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T-Mobile officially completes merger with Sprint, CEO John Legere steps down
- dougmwne 7y agoFYI, the coverage for the 2 networks will remain separate for now and will be gradually merged into a single network over the next few years. T-mobile is offering a $15/month 2GB prepaid plan as part of the sweetener to get regulators to approve the merger and AT&T has followed suit with a competing plan. Dish Network has been earmarked as the future 4th carrier for the USA and will be getting access to spectrum as part of the merger deal. In my own opinion this merger is a good thing. Sprint holds huge amounts of spectrum but has absolutely failed to create a competitive network with it. It was a misallocation of a precious natural resource.
- cheriot 7y ago> Dish Network has been earmarked as the future 4th carrier If Sprint and T-Mobile are having such a hard time creating competitive networks, what are the chances that Dish will be able to do it from scratch? Everything about this looks terrible for consumers. There's even less competition.
- vondur 7y agoT-Mobile is doing great. The merger with Sprint gives them access to more frequencies for better coverage/speed. I can't say for sure how well Dish will do, but if they have good service/support/prices, then hopefully they will do fine. Better to have a stronger T-Mobile to keep ATT and Verizon on their toes.
- DaiPlusPlus 7y agoJust because Dish has the airwave rights doesn’t mean it will be used for personal mobile telephony - could Dish be using it for other purposes, such as fixed point-to-point transmission - or a StarLink competitor? (Disclaimer: I have no idea if those frequency bands are suitable for satellite comms or not).
- jaywalk 7y ago>Just because Dish has the airwave rights doesn’t mean it will be used for personal mobile telephony It certainly will be used for that, unless they've been lying to everyone: http://about.dish.com/2019-07-26-DISH-to-Become-National-Facilities-based-Wireless-Carrier http://about.dish.com/2019-07-26-DISH-to-Become-National-Fac...
- rrix2 7y agoLarge communication companies could never do anything like that.... Just lie ? To the public?
- MrRadar 7y agoDish owns a lot of terrestrial-use spectrum, but it's mostly oddball frequencies nobody else in the world is using for cellular service today. IIRC the most "standard" band they own is band 71 (600 MHz, also used by T-Mobile) and a bit of band 66 (standard AWS-3, used by all US carriers), but the rest of their spectrum is band 29 (supplemental downlink only), band 70 (unique to Dish), and (with this merger) band 26 (currently unique to Sprint). They certainly could launch cell service using it but they would pretty much have to custom-order base stations and phones to match the frequency bands they own. This was another problem that Sprint faced (with requiring band 25, 26, and 41 which were all unique to them in the US market).
- dougmwne 7y agoSprint literally had to give their service away it was so bad. They ran that first year free promotion for years. I'm not sure the other networks were exactly quaking in their boots over that "competition." Verizon and AT&T have always been the first class carriers. If T-mobile can fully catch up to them in coverage that increases competition instead of diminishing it. I agree that Dish is unlikely to become a major player. This is a desperation move for them as their satellite business dies.
- cogman10 7y agoIn the past few years, T-Mobile has done an excellent job of increasing coverage (at least in my region).
- Moto7451 7y agoI can echo this experience. Dealing with Sprint was impossible. Sometimes trying to pay them more money was impossible. The best thing TMobile could do is migrate the customers to the current TMobile infrastructure and software and shred everything at Sprint. Or maybe better, try to convince AT&T or Verizon to buy/adopt it as a form of sabotage.
- icelancer 7y ago>> Everything about this looks terrible for consumers. There's even less competition. Sprint was giving away service, devices, and running promos on top of all of that. Still consumers didn't buy it. What do you want to happen in a situation like this? There was "competition" in the space but consumers had zero interest in engaging with them.
- gowld 7y ago> T-mobile is offering a $15/month 2GB prepaid plan as part of the sweetener to get regulators to approve the merger A short term discount to break into a market niche? That looks like overy antitrust "dumping".
