BYLINE: DAN MEYER BODY: Editor's Note: In a new series, RCR Wireless News takes an in-depth look at nationwide wireless players, including their strengths and challenges in an ever-changing wireless environment. In this fourth installment, RCR Wireless News reporter Dan Meyer tackles the nation's fourth-largest carrier, Sprint PCS. In an industry known for innovation, Sprint PCS is heralded by many as the catalyst for much of that development. Whether it was the carrier's decision to launch a nationwide network in a new spectrum band using a new technology, its understanding the importance of marketing or its early and continued support for wireless data services, Sprint PCS is often looked at as the benchmark in wireless services. Its leadership status is backed by rapid customer growth that has seen Sprint PCS add between 1.5 million and 3 million more customers than its larger rivals since the beginning of 2000. It is currently the nation's fourth-largest wireless operator and largest PCS carrier, with more than 17 million customers. But innovation and growth have brought challenges. Due to its use of PCS spectrum, Sprint PCS has had to build out considerably more cell sites than its larger competitors that are using cellular spectrum. This has led to complaints regarding the carrier's coverage and contributed to its high debt load. Analysts also have pointed out that Sprint PCS' aggressive growth has been spurred by relying on credit-challenged customers. That has come back to haunt the carrier's bottom line and has drawn the ire of investors. ''Overall (Sprint PCS) is doing a pretty good job and is one of the more forward-thinking carriers,'' said Tole Hart, wireless analyst for Gartner/Dataquest. While Sprint PCS is one of the newer entrants in the wireless space, its parent company, Sprint Corp., has had interests in wireless since the mid '80s, when it began acquiring cellular licenses in a handful of markets. By 1988, however, Sprint focused on the lucrative wired long-distance market and sold its cellular interests to Centel Cellular. Sprint's absence from the wireless industry did not last long. The company repurchased the cellular business from Centel in 1992 in hopes of offering customers a wireless option to go with its then-established long-distance service. At that time, Centel was serving approximately 300,000 wireless customers in nearly 100 markets. Even though Sprint was able to grow its cellular business to more than 1 million customers by 1995, its aggressive participation in the government auction of PCS licenses in the mid '90s forced the company to choose between its limited cellular operations or the possibility of operating a nationwide PCS network. With its decision to go the PCS route, Sprint spun off its cellular division under the Chicago-based 360 Communications Co. brand name, which Alltel Corp. eventually bought, and looked to solidify its PCS position. One of the first moves Sprint's PCS-based network made was its decision to forego the industry standard TDMA or European-centric GSM technology route and go with unproven CDMA technology developed by San Diego-based Qualcomm Inc. At the time, CDMA was being tested in a handful of markets and questioned as a serious technology choice for Sprint. ''Initially, I was a little bit skeptical because when I came to Sprint PCS I had just read a Wall Street Journal article that said CDMA didn't work,'' remembered Charles Levine, current president of Sprint PCS. In addition to questions regarding whether the technology could perform, there were concerns about the costs involved because Sprint was only one of a few carriers committed to the technology. ''Sprint was looking at the economies of a nationwide network, but did not want to be the only one involved,'' said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDMA Development Group. Once Sprint PCS went ahead with its decision to deploy the CDMA protocol, the technology's backers were able to sway other carriers to use it. ''I have no doubt that Sprint's adoption of CDMA was one of the central features to the adoption of the technology in North America and worldwide,'' LaForge said. Analysts now point to Sprint PCS' technology gamble as one of the carrier's best assets, highlighted by its spectral efficiency, straightforward upgrade path to next-generation services and relatively less-expensive upgrade costs compared with competitors that chose different technologies. Sprint PCS also bucked tradition when it came to handset vendors. While most of the industry was controlled by either Nordic twins Nokia Corp. and L.M. Ericsson or U.S.