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Sprint
Company Profile

by
Karen Spring

Copyright 2019, Faulkner Information Services. All Rights Reserved.

Docid: 00017006

Publication Date: 1902

Report Type: VENDOR

Preview

Sprint offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline
communications services to consumers, businesses, and governments, and
served about 54.5 million connections as of December 31, 2018. The
company is widely recognized for developing innovative technologies,
including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the
United States; offering leading no-contract, pre-paid wireless brands
including Virgin Mobile USA and Assurance Wireless;
providing instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities;
and supporting a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Currently, Sprint and T-Mobile
are expecting to merge, but are waiting on approval from the FCC and the
Department of Justice.

Report Contents:

• Fast Facts
• Profile
• Strategy
• Product Lines
• Activity

Fast Facts

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Name: Sprint Corporation
Headquarters: 6200 Sprint Parkway
Overland Park, KS 66251-4300
(800) 829-0965
Web: https://www.sprint.com/
Type: Telecommunications Service Provider
Service Area: Nationwide US, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands
Founded: 1986 (predecessors date to 1899)
Stock Symbol: S

---

Profile

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In July 2013, SoftBank, the Tokyo-based Internet and mobile
communications giant, and Sprint Nextel merged. As part of the
transaction, SoftBank invested approximately $21.6 billion (JPY 1.8 trillion) in
Sprint, and Sprint Nextel was renamed Sprint Corporation. As of March 2018, the
company had 30,000 employees. 

Sprint offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline
communications services to consumers, businesses, and governments, and served
54.5 million connections as of December 31, 2018.  The company is
widely recognized for developing innovative technologies, including the first
wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering
leading no-contract, pre-paid wireless brands including Virgin Mobile USA and Assurance Wireless; providing instant national and international
push-to-talk capabilities; and supporting a global Tier 1 Internet backbone.

History & Milestone Events

Sprint was founded in 1899
as the Brown Telephone Company in Abilene, Kansas. The company went through a
series of name changes between 1899 and 1986, operating as Brown Telephone
Company, United Utilities, and United Telecommunications (or Telecom). The
modern-day company manifested itself in 1986, when United Telecommunications
acquired part of a small long distance company named Sprint. Major milestones
include:

• 1899 – Brown Telephone Company is founded.
• 1987 – Morgan O’Brien launches Fleet Call, the
  predecessor to Nextel; Sprint completes the first nationwide 100% digital
  fiber-optic network.
• 1992 – Sprint becomes the first carrier to offer
  commercial Internet access.
• 1993 – Sprint and Centel merge to provide local,
  wireless, and long distance services.
• 1994 – Nextel acquires all of Motorola’s SMR radio
  licenses in the US.
• 1995 – Nextel begins to service the top 50 markets in
  the US; Craig McCaw invests $1.1 billion in the company.
• 1996 – Sprint completes the first nationwide 100%
  digital PCS wireless network; Nextel becomes the first to combine digital
  cellular, two-way radio, and text-numeric paging in one phone using
  Motorola’s iDEN technology.
• 1997 – Nextel rolls out a national iDEN network.
• 1998 – Sprint buys out its partners in Sprint PCS,
  making it a wholly-owned subsidiary; Sprint unveils plans to offer the
  Integrated On-demand Network (ION) that will allow customers to throttle
  their bandwidth allotment and receive all types of content – voice, data,
  Internet, and video – over a single phone line.
• 1999 – Sprint announces plans to merge with MCI WorldCom
  in a deal that would have created the largest long distance carrier in the
  US; the deal is eventually blocked by antitrust regulators in the US and
  Europe.
• 2000 – Nextel Worldwide service becomes the largest
  all-digital wireless coverage in the US and more than 70 countries.
• 2001 – Nextel services reach the top 100 markets in the
  US, and Direct Connect walkie-talkie service is launched nationwide; Nextel
  is the first to introduce a wireless Java phone in North America; Sprint
  cancels the ION project; Sprint
  PCS reaches the 14 million subscriber mark and enters into an
  international joint venture with Virgin Group, as well as beginning the
  process of migrating to next-generation services using technology based on
  the CDMA standard.
• 2002 – Sprint
  launches PCS Vision, its next-generation network service based on CDMA2000
  1XRTT, to bring high-speed wireless data services to the US; Nextel launches
  the industry’s first Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled phone (with
  Motorola).
• 2003 – Sprint
  PCS enters the Wi-Fi market; Sprint
  announces that it will end the tracking stock for Sprint PCS and
  re-integrate the FON group and the PCS group; Gary Forsee becomes Sprint President
  and CEO.
• 2004 – Nextel launches Wireless Broadband and doubles its
  coverage area in the first year of service; Sprint unveils plans to deploy high-speed Evolution-Data
  Optimized (EV-DO) technology across the PCS network; Sprint announces a
  merger with Nextel, which will put it firmly in third place as a wireless
  provider in the US.
• 2005 – Sprint Nextel begins operations.
• 2006 – Sprint spins off its local communications
  division as EMBARQ on May 17, 2006; Sprint Nextel announces that it will
  deploy a 4G WiMAX network that will provide broadband wireless services to
  its customers.
• 2007 – Sprint and Clearwire plan to merge WiMAX networks;
  Sprint announces that it will market the WiMAX network under the Xohm
  brand; Gary Forsee steps down as the company’s chairman, president, and
  CEO; his resignation underscores Sprint’s struggle to integrate the $36
  billion purchase of Nextel; Sprint and Clearwire call off the WiMAX joint
  venture; Sprint
  soft launches its WiMAX network in Chicago and Baltimore-Washington D.C.; Dan
  Hesse takes over the helm as president and CEO.
• 2008 – Sprint announces a
  write-down of $29.7 billion in good-will from the Nextel merger in the fourth
  quarter of 2007, creating a loss for the quarter of almost that amount; Sprint
  and Clearwire combine their next-generation wireless Internet businesses and with
  the closing, Sprint contributes all of its 2.5 GHz spectrum and its
  WiMAX-related assets, including its XOHM business, to Clearwire; Sprint enters
  into an MVNO
  arrangement with Clearwire that
  enables it to resell Clearwire’s 4G wireless services under the Sprint brand
  name; Sprint launches a 3G/4G dual-mode aircard that will switch between mobile
  WiMAX service and Sprint’s 3G CDMA wireless service; Sprint loses over 4.5
  million customers for the year.
• 2009
  – Sprint launches a new plan
  that combines the Simply Everything plan with mobile broadband, as well as
  announces new pricing plans for its Nextel Direct Connect business users; Sprint’s
  prepaid mobile unit, Boost Mobile, launches a $50-a-month nationwide calling
  plan, with unlimited voice, text, and Web access; Sprint announces that it will
  lay off an additional 8,000 employees by the end of Q1. Sprint Nextel announces a 7-year deal with Ericsson that
  will outsource all Sprint network operations to Ericsson. Sprint acquires iPCS
  and Virgin Mobile. 
• 2010 – Sprint brings to market a 4G Android-powered smartphone; Sprint
  continues to roll out 4G service to more US cities. Sprint announces
  that for the fourth quarter 2010, it landed 1.1 million net subscribers, its
  first subscriber gain since the second quarter of 2007. 
• 2011 – Clearwire will suspend further expansion into the retail
  market and plans to build out its network. Sprint reduced its voting
  shares in Clearwire to avoid a default trigger on its debt. Joseph J. Euteneuer appointed
  as Chief Financial Officer. Files a formal complaint with the FCC to block the
  proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA by AT&T. Signs a $20 billion 15-year
  network sharing deal with LightSquared. Files a lawsuit in federal court
  in the District of Columbia in an effort to block the proposed
  T-Mobile/AT&T merger. 
• 2012 – Sprint announced it no longer has a majority stake in Clearwire. Sprint
  said it will end Nextel service on June 30, 2013.
• 2013 – In July, SoftBank and Sprint Nextel merged. As part of
  the transaction, SoftBank invested approximately $21.6 billion (JPY 1.8
  trillion) in Sprint, and Sprint was renamed Sprint Corporation. Sprint completed
  the acquisition of the remaining interests in Clearwire that it did not
  previously own in a transaction worth $3.4 billion. 
• 2014 – Marcelo Claure, founder of Brightstar, is named CEO of Sprint,
  replacing Dan Hesse.
• 2015 – SoftBank increased its stake in Sprint to 83%. Sprint
  announces a new strategy to overhaul the company into four regions that focus
  on customer service and retention. 
• 2016 – Sprint announced that it would create or return 5,000 jobs to
  the US in various functions including sales and customer support. This
  announcement came after President-elect Donald Trump began pushing companies
  to bring jobs back to the US from overseas. 
• 2017 – In an effort to compete with AT&T and Verizon, Sprint
  bought a one-third stake in streaming music company Tidal for $200
  million. 
• 2018 – Sprint and T-Mobile announce that they will merge in a
  transaction valued at $26 billion. The combined company will utilize the
  T-Mobile name. Marcelo Claure is elevated to Executive Chairman and Michel
  Combes is appointed CEO. Combes previously served as president and CFO. Sprint
  is awarded $26.9 million in damages from Wireless Buybacks as a result of a
  handset trafficking scheme. Andrew Davies is appointed CFO. Sprint and
  T-Mobile receive approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US
  to move forward with their merger. 
• 2019 – The FCC restarts its review of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger
  following the 35-day government shutdown. This is the second restart of the
  review process after the two companies provided updated economic information
  to the FCC.

