tmobile, they could just follow the big two pricing model and lower their price by 5 dollars, not to mention kill the free data roaming because that doesn't benefit shareholders, especially after again a 30+ billion dollar buyout.

This whole thing looks good on paper. In reality, once tmobile is gone, what's the incentive to improve? 100 million-ish users, is quite a profit wave, after necessary cost cutting and layoffs.

I just believe the long-term investment here is the user base.

Id rather see Iliad purchase it and fail, then Son to hold it and ruin it. Im not getting a vibe from Son or Sprint he's champaign for the people.

linicx
Caveat Emptor
Premium Member
join:2002-12-03
United State

linicx

Premium Member

I wonder

I had T-Mo and Sprint and liked them both as resellers and tech support. I currently use TracFone and like it just as well. BTW, Tracfone is the largest wireless carrier in North America.

OTOH VZ is in deep trouble with NY and NY for leaving thousands of customers stranded after the worst recorded hurricane in history struck the eastern seaboard. It could lose license to operate in NY and NJ for not observing federal law that requires telephone companies to maintain wireline capably from border to border. VZ is an FCC licensed telephone company.

DcGamer05
join:2001-07-05
Danbury, CT

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Re: I wonder

Thats a fat chance since NY and NJ is Verizon land. cool story though