- jaywalk 7y agoHard to consider it "dumping" when you look at competitive offerings. For example, Comcast (Xfinity Mobile) offers a $12/month 1GB prepaid plan, and they don't even own the networks they use. $15/month for 2GB on your own network is entirely reasonable.
- lotsofpulp 7y agoI assume buying mobile service from sellers other than the network owner themselves makes you a second class citizen on the network and subject to throttling or whatever QoS they use to make your traffic lower priority. I even assume that you are getting prioritized depending on how much you pay or how politically important you are for the networks. I.e. a $20 prepaid ATT customer is lower priority than a $80 post paid unlimited customer which is lower priority than a US Senator.
- jaywalk 7y agoOf course, but that's been a fact of life forever.
- lotsofpulp 7y agoYes, I was agreeing that it isn't dumping since it's a different product since the services are lower priority than more expensive ones. But it's not explicitly stated, which now that I think about it, should be a required disclosure.
- kube-system 7y agoFWIW, a lot of MVNOs on other networks were faster than first-party service on Sprint.
- perfectstorm 7y ago> In my own opinion this merger is a good thing. Sprint holds huge amounts of spectrum but has absolutely failed to create a competitive network with it. It was a misallocation of a precious natural resource. as far as I see the same Sprint CEO is continuing as the CEO of the merged company so I don't think things will improve. If he failed to create a competitive network then how are things to improve all of a sudden?
- haditab 7y agoSprint CEO is not staying on as CEO of the merged company. T-Mobile's COO is.
- dougmwne 7y agoThat is not the case. The T-mobile COO, Mike Sievert, will be taking over the combined company as part of a succession plan that's reportedly been in the works for awhile.
- fireattack 7y agoWhere did Sprint CEO Michel Combes go?
- Operyl 7y agoThere’s not been any releases about his new role, as far as I can see.
- jasondclinton 7y agoI think that the first-class Google Fi devices have shown a path where CDMA and UMTS networks like Sprint and T-Mobiles can coexist on the same phone. Basically, the phone uses geolocation and a database of signal strength to determine which network to prefer in a particular location. It hangs up the baseband on one network and switches to the other. (Disclaimer: work for Google but not on the Android or Fi teams. Know nothing that isn't public.)
- MrRadar 7y agoT-Mobile will be shutting down the Sprint CDMA, LTE, and 5G NR networks, and the T-Mobile UMTS network will probably also be shut down around the same time leaving just the T-Mobile LTE and 5G NR networks. While the Sprint network is still running existing Sprint customers will have access to both the Sprint network and (on a "roaming" basis) the T-Mobile network but T-Mobile customers will not have access to the Sprint network.
- kube-system 7y agoThat's just business as usual for long-time Sprint customers. Many of them have dealt through several network shutdowns already :D Sprint is the world champion of picking the wrong wireless technology. Think I have still have some iDEN and WiMAX devices in a drawer somewhere.
- amluto 7y agoWiMAX might not have been wrong if Sprint hasn’t flubbed the launch. Sprint had working WiMAX in many markets long before anyone had LTE, and there was a decent portfolio of laptops and such that had working client support. But Sprint never marketed it and wouldn’t sell it even if you knew about it unless you had a billing address in one of the few tiny markets that had official support. I would gladly have paid Sprint for their service if they would have been willing to sell it to me. It’s hard to recover one’s investment if you refuse to sell the product you built.
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- ksec 7y ago>In my own opinion this merger is a good thing. Sprint holds huge amounts of spectrum but has absolutely failed to create a competitive network with it. It was a misallocation of a precious natural resource. Yes. Not from US but as far as I am aware there are pretty much only 2 Network in US, AT&T and Verizon. With T-Mobile and Sprint being a very distant third and fourth. Basically they are so minor that even they have combined they are still a distant third. But it does gives them a fighting chance, assuming they follow on with their T-Mobile orderly execution. Hopefully this would bring US closer to world quality standard in terms of Mobile Network. Because as far as I can tell it has possibly the worst mobile network out of all the developed countries. ( Edit: Sorry I forgot Canada, which I have heard is similar to US.)