-based Motorola Inc., Sprint PCS signed deals with smaller Asian operators like Samsung Corp. In addition to providing the carrier with a diversified handset selection, Sprint PCS' Asian handset vendors have provided the carrier with a number of eye-catching color handsets for its recently introduced PCS Vision service. ''(Asian vendors) have proven to be very good and have proven to be much more responsive to our needs and the needs of our customers than some of the other vendors have been,'' Levine explained. Those choices helped Sprint PCS quickly build out its network in 65 markets by late 1997, but the carrier admitted it was finding it challenging to sign up customers. ''When we first launched service back in 1997, in market after market, we were not particularly successful,'' said Levine, who formerly was chief sales and marketing officer. It was not until early 1998 when the carrier offered service in 134 metropolitan markets that Sprint PCS finally signed up its 1 millionth customer. In an attempt to get more Sprint PCS devices in consumers' hands, the carrier announced a deal in late 1997 to open Sprint Stores in more than 6,000 RadioShack Corp. locations across the country. The deal was the first retail location for Sprint PCS and put the carrier's services within five minutes of where 94 percent of U.S. consumers either lived or worked. Sprint PCS' partnership with RadioShack currently continues with analysts' estimates of around 25 percent of Sprint PCS' net customer additions coming from RadioShack locations. Sprint PCS' emphasis on marketing began to pay off in 1998 as the carrier beat industry heavyweight AT&T Wireless Services Inc. in net customer additions for the first quarter of the year, adding 226,900 customers compared with AT&T Wireless' 195,000 customer additions. By the end of 1998, Sprint PCS would serve nearly 2 million customers. In addition to its expanded retail presence, Sprint PCS credited those results to its Toll-Free USA rate plans, which allowed customers to call anywhere on the carrier's network without paying long-distance charges, and the fact that the operator did not require customers to sign a long-term contract. To counter Sprint PCS' growth, AT&T Wireless introduced its Digital OneRate plan, sparking an intense pricing war that continues among all carriers. With most of its major markets covered by the middle of 1998, Sprint PCS' focus shifted to the small- and mid-sized markets it had yet to enter. Instead of building out those markets itself, the carrier decided to partner with local affiliates that would use Sprint PCS' licenses, brand name and back-end services to launch their networks. Sprint PCS eventually signed up 18 affiliates across the country to help the carrier fill in its nationwide footprint. ''They've rounded out the network in an important way,'' Levine said of the carrier's affiliates. ''We are able to claim 250 million covered pops because they cover over 50 million of them. We are perceived as a strong national provider in no small part because of what they have done.'' With the rapid expansion of its voice network under way, Sprint began to look at taking advantage of the data capabilities inherent in the CDMA technology. Sprint PCS announced in February 1998 plans to launch a circuit-switched data service later that year, which eventually became the Wireless Web service launched in 1999, and its future plans to launch a third-generation packet-data wireless network. At the time, Sprint PCS said it hoped to test 3G technology no later than 2000 and commercially launch the service shortly after. In fact, the carrier launched its PCS Vision service last month. In an early press release announcing the initiative, the carrier hinted to the eventual name of the service with ''Sprint PCS announces vision for third-generation wireless cdmaOne technology.'' ''We dropped a lot of clues along the way,'' Levine said. ''If you read a lot of the interviews over the past couple of years, if someone wanted to put it together badly enough, they would have come pretty close.'' Even though Sprint PCS was one of the last nationwide carriers to launch its next-generation network, its early foray into the data market has given the carrier one of the largest data customer bases. Nearly 3 million wireless subscribers are signed up to its Wireless Web service. ''We believed in it, but we knew it was going to be a gutsy move and we spent a lot of marketing dollars communicating the benefits of the Wireless Web to customers that other people weren't willing to spend,'' Levine noted. ''I think it paid off.'' While Sprint PCS appears happy with the progress of its wireless data offering, Levine echoed comments from other operators in acknowledging that while data eventually will have a revenue impact, voice will remain the main driver for the next couple of years. ''We are right now at the bottom of the S-shaped curve of adoption today,'' Levine explained. ''It will become an important and critical part of our revenues, but it's not going to be in the next year or two.'' In the meantime, analysts note Sprint PCS has some work to do to solidify its once-thriving and lucrative customer base. After leading the industry in customer additions for the past five quarters, the carrier stumbled during the second quarter of this year with just more than 300,000 net additions and cut the number of customers it expects to add for the year. Analysts quickly followed suit, with many revising their customer addition estimates to below Sprint PCS' revised forecasts. Analysts also continue to question the increasing number of sub-prime customers from Sprint PCS' Clear Pay