“Lead by chief executive Dan Hesse, Sprint has likely been the most vocal opponent of AT&T’s proposed $39 billion T-Mobile USA acquisition,” Zach Epstein reports for BGR.
“The Department of Justice announced last week that it was filing a lawsuit in an attempt to block the deal, and while AT&T was none too happy with the news, Sprint predictably responded by applauding the DOJ’s decision to fight the merger,” Epstein reports. “But even if the merger is blocked, Sprint has arguably already lost to AT&T and Verizon Wireless according to Stifel Nicolaus analyst Christopher King.”
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“‘It essentially maintains the status quo, which, given the results of Sprint over the last couple of years, is not the best place to be,’ King told The New York Times,” Epstein reports.
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]
I remember when Apple had arguably lost to MS and Intel
What has Sprint ever done to deserve to be compared favourably to Apple?
If Sprint gets the iPhone 5 (or whatever it is called), and they keep their unlimited data and rates cheaper than AT&T, I might switch.
I’m very curiously watching what Sprint does with their plans. I ditched AT&T and run my iPhone on a local compatible carrier. I’d like to go legit again so I’m watching to see if Sprint will be aggressive with their pricing.
What’s interesting is that no one really raised a fuss when Verizon bought Alltel, nor when Sprint bought Nextel, but now AT&T wants to buy T-Mobile and everyone is up in arms.
Getting the iPhone won’t save Sprint, because Sprint is going to have to beat the other 3 major providers on price, plan features, etc. This will likely cause one of two things: 1) a feature-parity war, which will benefit consumers (assuming carriers don’t drop quality to add features like unlimited data), or 2) it won’t bump Sprint up appreciably, and the larger carriers simply won’t care.
Unfortunately for Sprint, #2 is more likely. But we shall see (hopefully) this fall.
Sprint will most likely follow AT&T & Verizon by cutting the unlimited plans. iPhone data-usage is heavy. The carriers never anticipated it & have to react to the market. A merger would end the greedy competition being seen + add more spectrum to a lot of customers. T-Mobile’s going down no matter what. The question is are they going to vanish, while their IP & assets are sold off or do they join AT&T & live!
Out of all major large carriers, Sprint is the only one that sells service on three distinct national brands: Sprint (for high-end contract plans), Boost (for lower-priced pre-paid) as well as Virgin-Mobile (bargain-basement, youth-oriented pre-paid). The last two have recently seen significant growth in customer base, for a good reason. Their plans don’t include the subsidy portion, so, while the usual two-year contracts have unlimited everything plans that are at least $80 per person, Boost and Virgin have them for $50 – 55. On ordinary carriers, an Android phone can be had for around $150 and more (subsidised, of course). Boost and Virgin actually offer unsubsidised Android phones starting at $150. Obviously, these are bargain-basement devices, compared to the $200-with-subsidy ones, but they essentially offer same functionality (Access to Android apps, GPS, motion sensor, camera/video, capacitive multi-touch glass screen, etc). For those who can’t afford an iPhone, there is no reason to get a $200 Droid and pay $99 per month for unlimited everything, when you can get a Samsung Prevail for $180 and pay $50.
I used to think the same about Sprint. Not anymore. I don’t think you should count them out yet.
Sprint is a company that began burning its bridges to its customers from day one. It is part of Sprints culture to dictate to and gouge the customer. I had hoped its change in management would improve its bad attitude. But I only see more of the same. Or as Epstein stated it:
“It essentially maintains the status quo…”
But miracles can happen. The more the merrier, the better the competition, the better the deals for consumers.