- MrRadar 7y agoAccording to this 2018 article from The Verge[1], the new T-Mobile will have 90 million customers putting it just behind AT&T (at 93 million) and slightly farther behind Verizon (116 million). The New T-Mobile's customer base will still be more heavily weighted towards lower-cost prepaid customers rather than higher-cost postpaid consumer and business customers compared to their competitors so they will probably remain behind them in ARPU. [1] https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/30/17301392/t-mobile-sprint-merger-preview-phone-carrier https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/30/17301392/t-mobile-sprint-...
- atombender 7y agoDepending on where you live, that's not accurate. T-Mobile is perfectly adequate (and sometimes even better) compared to AT&T and Verizon, except in more rural and isolated places.
- jessaustin 7y agoI'm in a fairly rural area, and use a T-mobile MVNO (ting). In this area, there are holes, but they're the same holes that ATTVZN have.
- cpwright 7y agoI don't live in a rural area (~1000 people/sq. mile), 40 miles away from NYC. At least as of a year ago, T-Mobile's coverage map of my area was "occasional service outdoors".
- ars 7y agoWhy is he stepping down? Seems to me like he was the reason for the success of T-Mobile.
- jandrese 7y agoI guess they decided that Sprint's management was doing such a bang up job they should be the ones running the new company. Sort of like when Boeing merged with McDonall Douglass.
- jaywalk 7y agoThe merged company is being run by T-Mobile's COO.
- jtmcmc 7y agoIt seems like he was just done - he's been CEO for a long time.
- gowld 7y agoThe new CEO Mike Sievert was hired by Legere in 2012 to be CMO then COO then President. It's an orderly succession.
- icelancer 7y agoYeah, this is the situation. Sievert has been groomed by Legere for this position for years. And Legere will still be in touch with him regularly, as he says on Twitter.
- kick 7y agoLegere announced he was stepping down ages ago. It wasn't forced by any means.
- r00fus 7y agoHe's quite a character but hopefully the character for TMO's success transcends his departure.
- dlbucci 7y agoMan, I shoulda jumped shipped last time I upgraded and taken advantage of some deal some other carrier had for switching. Maybe that's the lesson for me: always switch carriers when it's time to upgrade. I appreciate what John Legere did to stir some competition in the carrier space, so it's a bummer to see him go, and I have no doubt T-Mobile will slowly rollback all its consumer-friendly changes (not that they've continued to make many more in recent years).
- exhilaration 7y agoT-Mobile had some crazy good deals in October before the merger was approved. I moved my 6 line family plan from Sprint to T-Mobile in anticipation of prices rising and reduced competition post-merger. After comparing notes with my friends, I'm paying the least per line for unlimited data and all the goodies that come with T-Mobile's Magenta Plus plan.
- omgwtfbyobbq 7y agoYeah, TMO had some crazy good deals at the end of last year. I also switched from Sprint to TMO after moving from Sprint's "free" plan to whatever their normal (somewhat obscene) plan was for about a year. On the TMO side, I got the buy 3 get 1 line for free Magenta promo, an insider account code/discount, and a $200 visa card per line. I think I'm paying about $112/month for four Magenta lines. The thing is, I switched in the first place because TMO always shafted their existing customers and gave new port-ins great deals, so switching to a "good" Sprint deal allowed me to get a better deal going back to TMO. I say "good" because it was $30+/month for 4 lines, but Sprint's network blows and the price it reset to was just nuts.
- icelancer 7y agoSame. I'm on Magenta Plus for my family + assistant and it's an incredibly good price for unlimited data/voice.
- samfisher83 7y agoLegere really turned around TMobile and changed the industry by getting rid of contracts and doing better prices.