Strategy

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top
of this report]

Sprint clearly outlines that its corporate strategy
has six assets that it feels is critical to its future success. These include:

1. To build a superior network. 
2. To achieve the lowest cost structure. 
3. To be the leader in customer growth. 
4. To sustain profitability and cash generation. 
5. To promote an employee recommended experience. 
6. To be recommended by customers as a result of their own experiences.  

Strengths

5G. Sprint continues to work on improving its network. It
will roll out mobile 5G in nine markets in 2019: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas,
Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York City, Phoenix, and Washington, DC.
Sprint will use its excess 2.5 GHz spectrum for the initial build out.
Additionally, Sprint is building out its towers to create a 4G/5G split in an
effort to roll out 5G much quicker and with less expense than other carriers.¹

Weaknesses

Tax Fraud. The state of New York sued Sprint for failing to
bill customers for taxes on its wireless services over seven years. An
investigation determined that Sprint failed to collect more than $100
million in taxes from New York customers. Attorney General Eric
Schneiderman said that Sprint avoided tax collections in an effort to lure
customers away from its competitors. The company lost its bid to dismiss
the $300 million fine in this case.  

Will the Merger Be Approved? Sprint and T-Mobile still need to receive
approval from the FCC and the Justice Department’s antitrust division to move
forward with the merger. Executives from both companies plan to testify before
House committees to soothe concerns regarding healthy competition. Several
Democratic senators raised their concerns in a letter, stating, "The merger
of T-Mobile and Sprint would reduce the number of national wireless carriers
from four to three. This reduction in competition raises a number of important
questions that the Committee should address. Since the merger was announced,
some have argued that it will lead to harmful repercussions for consumers such
as higher prices, fewer choices, and less flexibility in switching carriers."
It remains to be seen if the merger will be approved as similar deals between
T-Mobile and Sprint fell through in 2011, 2014, and 2017. In the 2017 failed
deal, Sprint’s majority owner (Softbank) and T-Mobile’s main investor (Deutsche
Telekom) couldn’t come to an agreement on how
to share control of the merged company. In 2011 and 2014, a potential
T-Mobile/Sprint merger was stopped due to antitrust regulations. 

Data Selling. An investigation from Motherboard determined that
Sprint and other companies had sold their customers’ real-time location data to
third parties – some of whom were involved in the black market. Sprint, along
with AT&T and T-Mobile, sold location information to data aggregators. At
times, those aggregators then sold the data to bounty hunters or others who did
not have authorization to possess such information. All three companies have
since said that they will no longer engage in selling information to data
aggegators. The issue has raised ire from legislators who have called on the FCC
to take action.²

Outlook

Although there’s been widespread rumors for years that Sprint and T-Mobile were
in talks to merge, it is still not known if the current plans will go through.
In February 2019, Congress grilled T-Mobile’s CEO John Legere and Sprint
Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure as the two men said that their companies would
almost certainly fail without the merger. Legere told Congressional leaders that
the merger would allow T-Mobile to compete against the likes of AT&T and
Verizon as well as exorbitant fees for cable. Claure said that without the
merger, Sprint will have to find a great deal of money to expand its network and
that could come from raising prices for its services. In a letter to the FCC,
eight senators who oppose the merger wrote, "A T-Mobile-Sprint merger would
produce unacceptably high levels of concentration in an already consolidated
wireless industry."³ It remains to be seen how this will play
out and whether the FCC will approve the merger. 

Product Lines

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Sprint operates in two segments: Wireless and Wireline.
Wireless services are largely focused on retail subscribers which
include consumers, businesses, and government entities. Wireline
services are targeted towards other communications companies as well as
business subscribers. 

The table below depicts Sprint’s different segments with
their offerings. 

Major Competitors

• Apple: https://www.apple.com/
  AT&T: https://www.att.com/
• CenturyLink: https://www.centurylink.com/ 
  Comcast: https://www.xfinity.com/ 
• Google: https://www.google.com/ 
  Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/ 
  Spectrum: https://www.spectrum.com/ 
  Verizon Communications: https://www.verizon.com/
  Verizon Wireless: https://www.verizonwireless.com/

Activity

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Mergers, Acquisitions, and Divestitures

T-Mobile and Sprint announced that they will open their
second T-Mobile Customer Experience Centers in New York’s
Greater Rochester area following their successful merger. The new
facility will be one of five such locations the duo plans to open
if their plans to merge their US carriers prove successful. This
particular Customer Experience Center will create a total of
1,000 new jobs, the companies claim. As with the other planned
locations, this facility will house a portion of the combined
company’s Team of Experts (TEX) customer care model, providing
personalized customer service for all subscribers by creating a
singular contact point for each customer. The pair have yet to
announce where the remaining Customer Experience Centers will
be located.

(02/06/2019)

Sprint and T-Mobile jointly announced
that they will create “five new state-of-the-art Customer
Experience Centers around the United States,” following the
closure of their planned merger. According to the two carriers,
the new centers will each generate “an average of 1,000 jobs.”
Once completed, the new facilities will join T-Mobile’s existing
Customer Experience Centers in “offering customers T-Mobile’s
complete Team of Experts (TEX) service.” The carrier’s TEX
offering provides subscribers with personalized support by
offering them a dedicated Care team for each customer. In total,
the pair expects to create some 5,600 new positions via customer
care expansion by 2021.

(01/30/2019)

The T-Mobile merger
with Sprint may have hit a
snag thanks to a report from The Washington
Post. The Post article reveals behavior that might constitute
impropriety, primarily revolving around the fact that T-Mobile’s
senior leadership has been found to be habitually staying at the
Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC. Making the optics of
the situation appear worse is the fact that their many stays at
the hotel owned by the President began the day after the merger
was announced. T-Mobile has, of course, denied that this pattern
of habitation had any bearing whatsoever on its attempts to woo
the current administration and regulators, with CEO John Legere
(who stood at the hotel four times within seven weeks of the
announcement) tweeting his assurances that he and his company are
following proper procedures for the merger. However, it appears
not everyone is convinced, as FCC Commissioner Jessica
Rosenworcel wrote a tweet of her own saying simply “this does not look good.”
With the FCC’s operations currently suspended during the ongoing
federal government shutdown, it remains unclear what fallout, if
any, there will be from this revelation.

