Sprint won't be missed (poll results)
We asked you last week whether you will miss Sprint's name and jolly yellow logo, if and when the merger with T-Mobile gets approved by the regulators, and less than 10% of our 1637 respondents said that Sprint will be sorely missed. Actually, less than a third of you on aggregate, think that the deal could have resulted in anything else than... the new T-Mobile, as T-Mobile CEO's memo to employees referred to the resulting third-largest US carrier that will be breathing down AT&T's neck like never before:
The New T-Mobile will have the network capacity to rapidly create a nationwide 5G network with the breadth and depth needed to enable U.S. firms and entrepreneurs to continue to lead the world in the coming 5G era, as U.S. companies did in 4G. The new company will be able to light up a broad and deep 5G network faster than either company could separately. T-Mobile deployed nationwide LTE twice as fast as Verizon and three times faster than AT&T, and the combined company is positioned to do the same in 5G with deep spectrum assets and network capacity.
If you think it's not fair that the Un-carrier is usurping both the title and the leadership, as far as Sprint goes, just remember that in the fall, the deal fell through precisely because Sprint's chairman wasn't happy ceding that much control. Sprint, however, is laden with a fair amount of debt that precludes huge infrastructure investments, and so is its parent company Softbank, so the merger, which may rack up to $64 billion in savings, is a way for the Japanese owner to retire a big portion of it, and kill a few birds with one stone. Well, it looks like Sprint might be gone for good now, and we could all be better for it.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
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