Sprint-Nextel to have 50,000 cell sites!

[larry]

http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breakin...2338-8532r.htm

Not to say that they will keep that many but that would give them more than any other carrier.

*waiting for bobolito to jump in and tell me this is wrong*

[Rich]

Regardless what bobolito says, I do believe that it correct, though I don't think they will keep them all as they will indeed have many towers that overlap.

[bobolito]

Why would that be wrong? Of course it has to be correct. They are a PCS carrier so they need that many sites. Cingular or Verizon don't need that many sites to cover more POPs for known reasons. Think of all the money they are saving from co-location and site leasing.

While Nextel is not a PCS carrier, their buildout structure is very similar to a PCS carrier. They have low powered sites (because of limited spectrum) and they co-locate a lot with T-Mobile and Sprint in lots of places here in NJ. Therefore, they have similar coverage and have lots of towers like Sprint and T-Mobile. In the end, Sprint/Nextel have to keep all their sites, or else they would create holes in either one of their networks. It would be dumb if they removed towers. Only in a merge of compatible networks you can remove redundant sites. In this case, Sprint/Nextel won't have duplicate sites because they don't run the same type of network.

Ok Larry, Sprint-Nextel will be the #1 in ARPU, and #1 in cell sites. Happy now?

How about #1 in coverage and building penetration?

That's because Vodafone holds a 45 percent interest in the soon-to-be No. 3 player, Verizon Wireless.

Are they somehow anticipating that Sprint-Nextel are to surpass Verizon? That's a very fanatical claim.

Nextel uses a technology called iDEN made by QualComm; Sprint uses something called CDMA developed by Motorola.

LOL! Never mind, now I know how "well-informed" the writer of this article is. LOL!

[Rich]

Hmm, do I detect a hint of animosity between the both of you guys, can't we all just get along. Did I miss something? Bobolito, when did you become such a Verizon cheerleader? no pun intended. After reviewing some of your last posts your starting to sound like you work for them, or you just like irritating Larry.

[Matt]

Well, at least in this post above, Bobolito did point out two inaccuracies in that article. Bottom line is the final number of cell sites will me much less than 50K since many are collocated on the same tower. Of course, that would not happen until the networks are merged in a few years. Maybe it won't happen at all depending on how the PTT technology evolves. Motorola announced something about PTT using IP addressing today - I didn't read the whole PR though so I coule be wrong.

As a point of comparison, T-Mobile has 29,000 cell sites, adding about 3,000 - 3,500 per year.

[bobolito]

Rich, if you knew more about how we get along, you'd know we always play shooting games here without getting personal or offensive. It's all in confidence. I am really not cheerleading for anyone. I simply recognize the strong and weak points of each carrier and bring them out to light. I've always critiziced Verizon for their poor sound quality and higher prices, while at the same time I've praised them for their coverage. By the same token, I've praised Sprint for their better sound quality and great choice of phones, although I am not very impressed with their NJ coverage either. In addition, I've always praised Nextel for their having the most reliable (although annoying) PTT service, but we also recognize their sound quality and coverage are not the greatest and their phone choice is poor. And if you recall, I always criticized T-Mobile and Cingular for their poor NJ coverage, although that has changed since the merger with AWS. And finally, I always praised AWS NJ great coverage while flaming them about their restrictive policies. Everyone that has read my posts knows that I've even flamed Cingular sometimes. So it all depends on what you're talking about. It's not about cheerleading.

[Rich]

Sorry Bobolito, I didn't mean to imply that you were a "cheerleader," in fact I look forward to reading your posts. It's been a while since I've really had a chance to spend anytime on here, I guess I just forgot how we play on WA.
Remember the days with Aiwapro, god I could argue about a single topic for weeks with him.

[larry]

Well I think that 50,000 cell sites for a CDMA carrier is not going to be too shabby. Normally I would expect a GSM carrier to typically need more sites than a CDMA carrier for capacity reasons. So I expect a future combined network of 50K CDMA cell sites will lead to both very good coverage and building penetration. Remember that at some point Sprint will also be using 800 Mhz CDMA.

[larry]

Well, at least in this post above, Bobolito did point out two inaccuracies in that article. Bottom line is the final number of cell sites will me much less than 50K since many are collocated on the same tower. Of course, that would not happen until the networks are merged in a few years. Maybe it won't happen at all depending on how the PTT technology evolves. Motorola announced something about PTT using IP addressing today - I didn't read the whole PR though so I coule be wrong.

As a point of comparison, T-Mobile has 29,000 cell sites, adding about 3,000 - 3,500 per year.