service, pointing out their influence on customer churn, which has jumped from a low of 2.2 percent during the second quarter of last year to more than 3 percent this year. In addition to hurting the carrier's customer metrics, investors see the slowing customer growth and increasing churn as additional signs the wireless industry may not be the best place for their money. Sprint PCS' tracking stock in particular has fallen from around $20 per share at the beginning of the year to below $4 per share. ''Not only have the adds slowed with the economy, but the stock market has turned from loving us to hating us,'' Levine said. ''I think those two factors combined have caused people to be much more concerned about the industry-even those who are in the industry.'' Sprint PCS has tried to stabilize the influence of sub-prime customers by instituting deposit requirements and shifting its customer addition focus back to more creditworthy customers. The carrier also recently launched its prepaid-focused mobile virtual network operator arrangement with Virgin Mobile USA, which is expected to absorb some of the credit-challenged customers on Sprint PCS' books. Even with the challenges facing Sprint PCS and the industry in general, most analysts continue to pick Sprint PCS as one of the best-positioned carriers in the wireless space. While conditions make predicting a future for the wireless industry a risky proposition, many are confident that Sprint PCS will continue to lead the industry in innovations.
Good article. One of the reasons I signed with Sprint PCS (besides very good experiences with residential long distance service), was that they had initiative to go in different directions. If memory serves, they were also very early to offering free long distance as well as not requiring a year + commitment. Sadly, I'm more disillusioned with them lately and considering a switch to T-Mobile. Matt
Aloha, Here in Hawaii we had a cellular phone carrier by the name of PrimeCo. I had service with this company for about 2 year before they were bought out by SprintPCS. In the two years with PrimeCo I've had absoutely NO complaints. Once Sprint took over I started to notice the Customer Service decline, as one would expect with a big company such as Sprint. But as the years passed it just got too unbearable to deal with. When I purchase a phone everything is smooth and effortless in my view. But once you have a problem or need to speak with a Customer Service represenative, it's like pulling teeth. You go to the Local SprintPCS retailer in Hawaii stand in line for 45 minutes because there are only two people working in the Customer Service department. You finally get to the person and pose them with a question about your bill or problem with your phone. They immediately point you to the corner in the store with a small table and a land-line telephone placed on top. They tell you to call the Mainland office to resolve your issues?!?! Then you get on the phone with the mainland customer service rep, and IF you are lucky to get one of the few individuals who speak English, he/she isn't much of a help!! On top of that, most of the Customer Service Reps are RUDE! You talk to one Customer Service Rep and they tell you one thing. Then you ask the same question to another Rep and they will tell you something different?!?! I got charged $300.00 on a trip to the mainland. Prior to leaving Hawaii, I had only LOCAL minutes. I called the Sprint folks and changed my plan to something with Long Distance Minutes Included. The lady who assisted me assured me that the new plan I was signing up with would allow me to call Long Distance without any additional charges, other than using the allocated bucket of minutes. When I return from my trip and receive my bill, $300.00. Majority of them for long distance charges. I call the SprintPCS people and inquire. I find out that the lady who signed me up for the new LONG DISTANCE plan was mistaken, either by the information she forwarded to me or in switching my plan. I was given 3000 LOCAL mintues, NO long distance minutes?! I tried to get the Customer Service Rep to reverse all the charges based upon the false information I received from THEIR people, but she declined. She informed me that she has no record of what was said between me and the first Customer Rep. If you ever called the Customer Service department there is an auto-recorded memo which states, "Called may me recorded and monitored for training purposes." REVIEW THE DAMN TAPE LADY!! Finally, they managed to increase their customer base by excess for 200% ... that's fine and wonderful, but TAKE CARE OF THE EXISTING CUSTOMERS THAT YOU HAVE!! They offer the better rates and mintues to NEW customers, but what do the existing customers get as an incentive to stay with the company? And try to cancel your plan. They transfer you to this Retention department which is the last line of offense to keep you as a customer. This is the first and only time when I feel as though the company is bending over for me, too little, too late! AT&T is now my Family. Sprint is Bucking Tradition, but they're going in the wrong direction.
