Sprint this week unveiled a bomb shell when it announced it was replacing long-time CEO Dan Hesse with board member and former CEO and founder of Brightstar Marcello Claure. That move also came with comments that the carrier, and parent company Softbank, were backing away from a rumored attempt to acquire T-Mobile US and instead focusing on its internal operations.
Sprint and Softbank Chairman Masayoshi Son cited potential regulatory hurdles in noting that “our focus moving forward will be on making Sprint the most successful carrier,” though the regulatory hurdles seemed to be only the tip of the iceberg. In sifting through what were weekly rumors of a potential deal between Sprint and T-Mobile US, analysts were having a heyday trying to figure out just how two operators, seemingly going in different directions and with vastly different management styles, would integrate operations.
But, not that the offer appears to be off the table, where do Sprint and T-Mobile US go from here? Both carriers remain significantly behind their larger rivals Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility in terms of customer base and network size. Some are predicting Sprint could unleash a price war in an attempt to turn around its customer losses, while others predict the carrier will begin slashing expenses in order to improve its bottom line.
T-Mobile US, on the other hand, appears confident in its future, with CEO John Legere this week predicting the carrier will surpass Sprint in total customers by year end. That confidence, which comes after a year of solid operational results, also seems to have climbed up the corporate ladder to parent company Deutsche Telekom, which appears to be in no rush to offload its U.S. operations.
RCR Wireless News spoke with Aaron Blazar, VP at Atlantic-ACM, to gain insight into what Sprint’s recent decisions mean for the company, as well as the impact those decisions could have on the broader wireless space.
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Where do Sprint, T-Mobile US go from here?
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