- radicaldreamer 7y agoI think the free global data was a game changer for so many... he also brought back unlimited plans for the US market
- nojvek 7y agoI was on AT&T and their roaming charged me $600 because I accidentally left it on, on a Vancouver trip for a day. They did refund some of that, but T-mobile's free roaming with 4G speeds is a game changer. Overall T-Mobile has the best bang for buck if you live in an area where they have coverage. Although US carriers are sometimes quite behind what other countries offer. I am constantly blown away at how cheap and fast cellular internet is in India with Jio. Or south korea, or japan. Asian countries make US look like a joke when it comes to internet speed and cellular technology.
- alxndr 7y agoT-Mobile's free data and texting in many countries is the primary reason I stick with them despite being able to find lower prices and better coverage elsewhere.
- ocdtrekkie 7y agoLegere repackaged contracts slightly and sold it as snake oil. For the vast majority of customers, their contracts had the exact same impact. A two-year payment plan (which is, you guessed it, a "contract") on the phone which "immediately becomes due" if you cancel your plan is identical to the early termination fee that had previously been offered by everyone else, just in a slightly less bundled fashion. If, like most people, you were buying a phone from your carrier, the cost at early termination was near identical. Verizon's ETF already reduced each month left on your phone's upgrade period, just like a phone payment plan would have. Legere's a Jobsian marketing genius, but only because he managed to sell people the status quo as something new.
- Dirlewanger 7y agoAnother win for Big Business. The 2nd Gilded Age is alive and thriving.
- scarface74 7y agoAnd somehow it would have been better if the merger wasn’t allowed and Sprint went out of business? Sprint has been losing money and customers for a decade. SoftBank was getting tired of backing them.
- Agathos 7y agoVery possibly yes. That would be a chance for additional entities to bid on Sprint's spectrum, or even to break that spectrum up. When irreplaceable assets like that are concentrated into the hands of a few bigger and bigger companies, the whole economy becomes less dynamic.
- scarface74 7y agoWho would these additional entities be besides other major carriers - probably the larger two? What smaller entity could afford to build out a network, open retail stores, get customers from the major carriers, etc? Sprint’s network is already the worse one.
- mvid 7y agoI see this opinion a lot. I guess the argument is that we are going from 4 cell providers to 3, but realistically Sprint and TMobile were so minor we are probably going from 2 providers to 3
- ocdtrekkie 7y agoThis. Neither T-Mobile or Sprint ever rank as legitimate carriers for most cases. Find me a enterprise business that equips their employees with either. Pretty much all corporate and government wireless is AT&T or Verizon. T-Mobile + Sprint provides the best opportunity to create a legitimate third carrier.
- nachteilig 7y agoI really hope they keep the prepaid "sim app" for iPhone. Godsend every time I'm in America.
- LeoPanthera 7y agoThere are plenty of alternatives even if they don’t. I use Truphone, which works globally.
- walterbell 7y agoWhat does that do?
- code4tee 7y agoWho’s going to teach us what to cook in our slow cookers now on the weekends?
- mark-r 7y agoThis bums me out a lot. I moved to T-Mobile specifically to get away from Sprint.
- SllX 7y agoThe way I see it, T-Mobile is Daddy and Sprint is Mommy in this merger. Theoretically, this merger should only be additive to existing T-Mobile customers. Not to say there aren't ways this could go badly as well, but I'm fine with the plan I have now, and I don't see any downsides to my service provider increasing the spectrum available to them. There are some concerns around reduced competition, but I'm thinking that might not actually be a concern in the same few years it will take to gauge how this merger actually shaped the market, e.g. StarLink. Even if something like StarLink doesn't pan out, and Dish as a cellular provider turns out to be dead in the water, having three carriers on almost entirely even ground competing is probably better than having two strong carriers, one flashy but still generally uncompetitive carrier and one dead fish carrier. Probably better to not even bother trying to prop up Dish to be #4, but this is what the regulators have decided to push for in their attempts to throw the right levers and twist the right knobs to maintain "competition".