Just like your message states may be recorded, most likely not. When the calls are recorded they are listened to by a supervisor for quality control, obviously not all calls are recorded or listened to. Since it sounds like you already left SPCS....Aloha.
LET ME EXPLAIN SOMETHING TO YOU... CUSTOMER SERVICE, DOES NOT MAKE THE PLANS, WE CAN ONLY OFFER WHAT IS ADVERTISED. IF WE WENT AROUND HANDING EVERYONE FREE PHONES, SPRINT WOULD NO LONGER BE IN BUSINESS.. IT'S CALLED DOING BUSINESS.. YOU DON'T EXPECT A CAR DEALERSHIP TO GIVE YOU A NEW CAR, JUST BECAUSE YOURS BROKE DOWN, OR YOUR JUST TIRES OF THE ONE YOU HAVE AND WANT THE NEWER MODEL. NOW TO THE POINT OF THE STORE NOT HANDLING BILLING ISSUES, THEY DON'T! THIS IS DONE TO "HELP" REDUCE WAIT TIME IN THE STORES SO THAT OTHERES WITH PHONE PROBLEMS, AND SALES CAN BE MADE. IF YOU WANT TO SPEAK TO SOMEONE ABOUT BILLING ISSUES, CALL 1-888-211-4727 IF YOU ARE A CONCUMER CUSTOMER OR 1-888-788-4727 IF YOUR A A BUSINESS CUSTOMER. CALLS INTO CUSTOMER SERVICE "MAY" BE RECORDED... CSR'S DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO THESE RECORDINGS "IF" THEY ARE RECORDED, NEXT TIME ASK THE CSR TO NOTE YOUR ACCOUNT WITH WHAT YOU DISCUSSED, AND DO NOT HANG UP TILL HE/SHE HAS. AND WHAT PLAN DID YOU GET THAT WAS 3000 LOCAL MINUTES?? WAS IS 200 ANYTIME, AND 2800 N/W MINUTES??? THAT PLAN HAS LONG DISTANCE. ARE YOU SURE THEY WEREN'T ROAMING CHARGES?? AND ABOUT THE RENTENTION DEPT. IT IS THEIR JOB TO CXL YOUR ACCOUNT, OR TRY TO DO SOMETHING TO KEEP YOU AS A CUSTOMER.. THEY HAVE SPECIAL RATE PLANS ONLY ACCESSABLE TO THEM.. WHAT PLAN THEY OFFER YOU IS BASED ON YOUR CUSTOMER VALUE. YOUR VALUE DECREASES WITH THE AMMOUNT OF CREDITS YOU HAVE RECIVED, OR HOW MANY TIMES THE RENTENTION DEPT. HAS TRIED TO KEEP YOU AS A CUSTOMER.. BASICALLY, THE MORE "YOU" COST THE LESS SPRINT WANTS TO KEEP YOU.. I MEAN THINK ABOUT, SAY YOU WERE SPRINT, DO YOU WANT TO KEEP A CUSTOMER WHO IS COSTING YOU MORE MONEY TO KEEP THEM, THAN YOUR MAKING FROM THEM?? SIMPLE ECONOMICS MONEY. BUT AS I ALWAYS STATE THIS IS "MY" POINT OF VIEW, IT MAY NOT BE SPRINT'S, BUT I'M SURE IT'S DAMN NEAR CLOSE.