(01/22/2019)

The shareholders of Sprint and T-Mobile have officially
approved the proposed combination of the two mobile carriers.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere called the news “another step forward in
creating the New
T-Mobile, so we can deliver on our promise to bring robust
competition to the 5G era.” Although this does represent a
significant milestone in the continued process of merging the two
companies, the deal remains subject to all necessary regulatory
approvals from the US government. Previous attempts to combine
the duo have resulted in regulatory blockades in the past.
However, the regulatory landscape in the US is now looser than it
has been for many years, particularly for the telecom sector.
While this does not guarantee full governmental support for the
T-Mobile/Sprint combination, it does point towards a higher
likelihood of success than any previous attempt.

(10/31/2018)

T-Mobile US and Sprint have officially entered
into an agreement to merge their operations. The rival carriers
announced an all-stock transaction that is valued at $59 billion
for Sprint and $146 billion for the newly combined “T-Mobile”
company. Under this deal, investors will receive a fixed-exchange
ratio of 0.10256 T-Mobile shares for each Sprint share, or 9.75
Sprint shares for each T-Mobile one. More importantly, the
companies noted that the integrated carrier will be “a force for
positive change in the US wireless, video, and broadband
industries,” in addition to helping “supercharge T-Mobile’s
Un-carrier strategy to disrupt the marketplace and lay the
foundation for US companies and innovators to lead in the 5G
era.” The new T-Mobile will be headquartered in Bellevue,
Washington, with a second headquarters in Overland Park,
Kansas, and will be led by outspoken current T-Mobile US
President and CEO John Legere as “CEO.” In addition, T-Mobile
COO Mike Sievert will now serve as President and COO of the new,
combined company, with “remaining members of the new
management team … selected from both companies during the
closing period.” The Board, meanwhile, will include nine Deutsche Telekom and four SOFTBANK appointed
representatives, and will be chaired by T-Mobile US Chairman Tim
Hottges. The new T-Mobile will initially employ more than
200,000. Regarding their majority-ownership parent companies,
Deutsche Telekom (63% owner of T-Mobile US) and SoftBank (85%
owner of Sprint) will hold 42% and 27% diluted economic
ownership, respectively, with the remaining 31% held by the
public. As recently noted by Reuters, the company will also
have over 127 million wireless subscribers, making it “more
formidable competition” for Verizon Wireless and
AT&T. The transaction, which
remains subject to “customary closing conditions” and “regulatory
approvals,” is expected to close “no later than the first half of
2019.”

(04/30/2018)

The latest chapter in the never-ending saga of the long,
long-rumored Sprint and T-Mobile merger, The New York Times is
reporting that both companies have once again commenced
negotiations. The most recent previous round of talks prior to
this report fell apart in November, when the duo reportedly could
not agree on valuations. However, the Times’ sources now claim
that the pair have once again rekindled the possibility of a
merger, largely due to the fact that such a deal would allow them
to share the burden of the costs associated with upcoming 5G
network buildouts. While the report does note that the talks are
still in their earliest stages, the Times’ analysts believe that
a deal will only happen if Deutsche
Telekom, parent company of T-Mobile, is allowed to retain
control of the joint entity formed by the merger. Shares of
T-Mobile, Sprint, and their respective parent companies all rose
on the release of the NY Times report. All involved parties have,
so far, declined to comment on the matter.

(04/11/2018)

Products and Services

Sprint has now joined
the other three of the “Big 4” carriers in committing to cease
the sale of customer data to so-called data aggregators. This
move by Sprint and its competitors comes in the wake of a
bombshell Motherboard report,
which revealed how easily a completely unrelated third-party can
gain access to private customers data by purchasing it from data
aggregation services, many of which were being supplied with
customers information by mobile carriers. Sprint revealed its
decision to cease dealing with data aggregators entirely in a statement made to CNET. Although all four major
wireless carriers in the US have now claimed they will end
business with data aggregators, it remains unclear when, or if
they will follow through. Several carriers have made similar
commitments in the past, only to be found reneging on those
promises by investigators probing their data sales.

(01/17/2019)

Sprint announced that
Apple Business Chat is now
available to its customers. This makes it possible for iPhone and
iPad users to message a Sprint agent to obtain digital
assistance, instead of calling the carrier’s customers support
phone lines. As with all Apple Business Chat deployments, users
will have access to features like integrated access to Apple
Maps, Siri, and Safari; the ability to leave a conversation and
resume it at a later time; and the ability to send messages from
within the Messages app in iOS. The new chat service can be
accessed within the My Sprint Mobile app. The company noted that
the feature is still in beta, and that iOS 11.3 or higher is
required for use.

(01/16/2019)

Sprint announced that it
recently worked with Nokia
and Qualcomm to
complete the “world’s first 5G data call.” This OTA
(over-the-air) transmission was conducted using 2.5GHz wireless
spectrum and massive MIMO (multiple-input / multiple-output)
technology on the carrier’s commercial network. The telco is
regarding this call as a “significant” milestone toward its
ultimate rollout of mobile 5G services in the first half of 2019.
The field test was launched over Sprint’s San Diego
infrastructure on a commercial 3GPP 5G New Radio network; it
employed Nokia’s dual-mode AirScale massive MIMO radio and a
Qualcomm Snapdragon modem and antenna modules. The call –
which included streaming YouTube video, Skype audio and video
calls, and incoming and outgoing IMs (instant messages) –
demonstrated what Sprint called a “seamless transition of
connectivity” between 4G LTE Advanced and 5G services. Further
info on
Sprint’s planned Next-Gen Network buildout and 5G plans is
available via the carrier’s Web site.

(01/14/2019)

Sprint and AT&T have both announced their
own plans to assist customers being negatively impacted by the
government shutdown. This comes after T-Mobile revealed earlier
this week that it would provide federal employees with bill
relief during the ongoing government shutdown to help them with
their lack of a paycheck. For its part, AT&T specified that it
will waive late fees, provide service extensions, and “coordinate
with [the customer] on revised payment schedules.” Meanwhile,
Sprint was more vague in its offer of help, issuing a statement
from CEO Michael Combes stating “As with any Sprint customer
who hits a rough patch, we want to help and will take a look at
your account to see what we can do…our Care reps will
coordinate with qualified customers and our financial team to
find a payment option that works and keep your service
uninterrupted during the government shutdown.” Both companies
have said they will provide help to “qualified customers,”
meaning they will require verification of a subscriber’s status
as a federal employee before providing aid.

(01/10/2019)

Verizon
Wireless, Sprint and T-Mobile have now all called
out AT&T for what they see as
a blatant attempt to mislead consumers into believing their
devices are connecting to a 5G network. The issue in question
stems from a recent move by AT&T to update some Android-based
devices on its network to display a “5GE” icon,, for its “5G
Evolution” service. AT&T had already been criticized in the past
for naming the service this way, as it is actually a somewhat
faster version of existing 4G LTE technology, not any form of
actual 5G. Now, all three competing major carriers have released
their own negative takes on AT&T’s attempt to leverage the 5G
moniker without actual 5G technology to back it up, including a
letter from Verizon Wireless, a sarcastic tweet from T-Mobile, and a statement from Sprint’s CTO Dr
John Saw, which was sent to Endgadget. It remains unclear if
AT&T will face any actual repercussions from its decision.
However, given the fact that the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) remains
shut down, it is unlikely to be investigating the issue any time
soon.