I do think that some cell sites will be eliminated but maybe not as many as we would think. Having the 38 million customers will require that at least most of those Nextel sites remain (even when they are co-located on the same tower). I think it all depends on the area and how busy each cell site is.

[larry]

Sorry Bobolito, I didn't mean to imply that you were a "cheerleader," in fact I look forward to reading your posts. It's been a while since I've really had a chance to spend anytime on here, I guess I just forgot how we play on WA.
Remember the days with Aiwapro, god I could argue about a single topic for weeks with him.

Oh yes good old Aiwapro. Does anyone remember Apoc?

[ZaphodB]

Why would that be wrong? Of course it has to be correct. They are a PCS carrier so they need that many sites. Cingular or Verizon don't need that many sites to cover more POPs for known reasons. Think of all the money they are saving from co-location and site leasing.

Cingular needs those sites in California -- they're still 1900 here!

[larry]

I just got some news from a Sprint internal webcast this morning. One thing that was worth mentioning is that Nextel's equipment cabinets and storage rooms at their cell sites are very large and can easily accomodate CDMA equipment. So Sprint already has plans on adding their equipment to many of Nextels' sites.

[DandyDon]

Bobolito??? Oh Noes!

[jones]

If these are true some of them are colocated in other carrier's Towers.
So they're not counted as owning them, like some of them are colocated in Town's Towers.
Of course there are spaces in those equipment cabinets, they're designed for future growth.

[WirelessBeachBum]

Larry you stated that "Sprint will also be using 800 Mhz CDMA."

I was under the impression the Nextel would be giving up their 800 Mhz to get their new bandwidth, what am I missing?

[Andy]

Rich, if you knew more about how we get along, you'd know we always play shooting games here without getting personal or offensive. It's all in confidence. I am really not cheerleading for anyone. I simply recognize the strong and weak points of each carrier and bring them out to light. I've always critiziced Verizon for their poor sound quality and higher prices, while at the same time I've praised them for their coverage. By the same token, I've praised Sprint for their better sound quality and great choice of phones, although I am not very impressed with their NJ coverage either. In addition, I've always praised Nextel for their having the most reliable (although annoying) PTT service, but we also recognize their sound quality and coverage are not the greatest and their phone choice is poor. And if you recall, I always criticized T-Mobile and Cingular for their poor NJ coverage, although that has changed since the merger with AWS. And finally, I always praised AWS NJ great coverage while flaming them about their restrictive policies. Everyone that has read my posts knows that I've even flamed Cingular sometimes. So it all depends on what you're talking about. It's not about cheerleading.

Well, voice coverage on VZW sounds much better to me(at least here out West), when talking to someone on the Sprint network you can always tell they're on a cell, when talking to people on VZW phones here you can, often, not tell they're on a cell. T-Mo also has good sound quality here.

[Fire14]

Here is an interesting article that the merger does not affect Nextels spectrum swap per the FCC.

Nextel-Sprint Deal Won't Affect FCC Spectrum Swap -Powell
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The planned merger between Nextel Communications Inc. (NXTL) and Sprint Corp. (FON) won't affect the proposed spectrum swap deal between Nextel and the Federal Communications Commission that was reached during the summer.

In a multi-billion-dollar deal, Nextel would exit from parts of the spectrum that were causing interference with public safety agencies. In return, Nextel would receive a prized slice of spectrum that could lead to new, improved wireless services.

The spectrum obligations "will be transferred over" FCC Chairman Michael Powell said Wednesday. "The game doesn't change just because the players change," he said.

Sprint, of Overland Park, Kan., and Nextel, based in Reston, Va., plan to merge to become Sprint Nextel, the nation's third-largest wireless carrier, with more than 35 million subscribers, plus another 5 million customers through affiliates.

Asked about the broader issues that the Sprint-Nextel merger could raise, Powell said, "Whenever we consolidate the market to one fewer, we're going to take a very hard look at that."

But he added that the planned merger doesn't present the same wireless and land-line issues that Cingular Wireless LLC's purchase of AT&T Wireless did earlier this year. Cingular is a joint venture of Baby Bells SBC Communications Inc. (SBC) and BellSouth Corp. (BLS).

-By Brian Blackstone, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-828-3397; brian.blackstone@dowjones.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires




Posted on 15-12-2004

Read this article on the web at: www.cellular-news.com/story/11474.shtml

[bobolito]

Remember the days with Aiwapro, god I could argue about a single topic for weeks with him.

I just loved poking him to see him fire back about T-Mobile. What a character! LOL!

One thing that was worth mentioning is that Nextel's equipment cabinets and storage rooms at their cell sites are very large and can easily accomodate CDMA equipment.

Of course, those tube based Nextel equipment needs sufficient ventilation and space, unlike transistor based electronics from Sprint. LOL!