- download13 7y agoIt will be easier to nationalize one big conglomerate than a bunch of smaller companies. Thanks for getting a jump on this!
- dzonga 7y agofunny thing, in 2012 Sprint wanted to acquire TMobile. Couldn't pass through the DOJ. TMobile used the failed merger money to build their network. And now the circle is complete, with TMobile, buying out Sprint.
- ploxiln 7y agoIt was AT&T that failed to acquire T-Mobile, and paid the penalty fee which saved T-Mobile.
- to11mtm 7y agoI don't remember Sprint and TMO trying to merge back then. ATT and TMO certainly did. And yes it worked out gangbusters for them because it wasn't -just- the money for the deal falling through, but the 'free roaming' that TMO users got on ATT networks. This was HUGE for TMO at the time. They didn't have any lower band spectrum (Sub 1000mhz). But ATT obviously did because they were earlier into the game. This helped them a lot, both as far as general coverage as well as usability in areas with lots of buildings and the like. By the time the agreement was running out they had purchased that sweet sweet 700mhz band and were rolling it out.
- jshevek 7y agoI see a lot of love for Legere in this thread, but I remember him as the guy who influenced his devout followers to attack the EFF just because the EFF rightly criticized one of his moves. Edit: The move being lying about throttling. His exact words were: "who the fuck are you, anyway, EFF? ... Why are you stirring up so much trouble, and who pays you?"
- r00fus 7y agoAnd Steve Jobs had particular views that were also myopic. That doesn't mean he wasn't a visionary and effective leader that made a difference. Compared with his industry counterparts, Legere was a breath of fresh air.
- jshevek 7y ago>And Steve Jobs had particular views that were also myopic. What is the "myopic view" in this situation? That poisoning the well is a good strategy for deflecting criticism of your dishonesty?
- no_wizard 7y agoAnd rightly, people should criticize Steve Jobs for those things. Being "better than industry counterparts" doesn't excuse myopic behavior.
- exergy 7y agoYeah, what kind of criterion is that? "The best STD" and all that...
- downerending 7y agoDidn't know that, but I can hardly think of a CEO I despise more, if it makes you feel any better. (About a decade ago, I got trapped in a contract with T-Mobile and ended up forfeiting almost $1500.)
- MrRadar 7y ago
- pnathan 7y agoBummer. I liked Legere's style, and T-Mobile works reasonably well. Sprint was a total disaster in my experience.
- A4ET8a8uTh0 7y agoEh, it is never good for a customer to have less real choices. I honestly don't get why antitrust laws are not enforced these days at all. For the record, I actually have T-Mobile and it is acceptable. I can't wait for service to get worse as it inevitably does after such mergers.
- _-david-_ 7y agoIt can be good to have less choices if T-Mobile/Sprint can become more competitive than they were separately. I am not sure if they are actually going to become more competitive but there is a possibility.
- noahtallen 7y agoSprint has competed by giving stuff away for free. My wife and I have free (latest) iPhones and are on a plan that’s cheaper than anything their competitors offer. Everything else about them is objectively worse (features, reliability, service coverage). I definitely believe they would not be in business much longer, which is why I’m excited about the merger. If they had a chance of surviving in a meaningful, competitive way, then I’d definitely disagree with a merger, but I’ve not seen a strong argument that they would.
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 7y agoAs I understand it, in the U.S. a business has to actually engage in anti-competitive practices in order to be punished, while Europe doesn't really have the concept of a benevolent monopoly, which is why lots of corporations get hit by antitrust laws in Europe for doing the same things they get away with in America.
- antipaul 7y agoSo what's next for Legere? I thought it was he who was supposed to lead the merged Co...
- xeromal 7y agoYou sound really angry and as my mom says, maybe take a chill pill. Not everything needs to elevate our blood pressure.
- adultSwim 7y agoTons of tech CEOs seem to be stepping down in recent months.
- juped 7y agoSo who gets the NYSE:S symbol?