SPRINTPCSGUY2002, You say that customer service reps do not make the plans, only offer them, which I think everyone can understand, but If I live in Hawaii and call customer service and let them know that I am going to the mainland, I expect them to offer me a plan to keep my costs low. Now of course, it may have been JSPPTY's fault because they may have racked up alot of roaming charges, but are they roaming charges because the rep kept him on a local plan? It becomes the CSR's responsibility to take what information the customer has given them and offer the plan best suited for their needs. While this is all a business, without customers, there would be no business.
I'm guessing that you said most of this in anger, but, y'know, I work for a Cingular Agent. Not even Cingular, a little franchise. Y'know what we try to do to compete, since we don't have any real power to influence anyone? We provide good customer service. If a customer buys a phone from a rep, and then they have a billing issue, they at the very least hope that their rep will help them. Helping customers with ANY problem they have is part of the sales profession. I have Cingular customers, who've never been to my agency before, come in, and I help them. They'll probably come back to me, sometime or another. And I know Sprint reps are paid on commission too. People go into stores to receive customer service, NOT to be told "there's the phone, but you could've just made the call from home anyway." If you have a rep there, it's their job to provide customer service. P
This was one of the exact reasons I left AT&T. I had a billing problem and trying to resolve it over the phone wasn't getting anywhere. I went to the store hoping I could look at my billing history with someone there so we could go through it together and actually be sure we were talking about the same thing, but the most they were able to do was provide me with a phone. They even charge $2 extra to pay your bill there! I wanted to pay in the store so I could have a paper reciept proving that AT&T had recieved money from me, and they actually charge you extra for that! Service is a big part of sales - how can you expect to have repeat customers otherwise? I work in customer service for a large company, and you can bet the sales force is heavily involved with major service issues, especially if customer satisfaction is a factor. The net result is that we beat our competition more and more often, and grow our accounts.
I have seen all sides of the in store customer service issue. 1. As a customer 2. As an inside sales rep 3. As an outside sales rep 4. As a Sales Manager 5. As a Call Center Trainer 6. (well almost all sides) you couldn't pay me enough to be a call center rep!!!! 1. A Customer-Of course the customer wants problem resolution...quickly...and the point is if everyone with a billing problem or a billing question or who wanted to make a payment visited a store to do so...you would have just what you expect, long lines and upset people. Why not take care of a billing issue over the phone, from your home or from where ever. Do it at your convience not the retail stores, you'll save yourself allot of stress. 2. An inside sales rep- As caring and supportive the previous Cingular rep was, in a sales career, you make your living by commission, If you have someone in front of you that has an issue with their statement, unfortunatly that salesperson is not motivated to help you because it does not make him any money. In fact in the time that he deals with you, he may lose some other potential business. 3. An outside sales rep- generally outside sales reps have very little control other than themselves to make sure their customers are taken care of. But like the inside sales rep they live by a quota, and in the sales world if something is not important to making a sale it is a distant second to, direct sales involved activities. However a good outside rep will let you know what to expect before hand and will do all in their power to make sure you are taken care of when they have goofed themselves. I am currently an outside sales rep and when I call my manager at night to tell him of my daily activities...he doesn't ask me how many customer service calls I completed or how many bills I reviewed he wants to know how many sales I closed, and how many future prospects I created. 