(01/09/2019)

Sprint introduced its new
TREBL with
Magic Box unit, a “smart home small cell solution providing
enhanced LTE coverage, integrated Alexa voice assistant and
exceptional Harman Kardon sound quality.” The product essentially
combines Sprint’s Magic Box line of nano-cell connectivity with a
smart speaker, allowing customers to take advantage of Amazon’s
Alexa voice assistant, while also strengthening their 4G LTE
coverage on the Sprint network. Other features include 2×8 Watt
speakers, an embedded amplifier, three built-in far field
microphones, Bluetooth, and noise and echo cancellation. Although
Sprint intends to show off the TREBL with Magic Box at this
year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), it has not announced
any pricing or release date information.

(01/08/2019)

Sprint announced that it
has been selected as the official Telecommunications Relay
Service provider for the states of Maine and Kansas. With the
signing of these contracts, the carrier will be called on to
provide all Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) and Captioned
Telephone (CapTel) for the hearing impaired in both states. The
service functions by providing human intervention in order to
translate spoken words into text-based chat for use via various
electronic devices, including PCs and captioned telephones. The
services are provided, free of charge, to state residents that
are deaf, deaf blind, or hard of hearing, as well as those who
suffer from a speech disability. No financial terms for either
agreement were disclosed.

(01/03/2019)

Sprint announced a
major expansion to its 1Million Project Foundation that will see
the carrier providing devices and “anytime Internet access” to
every eligible high-school student in its hometown of Kansas
City. The goal of the project is to provide low-income students
that lack access to broadband at home with high-speed Internet
connections and connected devices to enhance their education.
The program already serviced four districts within the KC metro
area, but will now be expanded to 17. The number of supported
participants is expected to rise to 6,400 as a result of this
change. A full list of the new school districts added as part of
this expansion can be found within Sprint’
s press release.

(11/29/2018)

Sprint announced a new
partnership with Walgreens retail stores that will allow
consumers making a purchase from 1-800-SPRINT-1 or Sprint.com
to pick up their products from a variety of Walgreens locations.
The pick-up process will be handled by the 7,500 FedEx counters
located in Walgreens storefronts spread across the US. Shipments
can be directed to the store of the customer’s choosing, where
they will be held for five business days for pickup at whatever
time is convenient for the purchaser. The company believes the
new option for delivery will come as a boon to consumers
concerned about “porch piracy,” or the theft of potentially
hundreds of dollars worth of the electronic equipment that could
occur if it is left on their doorstep. This deal also expands
upon a growing partnership between Sprint and Walgreens which
recently saw the carrier opening 80 Sprint Express locations
within Walgreens storefronts. These miniature Sprint stores are
meant to serve as convenient ways to access first-party product
sales and services from Sprint where a brick-and-mortar Sprint
store is not adjacent.

(11/14/2018)

Sprint launched a new
product for customers’ cars called “Sprint Drive.” The new unit is designed to plug into the OBD
II port found on most vehicles produced since 1996. There, it can
provide the car’s owner with real-time tracking and diagnostics
of their vehicle, the ability to create an in-car Wi-Fi hotspot,
and the option to call on roadside assistance when needed. Sprint
Drive is also capable of functioning as a tracking tool for small
business vehicle fleets. The Sprint Drive unit retails for $120,
or $5.00 per month for 24 months. The companion subscription
required by the device is $10 per month for a 2GB plan, or $25
per month for unlimited data. Sprint Drive joins nearly identical
offerings from other major carriers, including Verizon’s Hum and
T-Mobile’s Sync Up Drive.

(11/13/2018)

Sprint introduced its new
Sprint Secure Mobile VPN product for business
customers. The new service, which was designed in collaboration
with Columbitech, “creates a seamless virtual private network
connection with mobile devices across all different types of IP
networks–including 4G/LTE, LAN and Wi-Fi–to ensure users can
quickly and securely access critical data without having to worry
about reconnecting or being forced to log in multiple times
throughout the day.” Specific security features include session
persistence, to ensure consistent connectivity throughout the
day; the “highest level of military grade security”; and
compliance with requirements enforced by industry regulators such
as NIST/FIPS 140-2, HIPAA and PCI. The offering is available now
for devices running iOS, Android, Windows and Linux, as well as
embedded operating systems used for Internet of Things (IoT)
solutions across various industries. Sprint notes that developers
can also access a software development kit (SDK) if they wish to
integrate the service into their own apps.

(10/03/2018)

All four major US wireless carriers–Verizon Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint have jointly announced
the debut of their first prototype of their new mobile
authentication platform. Dubbed the Mobile Authentication
Taskforce, this industry group has set the goal of developing an
authentication method that is “less dependent on passwords” in
order to better secure user accounts. The quartet’s first crack
at a new authentication solution comes in the form of a
multi-factor authentication method, which combines each carrier’s
proprietary, network-based authentication capabilities with other
methods to verify a user’s identity. This method assigns each
user and device with a unique device-based ID that can serve as
part of their profile and authentication process across all
participating carriers and apps. The carriers believe the new
system can provide an easier, more secure way for customers to
sign into a variety of apps and platforms, including banking,
photo, and social media apps. Additional information about the
new solution can be found at the Mobile Authentication
Task Force Web site.

(09/13/2018)

Sprint introduced a new
top-tier wireless plan for its subscribers. Dubbed “Unlimited
Premium,” the plan is being marketed as a “VIP platinum-style
wireless plan tailored for the customer who wants it all.” In
Sprint’s estimation, “all” includes unlimited talk, text, and
mobile data; 50GB of mobile LTE hotspot usage; an included
Amazon Prime membership; a membership to Sprint’s Lookout
Premium Plus security service; a Limited Commercials Hulu Plus
subscription; a TIDAL subscription; full HD streaming via
cellular; global roaming to more than 185 countries; and
unlimited talk and text in Mexico and Canada. This lengthy list
of add-ons makes the Unlimited Premium plan Sprint’s most
expensive at $90 per month. However, Sprint claims that all of
those subscriptions would cost consumers $130 per month, if
purchased separately. The new Unlimited Premium plan is available
now.

(09/04/2018)

Sprint and LG announced plans to deliver what
they are calling the “first mobile 5G smartphone in the U.S.”
some time during the first half of 2019. This launch is scheduled
to coincide with the introduction of Sprint’s planned 5G network,
which also has a first half of 2019 launch window. The initial
markets announced for Sprint’s 5G debut include Atlanta, Chicago,
Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York City,
Phoenix, and Washington, DC, with others expected to follow
before the network actually goes live. Sprint noted that it also
plans to announce additional devices that will be compatible with
its forthcoming network prior to the 5G protocol becoming
publicly available. No specific specs or features for the
LG-branded smartphone were disclosed.

(08/14/2018)

Sprint is once again
revamping the unlimited plan options available to its
subscribers. With this latest change, the carrier now offers a
total of four unlimited plans: Unlimited Basic, Unlimited Plus,
Unlimited Military, and Unlimited 55+. Unlimited Basic and Plus
are the company’s options for general public. Unlimited Basic
offers unlimited talk and text with 5GB of 4G LTE data, as well
as 500MB of LTE tethered data, 480p video streaming, and
included access to a Hulu streaming video subscription. Unlimited
Plus ups the extras to include 15GB of LTE tethered data, 1080p
video streaming, and a subscription to the Tidal music streaming
service, in addition to Hulu. Pricing begins at $32 per line, per
month for Basic and $42 for Plus. It should be noted that Plus
subscribers receive per-line discounts for each additional line,
bringing the total cost down to $22 per line, per month, if five
lines of service are connected. Unlike the aforementioned plans,
Sprint’s Unlimited Military subscription is restricted to active
military members and their family, as well as veterans and their
families. It mirrors the features of the Unlimited Basic plan,
but adds a 50 percent discount per line, when compared to the
Unlimited Basic pricing. Finally, the company’s Unlimited 55+
offering is designed to provide a basic unlimited plan with talk,
text, and data for $35 per month, per line, for two lines.
Additional information on all aforementioned plans can be found
within Sprint’s press release.