Larry you stated that "Sprint will also be using 800 Mhz CDMA."

I was under the impression the Nextel would be giving up their 800 Mhz to get their new bandwidth, what am I missing?

That won't be standard 800Mhz. It will be SMR 800Mhz. Nextel will still keep some 800Mhz after the re-banding. In addition, their new 1900Mhz will not be standard either. They will need base station transceivers specially designed for SMR and customers will need new phones to take advantage of those bands. Existing CDMA 800Mhz phones won't be able to take advantage of them.

Well, voice coverage on VZW sounds much better to me(at least here out West), when talking to someone on the Sprint network you can always tell they're on a cell, when talking to people on VZW phones here you can, often, not tell they're on a cell. T-Mo also has good sound quality here.

Yeah, it depends on the area. However, here, Verizon has by far the worst sound quality. It doesn't matter which phone you use.

[larry]

Larry you stated that "Sprint will also be using 800 Mhz CDMA."

I was under the impression the Nextel would be giving up their 800 Mhz to get their new bandwidth, what am I missing?

Check out these links:

http://a59.g.akamai.net/f/59/7221/1m...9_/Slide12.jpg

http://wireless.fcc.gov/publicsafety...C-04-168A1.pdf

[Airb330]

Hehe, UD (my college) for Verizon! Yay! Love that pic, since like 80% of campus at least uses them.

In Delaware, if there's a Nextel site, there's a 90% chance of Sprint panels being somewhere on that site and vice versa. Whether it's owned by Nextel, American Tower, etc. Wouldn't do much fo coverage in mid/upper Delaware anyway. This merger makes sense, and I think will be a good thing in the long run. What's the real name going to be? Sprint-Nextel is really dumb...

[jayc]

Ok...

So here is Sprint Nextel's plans:

1) Invest in iDEN until 2007
2) Invest in CDMA -> ?
3) Launch CDMA on 800mhz
3) Have 3G rolled out by 2007 (if memory serves)
4) Maintain iDEN after 2008

Ok guys, this seems like a bunch of smoke blowing to me. First, Having iDEN and CDMA on 800 mhz SMR frequency. (Skeptical)

Talk about a SIGNIFICANT investment... maintaining CDMA 1900, iDEN 800, and deploying 800 CDMA, and 3G all at the same time. RIGHT!

If I'm not mistaking neither company has been in the black very long.

[larry]

I think it's still a little to early to know what exactly is going to happen. At this point it's still in the discussion stages and nothing is official I'm sure.

[Gamer03]

Well, voice coverage on VZW sounds much better to me(at least here out West), when talking to someone on the Sprint network you can always tell they're on a cell, when talking to people on VZW phones here you can, often, not tell they're on a cell. T-Mo also has good sound quality here.

In Florida (at least in SW Florida), it is just the opposite for me. Talking on my Sprint phone sounds better than my friend's Verizon phone.

[Andy]

...Like I thought, It does depend on your area

[ComicalMoodyDan]

Usually Sprint PCS sounds much clearer then Verizon. I've never been impressed with Verizon's inconsistent audio quality.

[Gamer03]

...Like I thought, It does depend on your area

Agreed.

[bobolito]

Ok...

So here is Sprint Nextel's plans:

1) Invest in iDEN until 2007
2) Invest in CDMA -> ?
3) Launch CDMA on 800mhz
3) Have 3G rolled out by 2007 (if memory serves)
4) Maintain iDEN after 2008

Ok guys, this seems like a bunch of smoke blowing to me. First, Having iDEN and CDMA on 800 mhz SMR frequency. (Skeptical)

Talk about a SIGNIFICANT investment... maintaining CDMA 1900, iDEN 800, and deploying 800 CDMA, and 3G all at the same time. RIGHT!

If I'm not mistaking neither company has been in the black very long.

They wouldn't have much trouble doing all that if they use iDEN only for walkie-talkie in the 700Mhz and 900Mhz blocks they own and use their 800Mhz chunk for CDMA.

Let's hope they can do a quick migration of Nextel users to new CDMA phones. Sprint can easily give juicy incentives knowing how much superior Sprint's phone selection is when compared to Nextel's. Nextel users will finally get easy to use phones, not to mention a much better selection. I've never understood all those weird buttons on Nextel phones and their complicated menu structure.

[WirelessBeachBum]

Check out these links:

http://a59.g.akamai.net/f/59/7221/1m...9_/Slide12.jpg

http://wireless.fcc.gov/publicsafety...C-04-168A1.pdf

Larry, I'm assuming you have read that entire 255 page document...

[larry]

Yes of course I did. Well ok maybe 8 or 10 pages. lol