T-Mobile USA would face tech nightmare
Merger with Sprint would put 5 technologies in melting pot
EVERBODY IS reporting the rumour that Germany's Deutsche Telekom might be interested in buying the Sprint Nextel network in the USA. Combining that with its own T-Mobile USA would make it the No:1 US network.
These rumours appear to have come from Der Spiegel, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg although Deutsche Telekom itself is keeping quiet.
Acquiring a poorly performing mobile network – Sprint – and adding it to a reasonably well performing one – T-Mobile, does make a bit of sense.
However, that's completely overlooking the technologies involved. Part of the reason why Sprint's former CEO, Gary Forsee, was kicked out of his job back in October 2007 was the general perception that he'd really made a mess out of marrying the Sprint and the Nextel networks.
Why? Because they were using two entirely different cellular technologies – Cdmaone and Iden. Think what would happen if T-Mobile got in the mix, too.
You'd have at least five different technologies. Iden, Cdmaone, Cdma2000, GSM and W-CDMA. On top of that you've got the fact that Sprint was going to build its 4G network on Wimax whereas T-Mobile will be going LTE.
Nice idea but how do your own employees decide which technology to flog, let alone which handsets the consumer would want to buy from a converged company?
Good luck to T-Mobile if they try it. µ
Comments
Wrong transgression
The marrying of the Sprint and Nextel networks was orders of magnitude less important than the marrying of the two companies' cultures and customer bases.Forsee's most visible mistake was underestimating the nonfungibility of Sprint and Nextel as providers in the eyes of the distinct subscriber demographic groups.
The implementation of 6-to-1 also came at an unfortunate time for two reasons. First, the negative impacts of the implementation were felt by subscribers just as the merger was in the news. Subscribers took this to be a harbinger of Nextel service decline connected to the merger. Second, the rebanding of the public safety frequencies--which resulted in noticeable service degradation in many areas even as it improved in others--ran concurrent with the major merger activities, adding to the perception that the Nextel network was circling the drain.
In retrospect, an overhaul of Nextel's flaccid customer service structure might have helped to retain subscribers and salvage the high ARPU that made the company so attractive to Sprint form the get-go. But in the spirit of extra nails in the coffin, the company announced in July of 2007 that the Nextel Cup would be renamed the Sprint cup for the 2008 season. At that point, even the most loyal Nextel subscribers started exploring alternative providers.
Nextel, we hardly knew ye.
We'll be having whatever Europe's having...
Quite straightforward, really. We do a mishmash of oddball technologies in the US but we're best served by getting whatever the rest of the world uses. (GSM, for a start.)The aquisition itself will be more about cell sties and customers than kit. Our contracts are set up in the US in such a way that it discourages shopping around for providers.
Right for the most part...
The author is right for the most part...except the part about network performance. Quite simply, T-Mobile's data network sucks. Sprint on the other hand has by far the fastest wireless data network in the US.The problems with Sprint lie mostly with customer service, marketing, and financials. But, from an engineering standpoint their network really is top shelf.
I agree though...that merger would be a total disaster...Sprint, Nextel, and T-Mobile would exist as a train wreck for a couple years before their pieces (chiefly spectrum and towers) were auctioned off to AT&T and Verizon.