(07/12/2018)

Sprint announced that
its Sprint Magic Box will soon be deployed in approximately 100
buildings across the city of Pittsburgh. The small cell units
will be utilized to connect the city’s new Energy Savings as a
Service initiative by BOSS Controls, an IoT energy management
company headquartered in Pittsburgh. The project will attempt to
apply Internet of Things technology to help the city become a
“national model for clean energy innovation.” The units will
control in-building Boss Smart Plugs, which will be able to
power-down devices and electrical devices that would normally
remain on when a building was unoccupied. The duo claims the
initiative will produce an overall reduction in the city’s carbon
footprint, while also saving general power consumption for the
buildings’ owners. No financial terms for the project were
disclosed.

(07/12/2018)

In response to a letter from Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) asking
all four major US wireless carriers to list who they share their
customers’ location data with, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint have now all announced
that they will stop selling customers’ information to data
aggregation companies. According to coverage on the topic from
EnGadget, the carriers
all independently responded to the Senator’s letter with varying
levels of actual information on their previous practices, but
with each confirming that it will no longer provide location data
to aggregators going forward. The data aggregation companies in
question would use this location information to provide
advertisers with targeting opportunities, and to better form a
picture of an individual’s likely shopping and behavioral
tendencies, often without that person ever knowing their data had
been collected.

(06/20/2018)

Sprint introduced its new
“Unlimited Kickstart” plan for new customers. This $15 per-month,
per-device offer provides uncapped voice minutes, texting, and
data access, albeit with video streaming at “DVD quality.” Access
to Unlimited Kickstart will be restricted to new mobile service
plan signups registered online, and will require the customer to
also pay their bill via AutoPay. New Sprint customers can
register a line, and enroll in the plan, via
the Sprint Web site. Although the plan is for a “limited time,”
Sprint has not disclosed its end date.

(06/11/2018)

Sprint introduced a new
subscription plan specifically targeted at customers aged 55
years or older. The new offering, dubbed “Unlimited 55+,”
provides customers with access to two lines for $35 per month,
per line. This includes unlimited talk, text, and data for both
lines. Other features include support for Sprint Global Roaming,
which offers access to no-charge usage in 185 countries worldwide
markets; unlimited mobile hotspot usage at 3G speeds; video
streaming at up to 480p resolution, music streaming at 500Kbps,
and online gaming at up to 2Mbps. Users wishing to upgrade their
throughput rates can also pay an additional $10 per month to
enhance their plan with 10GB of 4G hotspot usage, as well as
1080p video streaming, 1.5Mbps music streaming, and 8Mbps
online gaming. It should be noted that two lines are required for
the $35 per month price point, with the first line being priced
at $50 per month and the second coming in at a discounted $20
per month. The Sprint Unlimited 55+ plan is available now to
those with a valid ID showing their age.

(05/17/2018)

Both Sprint and Verizon Wireless
announced new plans for their initial 5G deployments. Although
both companies had already revealed some of the planned
locations for their early 5G rollouts, both had also promised to
expand those lists with new markets before work actually began.
In Sprint’s case, this expansion now includes “New York City;
Arizona’s largest city, Phoenix; and its hometown of Kansas
City.” These launch cities join Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas,
Houston, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC, which had already
been announced by the carrier previously. Sprint noted that it
still plans to announce additional markets prior to the beginning
of its 5G rollout, which is currently planned for some time
during the first half of 2019. Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless’ CEO
Lowell McAdam revealed to CNBC that his company will now
also be rolling out their 5G network in Los Angeles. As with the
company’s sole, original target market, Sacramento, this
installation will focus primarily on offering fixed wireless
services, rather than fully mobile 5G. This narrower focus
apparently offers Verizon a shorter timeline, however. The
telecom giant has pegged the fourth quarter of 2018 as the window
for its own 5G launch. Verizon’s own 5G mobile aspirations,
according to McAdam, are still on track for launch in 2019.

(05/16/2018)

A new report on nationwide mobile broadband performance from
Tutela shows Verizon Wireless as
the distant leader in terms of average download speeds. The new
data collection focused on a test which used the download of a
2MB file and the upload of a 1MB file across all four major
carrier networks in the US. During this test, Verizon
outperformed its competitors by a large margin, finishing with an
average download rate of 19.37Mbps, with an accompanying upload
rate of 7.42Mbps. In a distant second was AT&T, which finished with a
12.21Mbps average download rate, and 5.53Mbps average upload
rate. It was followed by T-Mobile in third place–with
an average download speed of 11.28Mbps and an average upload of
8.12Mbps–and Sprint in
fourth place–showing average downloads of 7.76Mbps and uploads
of 3.74Mbps. The contents of the full Mobile Experience Report
can be seen at Fierce
Wireless.

(05/07/2018)

Sprint introduced its new
Secure Wi-Fi app for iOS and Android. This software is
specifically designed for devices that run on the carrier’s
mobile network, and provides encryption for data that is
transferred over an unprotected public Wi-Fi. Sprint’s Secure
Wi-Fi service – which operates as “Smart VPN” – can be used
alongside the provider’s Secure suite of security software “for
business networks and mobility.” The Secure Wi-Fi app is freely
available as part of Sprint’s Mobility-as-a-Service unlimited
plan, and costs $1.99 per user, per month, for other subscribers.

(04/30/2018)

Google has posted a
message on its Product Forums announcing that its special
arrangement with Sprint for
the use of its Google Voice Service will soon be coming to an
end. Until now, Sprint users had enjoyed a special arrangement
between the two companies which allowed them to use their
existing Sprint phone number to send and receive messages and
voice mails via Google Voice, rather than needing a secondary
number assigned by Google. Additionally, users of Google Voice
on Sprint could also make free calls in the US and Canada by
using the service instead of placing a traditional phone call.
However, as of June 1, 2018, this unique arrangement will be
terminated. From that point forward, Sprint users will receive
the same benefits as any other Google Voice user. This means
that, if they wish to keep their existing phone number, they will
have to use their carrier-provided messaging and voicemail
solutions, and will not receive any free calling benefits for
that primary phone number. Google has recommended that all
impacted parties disable the integration before the
aforementioned deadline, and that they re-install the standard
edition of Google Voice on their smartphones if they wish to
continue using the service.

(04/17/2018)

Sprint opened a
private-placement offering of wireless spectrum-backed notes.
This offer of more than $3.9 billion in spectrum block notes
represents about 14% of the carrier’s holdings. These spectrum
assets include a portion of Sprint’s 2.5GHz and 1.9GHz block
holdings that it acquired via bidding for FCC licenses, as well
as from third-party leased license agreements. The offering was
commenced by three of Sprint’s “wholly-owned special purpose
subsidiaries,” and is part of the company’s larger, $7 billion
notes program.

(03/12/2018)

On the heels of AT&T
revealing the first cities it plans to target for its 2018 5G
rollout, Sprint has now
revealed its own choices for the locations of its initial 5G test
offering. The carrier has selected portions of Chicago, Dallas,
and Los Angeles as the markets where it will begin testing its 5G
technology in April. These locales will be joined later in the
year by Atlanta, Houston and Washington, DC. The carrier noted
that these trials will be followed in early 2019 by the
deployment of ” thousands of Massive MIMO radios.” These new
pieces of networking hardware are being touted as a “critical
bridge to Sprint’s 5G network,” with the 5G technology they make
possible promising to “connect people, places and billions of
things with blazing fast speed, ultra-reliable, low-latency
wireless service.” Sprint noted that the upgrades have the
potential to power 6K and 8K video broadcasts, while also
providing enough throughput to stream something as resource
intensive as VR gaming. Additional details on the MIMO radios
being deployed can be found within the company’s press release.

