Sprint shells out $1 billion on network upgrades

[northform]

Lucent Technologies has signed a $1 billion agreement to supply U.S. cell phone company Sprint PCS with network equipment.

Sprint PCS will use the telecommunications gear maker's Flexent CDMA Module Cell 4.0 base stations to increase coverage and voice calling capacity in major markets "from New York to California," Lucent said Tuesday. Lucent, based in Murray Hill, N.J., will also help install the hardware.

The contract, announced Tuesday, is the equipment provider's largest in two years. It last had a $1 billion equipment order, also from Sprint PCS, in January 2001, a Lucent representative said.


The deal comes in the midst of a three-year slump in sales at Lucent and other telecommunications equipment manufacturers, including Nortel Networks and Juniper Networks. The industry, which showed few signs of a turnaround in a flurry of earnings reports this week, has been waiting for carriers like Sprint to begin making large capital expenditures.

The base stations at the heart of Tuesday's deal create cell phone networks based on ever-faster versions of Qualcomm's Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). CDMA is the dominant cell phone standard in North and South America. The world's most popular cell phone standard is Global System for Mobile Communications, better known as GSM.

[TNDan21]

Hopefully this will mean that Sprint PCS will improve in my area. I doubt it though since I'm in a affliate area and not a major Sprint market. My area of East TN could use it though, Sprint is just so awful here.

[njsvrzncdma]

and most other markets ![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[TNDan21]

Sprint PCS isn't poor in all markets but yes they do have more weak ones then they should. I recently took a Sprint PCS phone to Knoxville, TN with me and I was shocked how good they was down there compared to where I am. From what I saw Sprint kicked A$$ in Knoxville.

[ILUVSOCAL]

They don't even have service in my part of California, nor in many other parts of the state.

[larry]

They don't want to have service in those areas. Not enough money in it for them plus the fact that they would have to deal with the NIMBY.

[ILUVSOCAL]

They could do it, Edge has covered those areas extremely well, NIMBY'S and Hippies notwishtanding, so has US Cellular. With the Bay Area being so close to this market, I would have thought they would have covered us instead of Eureka, which while being a larger town, is much more isolated and sees a lot less people go through it. Maybe it has something to do with the fact Eureka is an affiliate market, while Lake and Mendocino Counties are genuine Sprint licensed markets, kind of makes me wonder why they purchased the licenses in this area, yet sourced out Eureka to an affiliate, they must want to eventually have service here, I mean, don't they keep the most lucrative markets for themselves and let the affiliates build out the lower revenue ones? Here's a list of the companies that have licenses to buld in these counties, however, only Edge Wireless(AT&T affiliate), US Celluar and Verizon actually have service here.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

T-MOBILE
Get more from life.


SYSTEM: 1900 MHz GSM / GPRS SERVICES: SEND SMS



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VERIZON WIRELESS
We never stop working for you. (SM)

SYSTEM: 800 MHz AMPS CDMA



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CINGULAR WIRELESS
fits you best

SYSTEM: 1900 MHz AMPS GSM SERVICES: SEND SMS



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SPRINT PCS

SYSTEM: 1900 MHz CDMA SERVICES: WIRELESS WEB



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

U.S. CELLULAR

SYSTEM: 800 MHz AMPS TDMA / CDMA SERVICES: TEXT MSG



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEXTEL

SYSTEM: 800 MHz iDEN SERVICES: TXT MSG INTERNET



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDGE WIRELESS(Member of the AT&T Wireless Network)

SYSTEM: 1900 MHz TDMA GSM/GPRS



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

METRO PCS

SYSTEM: 1900 MHz CDMA

[Frito]

You know its funny, I always hear that from these Sprint lovers on here, " oh they dont cover that area its not worth thier time, not enough money, blah blah blah". That is NO EXCUSE at all, and if you ask me a rather lame one too. Verizon, ATT,( i hate to type this word!!) Cingular along with others have all covered remote areas that might or might not be in the best intrest of the cell company. Thats what it takes to be a REAL cell company and a Good one, constatnt coverage and not just coverage were they think they can make a quick buck selling lousy, overpriced service. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[Airb330]

I agree with Larry. SPCS/TMprovide service in large/medium towns and provide service for ROAMING for those people. They are not rural carriers. Where there is rural service it is more or less just for people passing through and for tourist areas. If you want rural service in a local area or for a trip, get another carrier. The 800 carriers in those type of places (Verizon, Cingular, US Cellular) built those out long ago and continue to. There has to be service in those types of places, but TM/SPCS are just not the carriers for it. TM/Sprint are for people who live in a decent size area who travel IMO. Besides, every area does not need SPCS or TM, etc.

[ILUVSOCAL]

True, but it's odd that an affiliate would own and build out a larger market like Eureka/Arcata/McKinleyville, yet Sprint PCS itself would get a smaller, more rural market like Lake and Mendocino Counties, they must think that this area is worth something to hold the license this long, and not sell it off to an affiliate to develop.

[Airb330]

Originally posted by: ILUVSOCAL
True, but it's odd that an affiliate would own and build out a larger market like Eureka/Arcata/McKinleyville, yet Sprint PCS itself would get a smaller, more rural market like Lake and Mendocino Counties, they must think that this area is worth something to hold the license this long, and not sell it off to an affiliate to develop.

I agree.

