Sprint adds 250,000 net new customers in 4th quarter

[larry]

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[mcf04581]

I actually expected much better out of Sprint due mainly to the fact that they were "blowing out" plans. Im not all that impressed compared to T-Mobile and Verizon.

[larry]

Well lets give them some credit here. They're coming off their worst quarter ever (by far) in which they lost customers. This is a pretty good turn around if you ask me and is a lot better than what Cingular reported. This also doesn't include their affiliates either who added close to 100K I think.

[jmccrane]

Originally posted by: mcf04581
I actually expected much better out of Sprint due mainly to the fact that they were "blowing out" plans. Im not all that impressed compared to T-Mobile and Verizon.

What will be interesting with T-Mo is how well they can do once they have to start reeling back on the blowout plans of their own. As a carrier they stand to have a lot to lose. Sprint beat estimates (175-225,000) and is on its way up after a stumble. I can't ask for much more than that.

Verizon has been around as smaller companies for 15-20 years. I'd say that kind of market presence gives them a good head start to be able to get more customers [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Is this a pro-Sprint view? Yeah. Was your view anti-Sprint? Absolutely. So, now we have a balance [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[larry]

There will always be those who can't stand to see Sprint doing well (usually people who don't use Sprint) so they will try anything they can to downplay any postive news. That's the way it's been on here for a long time.

[jayc]

I will say I expected much worse. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

[DandyDon]

I don't see how you can say anything good, other than their arpu was up a buck, vision is popular since they are giving it away. Outside f that a 3.5% Churn rate is terrible and if there was ever one barometer to measure a company it would be churn.

Never knew it cost them $370 for each gross ad, $350 to aquire a new net ad.

Wow..... they spend a lot of money to get a customer they can't seem to keep. That's not healthy.

[jmccrane]

Originally posted by: DandyDon
I don't see how you can say anything good, other than their arpu was up a buck, vision is popular since they are giving it away. Outside f that a 3.5% Churn rate is terrible and if there was ever one barometer to measure a company it would be churn.

Never knew it cost them $370 for each gross ad, $350 to aquire a new net ad.

Wow..... they spend a lot of money to get a customer they can't seem to keep. That's not healthy.

Their churn is .8% above the industry average (2.7%). Yeah, it's a bit high but they are still coming back from a lousy quarter. The adds solidify their position as the #4 carrier. No matter what you can't compare any carrier with Nextel. Nextel was/is/always will be a business-oriented carrier, which is fine but it will never be a top 4 carrier as long as the companies ahead of them stay the way they are. If T-Mobile keeps rising or merges with someone, Nextel becomes the smallest of the nationwide carriers.

[larry]

Originally posted by: DandyDon
I don't see how you can say anything good, other than their arpu was up a buck, vision is popular since they are giving it away. Outside f that a 3.5% Churn rate is terrible and if there was ever one barometer to measure a company it would be churn.

Never knew it cost them $370 for each gross ad, $350 to aquire a new net ad.

Wow..... they spend a lot of money to get a customer they can't seem to keep. That's not healthy.

Yes but what you fail to mention is that their churn rate has dropped significantly since lthe 3rd quarter. I call this a step in the right direction.

[DandyDon]

Originally posted by: jmccrane

No matter what you can't compare any carrier with Nextel.

Nextel was/is/always will be a business-oriented carrier, which is fine but it will never be a top 4 carrier as long as the companies ahead of them stay the way they are. Nextel was/is/always will be a business-oriented carrier, which is fine but it will never be a top 4 carrier as long as the companies ahead of them stay the way they are. If T-Mobile keeps rising or merges with someone, Nextel becomes the smallest of the nationwide carriers.

You just said no matter what you can't compare with Nextel? Haha Too funny[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

Where did that come from? And who is doing the comparing?

[jmccrane]

DandyDon: You called Sprint out on the churn rate. I explained why Nextel's churn rate (and subscriber base) is low. Nextel is not a broad-based carrier any way you look at it. Everything about Nextel is proprietary, right down to the heavy phones and "unique" (and dying) technology.

[DandyDon]

whoa.... easy killer not trying to start a fight.

I agree with you, just wondering why Nextel was brought up. My comment might have been taken as a cheap shot towards Sprint but it wasn't meant to be. It just struck me as high, combined with the CPGA thought was high too, but don't know what the average metric is for CPGA is for others.

As Nextel's CEO has stated, there are 6 National providers. 5 of these compete on price while Nextel tries to compete on wireless solutions. With that being said, I whole heartedly agree with you. Not trying to start a fight, I never compared Sprint with Nextel. Just making observations.