(02/27/2018)

IDEMIA will provide Sprint with a hosted Remote
SIM Provisioning solution. This offering enables mobile network
operators to provide authentication and activation credentials to
end customers and their consumer devices on demand and
over-the-air.

(02/26/2018)

Sprint and Samsung jointly announced
the launch of Samsung Knox Manage, a new, secure Enterprise
Mobility Management (EMM) solution for companies of varying
sizes. According to the pair, the new offering is designed to
“give IT professionals a simple, yet powerful way to manage
mobile devices across their organizations.” The service revolves
around the ability to create a “cloud-based command center,”
which can then be used by IT admins to remotely manage devices
across a variety of operating systems including Android, iOS, or
Windows 10 devices. While the company noted that this
functionality works with both Samsung and non-Samsung devices,
it did reveal that the Korean manufacturer’s own line of Galaxy
smartphones running on Knox Manage would support “elevated
security.” As part of the same launch, Sprint will also offer
Knox Configure to subscribing customers. This companion service
allows IT staff to configure and deploy branded, custom mobile
devices in bulk. More information on both solutions can be found
at Sprint’s EMM Web
page.

(02/22/2018)

Sprint officially pegged
the coming fall season as the launch window for VoLTE (Voice over
LTE) technology on its network, according to a spokesperson
speaking with Fierce
Wireless. This news was a long time in coming, with the
carrier having been actively working on the launch of VoLTE
technology since as early as 2014. While it does appear that
CDMA-based wireless carriers, like Verizon Wireless and Sprint,
do require longer to upgrade their networks to VoLTE than their
GSM-based counterparts, Verizon Wireless has already launched
support for the higher-definition voice technology across 100
percent of its network. Meanwhile, AT&T and T-Mobile both also
support the technology across their entire footprint. Assuming
Sprint’s launch window holds true, the company claims that its
subscribers can expect to experience the “same high-quality
experience that [its] customers have today.”

(02/20/2018)

Alliances and Joint Ventures

Sprint and Nokia demonstrated new 5G NR
(New Radio) connection speeds using “Massive MIMO”
(multiple-input, multiple-output) technology. This live
demonstration included 5G NR over a “dual mode-capable” MIMO
radio, and used Sprint’s 2.5GHz spectrum; Nokia’s commercial
AirScale base station and Massive MIMO Active Antenna; and a
VIAVI TM500 5G test device emulator. The 5G NR system’s
antenna supports up to 120MHz of spectrum and delivers up to 3
Gbps peak downlink throughput for a single sector over 5G and
LTE, simultaneously, using Sprint’s spectrum. The development is
expected to allow Sprint to offer 4G LTE and 5G on the same
radio. Tests were conducted at Sprint’s booth during Mobile World
Congress Americas.

(10/08/2018)

Sprint announced that it
is expanding its relationship with the Walgreens chain of drug
stores. Under the terms of the new deal, the company will open an
additional 80 Sprint Express at Walgreens stores across the
Chicagoland and the Dallas-Ft. Worth metropolitan areas. The new
locations, all of which are expected to be operational by year’s
end, will be staffed by “Sprint Mobile Tech Specialists,” capable
of offering customers advice on mobile product purchases,
providing support for the use of the Walgreens’ mobile app, and
selling postpaid and prepaid plans from Sprint’s catalogue of
subscription services. Sprint noted that it plans to release more
information on specific locations and which products and services
will be available at each some time this fall.

(09/13/2018)

Sprint announced a new
collaboration with Ericsson under which the
duo will form a “global relationship to build a distributed and
virtualized core network dedicated specifically to IoT (Internet
of Things), in addition to a world-class IoT operating system.”
The pair claims their planned network will provide benefits such
as low latency; high availability; and distributed and
virtualized nodes capable of meeting the specific security,
privacy, and latency requirements of each customer. Meanwhile,
the operating system being jointly designed will offer features
such as configuration and firmware updates, subscription
lifecycle management, large-scale data management, and service
assurances for all IoT elements. No specific timeframe for the
joint offering was disclosed. However the pair intend to reveal
more information at the upcoming Mobile World Congress
Americas event in Los Angeles, on Wednesday, September 12.

(09/04/2018)

Sprint announced the
formation of a new partnership with NXM Labs to jointly launch a
“5G-Ready Connected Car Platform.” According to the duo, the
offering will combine “high-speed, on-demand passenger Wi-Fi with
advanced vehicle health monitoring and safety.” The pair claims
the technology behind this platform will be operated by the first
“blockchain powered Internet-of-Things (IoT) security system that
guards against hackers.” Sprint will be providing access to its
4G LTE network and forthcoming 5G network (projected to launch
in late 2019) in order to power the cellular connectivity needed
for NXM’s in-car router. The companies plan to offer broadband
connectivity via the platform on a daily, weekly, or monthly
basis. An initial launch of the joint connectivity solution is
expected to take place this fall at auto dealers across the
country.

(06/20/2018)

Sprint announced the
opening of its newest Point of Presence (PoP) in Johannesburg,
South Africa. The new addition to the carrier’s global backbone
was made possible through its ongoing relationship with CMC
Networks, a Pan Africa provider. Under the terms of their
alliance, CMC Networks will help operate the new PoP as part of
Sprint’s global Tier 1 network, which serves multinational
business and carrier customers in 195 countries around the world.
The locale will also allow the duo to provide customers in South
Africa and the surrounding countries with enhanced experiences.
No specific terms for the expanded alliance were disclosed.

(06/06/2018)

All four major US carriers– Verizon Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint — issued a collective
statement revealing details of their jointly created next
generation mobile authentication platform. The new security
measure, being developed by a joint “Mobile Authentication Task
Force,” is designed to “help protect enterprises and consumers
from identity theft, bank fraud, fraudulent purchases and data
theft.” It aims to do this by creating an industry-wide,
multi-factor authentication solution that will be built directly
into participating carrier networks. The “Big 4” claim the
solution will be interoperable with the GSMA’s Mobile Connect
technology, and will offer a cryptographically verified phone
number and profile data for users of authorized applications,
with their consent. The quartet also promises that the system
will be able to verify device ownership through numerous factors,
including a network verified mobile number, IP address, SIM card
attributes, phone number tenure, phone account type, and more.
The task force plans to begin internal testing of the new
solution within the next few weeks, with a public release of the
platform scheduled for some time later this year.

(03/01/2018)

Sprint announced its
participation in the newly formed “Seamless Air Alliance,” a
collaboration between itself, Airbus, Delta, OneWeb, and Bharti
Airtel. The goal of the group is to make it easier for mobile
operators to extend their services into airline cabins. The
companies plan to use satellite technology to allow carriers to
provide “the same high speed, low latency connectivity from
ground, to air and back again.” The alliance further claims it
can “eliminate the immense costs and hurdles commonly
associated with acquisition, installation, and operation of data
access infrastructure by streamlining system integration and
certification, providing open specifications for
interoperability, increasing accessibility for passengers, and
enabling simple and integrated billing.” The group said it also
hopes to expand its membership beyond its initial five members.

(02/26/2018)

Personnel and Organizational

Top US carriers AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint are separately making
plans to eliminate their policy of selling
user location data to “third-party aggregators.” According to The Verge, these telcos have
begun to “crack down” on the practice in the aftermath of a
recent report by Motherboard
illustrating how the practice can lead to “misuse,” and
subsequent lawmaker pressure. The providers each tendered an
official statement to the news outlet, which noted that all four
carriers have previously made similar promises. For its part, Verizon Wireless told
The Verge that it terminated its existing location services sale
agreements “with the exception of some roadside assistance
companies” that it is still working to end.

