[qi:083] Unlike the many consumers facing unsympathetic lenders, when you’re a money-losing telecommunications firm with a $9.39 billion market cap, you can still renegotiate your debt. Today, after reporting a third-quarter loss of $326 million and the defection of 1.3 million customers, Sprint said it had done just that. Under the terms of its new credit facility, the troubled telecom has less money available to it, but has the ability to take on a greater debt load relative to its earnings without breaking its loan covenants and risking a technical default.

The renegotiated debt gives Sprint some breathing room while it tries to stem the loss of its customers. Of those that left the carrier in the most recent quarter, 1.1 million were high-value, post-paid customers that pay monthly as part of a contract with the carrier. Sprint also said it expected ”continued pressure on post-paid subscribers” in the fourth quarter — a sign that could doom its turnaround efforts.

When it reported second-quarter results in August, Sprint said it expected customer defections to ease in the last few months of 2008. They appear to be accelerating. In the first quarter, the company lost 1.1 million subscribers, 1.07 million of whom were post-paid. During the second quarter, Sprint lost another 901,000 subscribers, 776,000 of whom were post-paid. Renegotiating debt will help, but Sprint has to figure out how to keep its customers on board.

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The FCC voted today too. They took the Inter-Carrier Compensation and USF off the agenda, much to Martin’s dismay.

“Federal regulators have approved a plan to open up unused, unlicensed portions of the television airwaves known as “white spaces” to deliver wireless broadband service.” [Y! news] [fcc.gov]

FCC approved, with conditions, the mergers of Sprint-Nextel/Clearwire and  Alltel-Verizon. [fcc.gov]

FCC opened an investigation into the pricing policies of major cable operators and Verizon. “The agency wants to ensure the companies’ customers are getting treated fairly, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in an interview with The Associated Press.” [Y! news]

Tags: alltel, clearwire, fcc, inter-carrier compensation, mergers, sprint, usf, vzw

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Tags: alltel, vzw, sprint, clearwire, fcc, mergers, inter-carrier compensation, usf

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The FCC today opened up the wireless communications market with its approval of a plan to allow independent devices to operate in the spectrum between digital TV channels; it also OKd the merger of spectrum between Sprint and Clearwire as well as Verizon’s $28.1 billion deal to buy Alltel, creating two new wireless networks backed, in part, by Google.

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Today the Federal Communication Commission will vote on two large wireless mergers and issue rules regarding a proposal to create an alternative wireless broadband network in the unused spectrum between digital television stations. Between the white spaces issue championed by Google and other tech titans, approving the Sprint-Clearwire joint venture to create a nationwide WiMAX […]

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Sprint (s FON) and Cogent networks are back talking to each other — at least temporarily. After the two companies severed networks on October 30, there has been wide spread criticism of the severing of the networks.

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According to Alex Muse, DSLReports and GigaOm, Cogent and Sprint de-peered this morning in a tiff of some kind.  Cogent claimed this year that it was settlement free - coupled with its roots in the PSInet backbone network made it a Tier 1 provider. Cogent has had issues with other backbones including Level3 and Telia.

Cogent is incensed at the move,saying it violates a contractual obligation to exchange internet traffic on a settlement-free peering basis, and is taking legal action. It wants Sprint-Nextel to re-establish the link on the same basis.

So Cogent decided to make an offer:

Cogent is taking the moral high ground, and offering every Sprint-Nextel wireline customer that can’t connect to Cogent’s customers a free 100MBps internet connection until Sprint reconnects, though it says it can’t do the same for wireless users. [IT examiner]

Tags: cogent, peering, sprint

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When it comes to the next generation of wireless broadband, the carriers seem to have LTE, all sewn up, but WiMAX isn’t anything to scoff at. WiMAX service, deployed in the U.S. by Sprint and 13 rural carriers, is gaining ground in other areas of the world, especially India, according to data published today by TeleGeography Research.

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According to Businessweek, telecom could get squeezed by the credit crunch - and Sprint could get hurt the most.</p

“To start with, rising capital costs are likely to take a bite out of earnings. In addition, the softening economy will probably crimp demand for such telecom services as land lines, cell phones, and Internet connections.”

AT&T sounded the first warning signal in late September, when CEO Randall Stephenson said the telecom giant was unable to sell commercial paper for terms longer than overnight. AT”T is the industry’s biggest user of commercial paper, with about $8.5 billion in paper outstanding at the end of June.

Although Verizon is not a big player in the commercial paper market, it does have $7 billion of debt coming up for renewal in 2009. The company also needs to borrow another $22 billion to pay for its acquisition of wireless carrier Alltel Wireless….

Sprint is the most leveraged carrier. It holds a junk bond rating and its ratio of debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (or EBITDA) is expected to reach 3.2, Bernstein’s Moffett says.