[larry]

Originally posted by: Frito
You know its funny, I always hear that from these Sprint lovers on here, " oh they dont cover that area its not worth thier time, not enough money, blah blah blah". That is NO EXCUSE at all, and if you ask me a rather lame one too. Verizon, ATT,( i hate to type this word!!) Cingular along with others have all covered remote areas that might or might not be in the best intrest of the cell company. Thats what it takes to be a REAL cell company and a Good one, constatnt coverage and not just coverage were they think they can make a quick buck selling lousy, overpriced service. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Oh please. This is what I always hear from the Sprint haters. Sprint covers areas that the other carriers don't and vice versa. Cingular here in CA is GSM and they don't cover certain areas either. They're also lacking in many Western markets. Verizon & AT&T both don't cover Eureka, CA but Sprint does. Sprint has covered plenty of rural markets across the US. So you're saying if they don't cover everything then they suck as a carrier? There are many places that Cingular, AT&T & Nextel don't cover with native coverage but Sprint does. No carrier is perfect and Sprint already covers the markets that they need to. Why should I (and other Sprint users) care about coverage in places out in the boondocks where we will never go? For those that do care that is why they are offering roaming included plans now. If other carriers uses roaming agreements to expand their coverage why can't Sprint? I don't hear you picking on T-Mobile or AT&T GSM for lack of coverage and they don't even have analog roaming capabilities.

[larry]

Originally posted by: ILUVSOCAL
True, but it's odd that an affiliate would own and build out a larger market like Eureka/Arcata/McKinleyville, yet Sprint PCS itself would get a smaller, more rural market like Lake and Mendocino Counties, they must think that this area is worth something to hold the license this long, and not sell it off to an affiliate to develop.

Sprint picked up their licenses dirt cheap years ago and maybe they've changed their minds about building out in certain markets. I don't think this is odd at all. A lot of carriers own licenses in markets that they haven't built out yet and maybe never will. Maybe they want to sell off the licenses but can't find any buyers. As for the affiliates making new deals, those days are pretty much over.

You say that Edge wanted to do it but they are a much smaller company who obviously couldn't get the big markets so they went for those smaller ones instead. The older carriers such as US Cellular and Verizon have an advantage in the rural areas because they have been around much longer and use 800 Mhz towers which can be built for much less because fewer of them are needed. I understand that Cingular doesn't even cover Ukiah either and they've been around in CA for longer than Sprint has and have more money to work with.

I can pretty much guarantee you that Sprint will never be in Ukiah. I'd even put money on it. But why should you care anyway when you've got wonderful Edge? [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[ILUVSOCAL]

I am happy with Edge, I'm not planning on going to the darkside again lol Just making conversation more than anything. Sprint would probably do a very good job of covering the main roads here(Hwy.101, 20, 53, 29,1), which is where I do most of my traveling, as does most of the population here. They seem to always cover the main roads wherever I've been in their coverage areas. Edge has done this well, US Cellular is not quite as good, but not too bad, and Verizon, I don't know what they were smoking when they designed the system here lol A lot of people from Santa Rosa and the Bay Area are moving up here, prices for housing, while high, are much lower then down there, so many are moving here and working in Santa Rosa and SF, and I'm sure there is a large number who have Sprint, and are finding out they are on constant roam here. As for Edge, they are a joint venture with AT&T Wireless, and are 40% owned by AT&T Wireless and 60% privately held. They developed these markets because AT&T didn't want to do it directly, but still wanted to make money off of them.

[larry]

Keep in mind that Sprint doesn't have as much money as they used to so maybe they simply can't afford to front the cost of any more build outs now. What money they do have is going to improve the major markets like LA, San Diego, San Fran, Phoenix, etc.

[ILUVSOCAL]

True, Sprint isn't rolling in the dough right now, though to be fair, neither are many companies, wireless and otherwise, right now.

[cryogenic]

Does the FCC not have a buildout requirement on the licenses that SPCS owns up there in northern CA? Like here, Powertel had a license for Knoxville and had to build out within 5 years... They've got a network built here but haven't bothered selling it yet. I've seen the coverage map and it's not so hot, to be honest. They basically just built it out so they wouldn't lose the license. Is Sprint not in danger of doing the same?

[ILUVSOCAL]

Good question, because Sprint, Cingular, Nextel, T-Mobile(formerly Voicestream) and Metro PCS have all owned licenses here for several years, but have not even begun to build out in this market. Only US Cellular, Verizon(formerly GTE, formerly Contel) and Edge Wireless(AT&T PCS Affiliate, only been here 3 years)have actually built out.

[larry]

Originally posted by: cryogenic
Does the FCC not have a buildout requirement on the licenses that SPCS owns up there in northern CA? Like here, Powertel had a license for Knoxville and had to build out within 5 years... They've got a network built here but haven't bothered selling it yet. I've seen the coverage map and it's not so hot, to be honest. They basically just built it out so they wouldn't lose the license. Is Sprint not in danger of doing the same?

Supposedly there is but I think they can get an extension on it.

[Dv8]

side note...

funniest thing I heard about sprint:

the slogan, "we built the largest all digital network from the ground up"
A customer called into cust srvc and was complaining to us about sprints service and said he told a sprint rep:

(after repeating the slogan to the sprint rep)
Well... when are they going to get the towers off of the ground.

Just something that caught my attention [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[Frito]

DV8: hehehehehe that was a good one!!! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]