(01/14/2019)

Sprint is offering a
program that will provide access to its Unlimited Basic service
for five lines at a rate of $20 per device, per month. This offer
– which equates to receiving service on three lines for free –
includes unlimited access to high-speed data, texting, and voice
minutes, in addition to 500MB for hotspot connections, video
streaming at 480p “DVD quality,” and 5GB of roaming data
capacity in Canada, Mexico, and other “worldwide locations.” A comparison chart
between this Unlimited Basic plan and the carrier’s Unlimited
Plus and Unlimited Premium options is available via the Sprint
Web site.

(12/17/2018)

Sprint has introduced its new Sprint Complete
mobile device protection program. This subscription plan includes
“enhanced service and repair” options and “personalized,
on-demand tech support.” This comprehensive program – which is
designed to go “beyond traditional insurance programs” – includes
specific benefits such as $29 cracked screen repair; unlimited
cloud-based storage; password protection; next business day
replacements for lost or stolen items; and live technical
support. “Sprint Complete” is now available for select
Smartphones, tablets and smartwatches. It supports Sprint’s
network of 450 in-store repair locations; Apple Care Service stores;
on-site appointment repair program; and mail-in options for
select models. A subscription to Sprint Complete costs $9-$19
per-month, based on device, with signups available “within 30
days of a phone activation or upgrade.”

(09/17/2018)

Sprint revealed that
Chief HR Officer Ismat Aziz will be leaving the company, and
announced his replacement as Deeanne King. The executive – who
takes office on August 27, 2018 – currently sits as SVP,
Omnichannel Operations and Customer Experience. The carrier
also noted that King has been with Sprint for nearly 30 years,
and has experience across business units such as Care,
Operations, and HR (Human Resources). For his part, Aziz will
remain with Sprint through September 7th in order to “ensure a
smooth transition.”

(08/27/2018)

Sprint, which recently
signed a merger agreement with T-Mobile US, has officially
appointed former Verizon Wireless
executive Andrew Davies as CFO. Davies took office as of Monday,
July 2nd, and will report to CEO Michel Combes. In this role, he
will be responsible for day-to-day financial strategy and
operations, among them accounting and reporting, financial
planning and analysis, treasury, tax, investor relations, risk
management, auditing, and mergers and acquisitions. Although he
recently served as Group CFO for Amsterdam’s VEON, Davies has
also held financial leadership positions with Vodafone in addition to his
stint with Verizon. His appointment is not expected to affect the
impending T-Mobile merger, which remains subject to “regulatory
approvals” and other “customary closing conditions.”

(07/02/2018)

Sprint announced that
Stephen Kappes has joined the company’s Board of Directors. The
new addition currently serves as a Partner and Chief Operating
Officer of Torch Hill Investment Partners, a private equity firm
in Washington, DC. His career also includes a stint as the Deputy
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from January
2006 until May 2010, with a total of more than 30 years of
service at the agency. The new director also currently holds
seats on the Boards of the Atlantic Council, QTec Analytics Ltd,
Idemia National Security Solutions and One American Bank of
South Dakota. Kappes expands the Board’s membership to 10.

(06/05/2018)

Sprint has already begun
shuffling high-ranking executives ahead of its planned merger
with T-Mobile. The
company announced that current CEO Marcelo Claure will be
elevated to the role of Executive Chairman, while his former
office will be taken over by Michael Combes, the current
President and CFO of Sprint. Claure’s new role will be a
multi-faceted one, with him also gaining the titles of Chief
Operating Officer of SoftBank Group Corp. and Chief Executive
Officer at SoftBank Group International. These new roles will
task the former CEO with the responsibility for overseeing
SoftBank’s investment in Sprint and the combined Sprint /
T-Mobile company following the closing of the companies’ pending
merger. Once the combination is complete, Claure will also be
called on to create “new opportunities and potential
collaboration between Sprint and SoftBank’s portfolio companies
in IoT, automation and artificial intelligence, all areas where
SoftBank is actively investing.” Claure will be joined by
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son on the newly created Board of
Directors for the combined company. Sprint noted that it has also
initiated a search for a new CFO to replace Michael Combes in his
previous role.

(05/03/2018)

Financials

Sprint posted its
financial results for the third quarter of its fiscal year. The
carrier’s revenue for the period was $8.6 billion, a modest
increase over the $8.24 billion posted one year ago. For the
quarter, the carrier suffered a net loss of $141 million, or
$0.03 per share, compared to the net income of $207 million, or
$0.05 per share posted for the same quarter in the previous year.
The main reason for this was an increase in operating costs of
more than half a million dollars, year over year. On a slightly
more positive note, the company added a net total of 48,000
subscribers. While the positive movement is certainly a good
thing, it is only a small fraction of the 385,000 added during
the year-ago quarter.

(01/31/2019)

Sprint posted its
financial results for the third quarter of the 2018 fiscal year.
For the period, the carrier reported revenues of $8.43 billion,
up markedly from the $7.93 billion posted for the year-ago
quarter. Net income was $207 million, a massive improvement over
the net loss of $48 million seen during the previous third
quarter. This translated to earnings per share of $0.05, compared
to the loss of $0.01 per share suffered one year ago. Despite its
financial success for the quarter, Sprint’s customer figures were
worrisome, with the carrier losing a net total of 20,000
subscribers during the period. This is a dramatic decline from
the net addition of 378,000 during the third quarter of 2017. The
majority of these losses (115,000) were from Sprint’s wholesale
and affiliate services, with prepaid phone lines also dropping
14,000. Meanwhile, postpaid services added 109,000, offsetting
the losses seen by the other segments.

(10/31/2018)

Sprint posted its
financial results for the second quarter of the 2018 fiscal year.
For the period, the company’s revenue reached $8.12 billion, down
very slightly from the $8.15 billion for the same period in 2017.
Net income was $173 million, also representing a decline from the
year-ago profit of $206 million. This translated into earnings
per share of $0.04, compared to the $0.05 taken in one year ago.
Also during the quarter, Sprint added a net total of 87,000 new
postpaid subscribers, which the company noted as representing its
twelfth straight quarter of net additions. Prepaid net additions
were much lower at just 3,000.

(08/01/2018)

Sprint announced that it
rebounded, year to year, to post positive net earnings for the
fiscal 2017 third quarter ended December 31, 2017. The carrier’s
profits reached $7.2 billion, or $1.76 per share, compared to
fiscal 2016 third quarter losses of $479 million, or $0.12 per
share. This is thanks almost entirely to a $7.1 billion tax
benefit resulting from recent federal tax law changes. Revenues,
meanwhile, were $8.2 billion, which is down by 4% when compared
to fiscal 2016 third quarter sales of $8.5 billion. In
particular, Sprint’s Service revenue fell 2% year to year to $5.9
billion, while Equipment sales were up 5% to $2.3 billion. The
company also noted that it added 385,000 new wireless accounts –
256,000 of which were post-paid and 63,000 prepaid – to mark a
32% decrease from its 2016 third quarter net additions of
564,000. Sprint ended the period with 54.6 million connections,
which is up 2% from a 2016 third quarter in which it had 53.3
million active lines.