And again, these companies building out 3G and 4G networks with massive backhauls at a huge cost while revenues are dipping. How does that math work?

Tags: att, debt, sprint, vz

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Cable company Cox Communications said today it plans to launch a nationwide wireless network to offer voice and data in the second half of 2009, and it will evaluate using the LTE fourth generation wireless standard for future network buildouts.

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After a few weeks of seeking a suitor, Embarq (s EQ), the landline unit spun off from Sprint in 2006, has enticed CenturyTel into paying $5.8 billion in stock, and assuming $5.8 billion in debt for the nation’s fourth largest local exchange carrier.

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A rapidly growing phenomenon in the telecommunications world is the growth of “cord cutters,” people who give up their hardwired landline phones and use only cell phones.

Now one of the leading proponents of that shift, Sprint Nextel, hopes to do for the Internet what it’s doing for telephones.

At a recent ceremony in Baltimore, officials from Sprint Nextel celebrated the official launch of the company’s XOHM WiMAX service by literally cutting a cord — they sliced through some Cat-5 wire with pruning shears to mark the end of the wired Internet.

4G has rapidly gone from a mobility vision to service reality with the launch of XOHM service in Baltimore, the company said.

Although XOHM, Sprint’s 4G business unit, has aggressive plans for nationwide WiMAX, the actual implementation may take some time. 

Approximately 70 percent of the city has coverage, with 180 base stations operating and the target at end of build out is 300.

Long-term, XOHM hopes to roll out enough of its national network to make WiMAX available to as many as 140 million people by the end of 2010. 

More at NewsFactor Network.

Tags: 4g, cord cutters, sprint nextel, wimax, xohm

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Today Intel Corp. said it would add HSPA functionality to its Moorsetown chips slated to hit mobile Internet devices in 2009 or 2010. Coming from a firm that has spent billions pushing WiMAX the news reads like an admission of doubt for WiMAX, but it’s really just a recognition that wireless broadband is so central to the user experience.

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Today marks the formal launch of Sprint’s Xohm network, and celebrants are gathered in Baltimore to show off their new WiMAX-enabled gadgets. But after chatting with an executive from Lenovo, I wonder just how open Sprint’s network will be, and how that lack of true openness might slow the adoption of WiMAX.
Lenovo is on hand […]

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Of those people that purchased the new Apple 3G iPhone this summer, some 30 percent of them defected to AT&T from other networks, according to a report out today from analysis firm The NPD Group.

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The worsening financial environment that has stymied the sale of Embarq, made short-term borrowing more expensive for AT&T, and generally made credit hard to come by, could also slow the deployment of the Clearwire nationwide network. The company and analysts say the joint venture that will link Sprint’s and Clearwire’s WiMAX spectrums should close before […]

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AT&T’s move to reorganize itself into four business units — consumer, business, infrastructure and diversified products — is likely a precursor to layoffs, according to sources within the company who asked not to be named.

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Cable providers rate poorly on both customer service and pricing, but thanks to their speedy broadband service, they have so far managed to score more customers than the phone companies, according to a survey out today from research firm CFI Group. The survey, which quizzed 1,318 households online at the end of June, measured consumer […]

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The blogosphere yesterday was in an uproar over the network management practices Sprint disclosed on its web site in conjunction with its launch of the Xohm WiMAX service. But the issue is about more than Sprint throttling traffic on its network during times of congestion; it’s about a consumers’ right to know what happens to their traffic on the network.

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Here’s something to do: surf over to Sprint.com and try to find any wireline services. After 5 minutes of searching Business Services, navigation takes you to Nextel.com for Sprint’s MPLS offering. On that page, you can find info about MPLS, VPN, IP Convergence, and Internet Access. Yesterday, Sprint gave a presentation to re-affirm to agents that Sprint was still in the wireline game. Of course, Sprint still has a robust backbone, it is what the cellular network runs on. It is also the backbone for Sprint’s MSO partners for voice termination. The problem I see (that I expressed to the Sprint team present) is that during a 45 minute presentation about Wireline, 20 minutes of it was about Wireless Convergence, so the message that Sprint is a Wireline company is not very clear. And if you can’t convince the agent, how do you convince Enterprise CIO’s who have been trouble choosing Sprint for WAN options due to its lack of focus on wireline and its shaking financial situation. It’s an uphill road for Sprint.