4. A sales manager (which all Store Manager are) there ultimate responsibility is to produce sales. (I'm not stupid I understand good customer service equals repeat business) however many sales managers have enourmous pressure from inside and outside the companies to produce...And with the massive layoffs in communications the past several years, many of them understand the outcome of "not making your numbers" 5. And as a call center trainer I had to teach people who were basically making dirt how to put up with the grief that many obnoxious individuals cause them....Imagine sitting in a small cubicle with a PC and a telephone headset. All day long your receive nothing but complaint calls (never any positive calls, if things are going good why call?) Because of the volume of calls coming in your average customer has a hold time of between 3,5,10 or more minutes, so they are even more upset when they get to you the first thing they do is bite your head off....you as the call center rep are polite and try to get the problem out of the customer, In the middle of telling you their problems with their wireless service, the customers are either driving with their windows down, radio blairing, cussing you out, going to the bathroom, eating, having two or three different conversations, drunk or just generally complaining of a problem that was not within the control of the wireless company...i.e. when you drop your phone in the toilet and your wireless carrier does not replace it for free..it's not their fault...(a side note on the toilet thing, if you do this your retail rep does NOT need to handle your pee stained keypad, bring it in a ziplock if you want good service!!!). But anyway I think you get the point, the person who sells you your service is not as motivated to help you if you are rude, understand the postion they are in and the motivation behind what they are doing. Don't expect the sales rep to bend over backwards on the billing issues. Don't expect a sales manager to give into your rants...it's not there purpose in the organization. Be kind to your call center rep, if you are having problems with your bill or other issues, it goes a long way to be nice. Trust me if I had two customers come to me with the identical problems and one was pleasant and understanding and the other was rude and demanding, you better believe that the customer that was nice is going to get more things to go his way than the rude one. If it's not in your nature to be nice and pleasant, do it anyway, just think of yourself as acting playing a part to get what you want...nothing is sweeter than playing them to get what you want. And please just pay for a stamp and mail your freakin bill in...it amazes me how many people will sit in traffic and wait in long lines (complaining the entire time) just to make a payment in a retail store.
I saved myself a lot of stress by walking across the street to another company that actually wanted my money. I'm not going to get into this retarded statement other than to say that if their billing system worked properly I wouldn't have had to go to the store to get a paper receipt as proof of payment.
tylerdurden You know if you use a check that would be a paper "proof of payment"...or if you pay online you can actually print out your own "proof of payment". I hate you had problems with your wireless carrier...my comments were not directed toward you...I've been in this business for a long time and was just commenting on what I see everyday. People (in general...not you) need to lighten up, the reality of wireless is that most people pay more for their morning coffee each day than they do for their wireless service. Most of my customers average $50.00 per month for their service...that's only $1.64 per day for their wireless communications. Most people I know spend more on Coke each day than that (That's the soda not the illicit drug). My first wireless phone was a bag phone that I paid 30.00 per month for and had 25 minutes of included airtime which covered about four counties in Virginia if I went over my airtime my overage was 25 cents each minute...If I wanted to use my phone outside of my calling area I had to activate FMR "follow me roaming" which was 3.00 initially then 1.00 per day in each city that I activated that I wanted to use my phone in. Plus then 99 cents per minute plus long distance to roam. This was a good deal for the times.....this was only ten years ago...look at how much has improved since then....lighten up!!! IT"S NOT THAT BAD!
Actually, I DID pay on line and even had my bank fax over the transaction logs to AT&T FIVE TIMES and it still took them over ten days to figure out what the hell was going on. Obviously, there's no point in either of us discussing this further. Yes, it's true that SOME of the time people complain its partially their own fault, but the big companies DO screw up a LOT, and sometimes they really screw up big time.
I agree the big companies do screw up and loose payments ect. but I have also been the sales manager for a smaller regional carrier (19 counties of coverage) and trust me those little guys screw up also. Sometimes it's human error and sometimes it's billing software error, or a combination...I have used many different billing applications and have not seen one yet that is perfect, most just barely get the job done. So if you know any database/software engineers let them know that there is a great market out there for wireless billing software that is easy to use and error free.