(02/05/2018)

Legal News

Sprint has filed a lawsuit against its rival AT&T over damages related to the
telecom carrier’s “5G Evolution” – or “5GE” – branding. EnGadget (which, in full
disclosure, is owned by Verizon) has reposted a copy
of the brief, which was levied in US District Court for the
Southern District of New York. The case accuses AT&T of
engaging in “false advertising” and “deceptive acts and
practices” by working to “mislead consumers into believing” that
it is offering true 5G network coverage. In reality, AT&T has
drawn nearly universal criticism for the “5GE” term, which is
essentially a rebranding of what other carriers call “4G LTE
Advanced” services. The suit claims that AT&T specifically
“sought to gain an unfair advantage in the race to 5G” by
establishing an entire US advertising campaign to “deceive
consumers into believing that its existing 4G LTE Advanced
network is now a 5G network.” In a statement to Engadget, AT&T
noted that “Our customers love it. We introduced 5G Evolution
more than two years ago, clearly defining it as an evolutionary
step to standards-based 5G. 5G Evolution and the 5GE indicator
simply let customers know when their device is in an area where
speeds up to twice as fast as standard LTE are available. That’s
what 5G Evolution is.”

(02/11/2019)

The US Court of Appeals has upheld a 2017 patent judgment
against Time Warner Cable in its case with Sprint over “using patented
technology without authorization.” Per Reuters, the Federal Circuit
of Appeals believes there to be “sufficient evidence” that Time
Warner, as part of Charter
Communications, infringed on five of the carrier’s patents
related to VoIP (Voice-over-IP) for transmitting calls and
messages. At the time of the March 2017 jury decision, Time
Warner was ordered to pay $140 million in restitution. Reuters
also noted that the case was one of a number of lawsuits filed by
the US carrier related to patents for the voice-processing
technology.

(12/03/2018)

Sprint announced that it
has been awarded a cash settlement of $26.9 million in damages
from Wireless Buybacks, LLC, and Wireless Buybacks Holdings,
LLC in a phone trafficking suit. The two businesses in question
were found liable for what Sprint calls a “large handset
trafficking scheme that involved several individuals and business
entities.” Sprint noted that it does not oppose a “legitimate
secondary market for devices that is beneficial to customers and
to carriers.” However, it also believes that customers were
actively being injured by the business practices used by both
defendants. The suit is subject to appeal if either company
decides to pursue it.

(06/05/2018)

Regulatory

T-Mobile and Sprint had a pivotal day in
their ongoing attempts to receive approval from US regulators for
their proposed merger. Only 24 hours or so after nine US
Democratic Senators sent a letter to the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) asking the organization to
block the merger, executives from both companies appeared on
Capitol Hill to make their case to lawmakers. Their
representatives included well-known T-Mobile CEO John Legere and
long-time Sprint exec Marcelo Claure, among others. While a
significant portion of the Senate has already come out against
the deal, both men attempted to persuade those present that the
merger would not hurt consumers, as its opponents claim, but
would instead benefit them in multiple ways. They propose that
the reduction of major US wireless carriers from four to three
would allow the combined entity to directly challenge no only Verizon Communications and
AT&T, but also cable Internet
providers, allowing it to drive down access prices across the
country. Meanwhile, Claure claimed that the merger would allow
his company to greatly expand its network without the need to
raise its own prices, which it would otherwise be required to do
in order to enhance connectivity. Legere also presented letters
of support from several US Representatives, as well as some state
lawmakers, although the exec’s list of supporters was nowhere
near as extensive as the signers of the aforementioned opposition
letter. It remains to be seen if the latest in a very long line
of attempts to combine the two companies will be able to prove to
regulators that it will do more good than harm to the US
consumer.

(02/13/2019)

T-Mobile and Sprint reached a major
milestone in their efforts to merge their companies into a single
telecom carrier. The pair announced that their transaction
proposal has received approval from the Committee on Foreign
Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Perhaps more
importantly, the US Department of Justice, Department of
Homeland Security, and Department of Defense submitted the
findings of their collective investigation into the deal to the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC), saying that they found no
threats to national security, law enforcement, or public safety.
The lack of any objection to the merger from these agencies is
likely due, at least in part, to the recent news that T-Mobile
and Sprint both agreed to refrain from incorporating any Huawei technology into their
systems. Now, T-Mobile and Sprint must wait for the all-important
approval of the FCC, as well as other government agencies, such
as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Although these approvals
are not guaranteed, this merger attempt is already further along
than any previous effort by the pair.

(12/19/2018)

The parent companies of T-Mobile US and Sprint have reportedly pledged to eliminate all use of technology from Chinese company
Huawei in order to “clinch”
approval for their $26 billion merger in the US. “People familiar
with the deal” told Reuters
that Deutsche Telekom and SOFTBANK have agreed to
eliminate the equipment “in overseas markets” as a condition of
the transaction being approved by the Committee on Foreign
Investment in the US (CFIUS). Huawei has essentially been banned in the US
over concerns that its equipment may contain “back doors” that
could be used to allow the Chinese government to conduct cyber
espionage. The sources, who asked not to be identified because
the matter is “confidential,” said that regulatory negotiations
“have not been finalized yet” and that “any deal could still fall
through.” Representatives from all parties have declined comment,
while Huawei did not respond to requests.

(12/17/2018)

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has officially
paused the shot clock on its investigation into the proposed
merger of T-Mobile and Sprint. According to the
agency, the 180-day review period has been paused due to three
factors. First, the duo submitted what the FCC is referring to as
a “substantially revised network engineering model” on September
5, providing the agency with very little time left in the review
period to examine the changes made to the pair’s network merger
plans. Second, on the same date, the pair also provided the FCC
with their first access to “Build 9,” the latest financial model
for how the merged company would handle its new network
buildouts. This development also apparently requires additional
time to review. Finally, T-Mobile has told the FCC that it also
plans to submit additional “economic modeling in support of the
Applications.” These additional documents are expected to address
the concerns raised in “petitions to deny” received by the FCC in
opposition of the merger. The agency has said it will also
require additional time to review these documents as well. The
FCC did not provide a timeline for when the review period may be
restarted, but did state that it will only resume once both
applicants have finalized their application records, or once a
“reasonable amount of time has passed for staff and third-party
review.”

(09/12/2018)

The Federal Communications
Commission has denied a request
that it halt the shot clock on the pleading cycle relating to its
processing of the proposed Sprint / T-Mobile merger. The denial
comes after a public interest statement was filed by a
group of industry members which included the Communications
Workers of America, Rural Wireless Association, NTCA, The Rural
Broadband Association, Public Knowledge, Consumers Union, The
Greenlining Institute, Common Cause, New America’s Open
Technology Institute, Writers Guild of America West, Free Press,
and the Benton Foundation. The statement raised questions about
the concentration of each carriers’ spectrum holdings on a
market-by-market basis, something the aforementioned group
would have liked more time to fully explore. In fact, the
“movants” wanted the FCC to require both companies to establish
complete spectrum charts down to the county level before
proceeding with the pleading cycle. The FCC did not find the
letter’s contents compelling, however. The deadline for petitions
requesting that the agency deny its authorization for the merger
remains August 27, while the deadline for comments opposing the
transaction remains September 17.

(08/23/2018)

References

¹ Steven Winkelman. "Sprint’s 5G Rollout: Everything You
Need to Know about It." Digital Trends. February 13, 2019.  

² Joseph Cox. "Sprint to Stop Selling Location Data to Third
Parties after Motherboard Investigation." Motherboard. January 16,
2019.

³ Brian Fung. "T-Mobile Tells Congress It’s Merger with
Sprint Will Help It Challenge Cable Companies." The Washington Post.
February 13, 2019. 

About the Author

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Karen M. Spring is a staff editor for Faulkner
Information Services, tracking high-tech industries, including network security,
ERP, CRM, network management, Internet security, and software tools. She writes
regularly on high-tech topics for publications in the k-12 and higher education
industry. Previously, Ms. Spring was a marketing specialist for two computer
distributors, working closely with such clients as 3Com, IBM, Okidata, Unisys,
and Acer.

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