Tags: mpls, sprint, wireline

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A spinout of Flextronics — Aricent, which is comprised of several communications software assets including Hughes Software and noted design firm Frog Design — has scored $60 million in capital to expand its operations. Proceeds from the funding, which involved Bahrain-based investment fund The Family Office along with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., […]

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An article in BusinessWeek today claims that wireless data demand is exceeding capacity, which is causing carriers to limit services and charge higher rates. But that just doesn’t jibe with what carriers — or applications developers — are telling me. The real reason carriers are limiting services and charging more is to maintain control of […]

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GigaOM Mobilize conference — Carriers panel
Without carriers and their data networks, mobile applications wouldn’t be possible. So let’s show them some love, says Chetan Sharma, of Chetan Sharma Consulting, the moderator of the panel. The consensus is that mobile data is becoming more important to carriers and it’s growing every year. The next big challenge […]

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comScore says that the United States has caught up with Western Europe in the adoption of 3G with 28.4 percent of American mobile subscribers having 3G devices versus 28.3% in the largest countries in Europe. That works out to about 64.2 million devices - up 80% from last year. When it comes to 3G penetration […]

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We’ve talked about how popular wireless broadband is for a growing spectrum of the population. I personally would give up my iPod before my 3G USB modem. But how much bandwidth can you really get? DSL Reports recently noted that Canadian wireless provider Telus is backtracking on its original unlimited wireless broadband plan and […]

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Three touch screen phones that you can try if you don’t like iPhone.

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Despite its delays launching its Xohm 4G mobile WiMAX network, Sprint has not been idle. The carrier said this morning it would work with a variety of businesses to bring location-based services to the Xohm network when it launches in September. It sounds neat, and the partners listed below could make for a good location-based […]

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As part of my get-well regimen, I spend a lot of time at the local gym. The upside (or the downside) of being on the treadmill or the stair-master is that you spend a lot of time watching lots of basic cable television. Switching channels, I found running across advertisements of Sprint touting Samsung Instinct, […]

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The all-out war between telephone companies and cable companies is now going to be fought on a whole new front: wireless. Last week, Cox confirmed that it was getting into the wireless business, joining cable industry peers. Patrick Esser, president at Cox, revealed wireless at the Progress and Freedom Foundation conference in Aspen, Colo.:
“I […]

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We’re pretty darn future-focused on 4G technologies over here, with LTE and WiMax dominating a lot of our coverage. But sometimes it’s good to check in with what we’ve already got, so we pulled some numbers on wireless broadband in the U.S. and the world. The data shows that the early deployments of EV-DO (CDMA […]

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The four major mobile carriers have presented their 2008 second quarter financial results, and it’s really a tough time to be Sprint. We compiled a quick scorecard after T-Mobile USA reported its numbers this morning, so for an at-a-glance view of which added the most new subscribers (Verizon) or which makes the most money off […]

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SK Telecom, the South Korean carrier who till now has frittered away hundreds of millions of dollars trying to get a toehold in the U.S. market, was rumored to be looking to spend a few billion to buy Sprint, in partnership with some private equity firms, according to news reports based on a CNBC claim. […]

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On the Internet, you can never be too fast or carry too much data, which is why Sprint is crowing about its plan to convert its core network to deliver data at 40 Gbps using the 40 Gigabit Ethernet technologies. The carrier will use Cisco and Ciena gear to deliver 40 Gig E Gbps over […]

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Palm keeps turning out really solid products, but never seems to be able to recapture the magic of the introduction of the first Palm Pilot.

Now, here’s a smart fruit phone (Apple, BlackBerry — get it?) alternative for you — the Palm 800w for Sprint.

Here’s what CNet had to say about it:

The good: The Palm Treo 800w brings the addition of Wi-Fi and GPS. The Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone also offers EV-DO Rev. A support; a higher resolution touch screen; a slimmer design; and a 2-megapixel camera.

The bad: The Treo 800w can be sluggish at times and call quality could be better. The QWERTY keyboard may also give users some problems.

Check it out at Palm.com.

Tags: cnet, palm, palm 800w, palm pilot, sprint, windows mobile 6.1

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Although the CNet blog builds a pretty good case for why the new iPhone will replace RIM’s BlackBerry as the mobile phone of choice in the business market, me thinks it boils down to three little letters why not — AT&T.

For while it may claim reliability, there are more than a few places that get lousy reception from AT&T Wireless. Hence the reason to switch to Verizon (or even Sprint).

So until we have a little more democratic availability — as in more than one wireless company offering the product, don’t see it happening anytime soon.

Tags: AT&T, AT&T Wireless, BlackBerry, CNet, iPhone, RIM, Sprint, Verizon

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While always great on paper, tech mergers (or mergers of any kind) often have a nasty way of not working out for the best.

Now this Verizon deal with Alltel has got me worried. Worried because we just switched the rest of the family to Verizon (from AT&T — two of us — and Sprint) and I want to make sure that “America’s most reliable wireless network” stays just that way — or maybe gets even better?

Here’s what the big guy at Verizon had to say: “This move will create an enhanced platform of network coverage, spectrum and customer care to better serve the growing needs of both Alltel and Verizon Wireless customers for reliable basic and advanced broadband wireless services” (per Lowell McAdam, Verizon Wireless president and chief executive officer).

Only time will tell (or the number of bars on my phone) …

If you want all of the gory details, read the official press release here.

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