Sprint Loses $29.5 Billion with a B

I just saw this article on Reuters and was going to start a thread, but I see you've already done that.

The thing that is even scarier is that they are projecting another 1,200,000 customers lost in the first quarter of this year. That's 2 million customers lost in 6 months time.

In the Palm Centro threads, I keep seeing people talk about the SERO plan, which gives unlimited access for voice and data, for only $30 a month. I kept asking myself, how in the world can a company make money like that, especially when it has such lousy coverage, and a horrible reputation for customer service? I think we just found out our answer.

I don't wish poorly on Sprint. I hope they make it, because the more competition there is, the better deals we all get. I WILL be truly unhappy if they get snatched up by ALLTEL, though, because I would have gone back to ALLTel in a heartbeat, if they only had the Palm Centro available.

It's more of a write off than sprint losing 330m per day - they basically are saying "whoops, that didn't work" about the nextel merger and so they have to adjust their books to deal with the fact that they're going to have to transition those people off of iDEN instead of integreating iDEN tech into CDMA.

...Or that's my "I Am Not A Financial Analyst" understanding of it.

EXACTLY.

That's the reason I'm getting ready to photoshop the Sprint logo in a coffin. ;)

My PCC reps are on a conference call now for the Unlimited plan details. I'm pretty sure that's why the stores closed as well. They are going to get a lot of questions about this new plan so I'm sure they are just making sure everyone is trained.

Thanks, Infinity - I was gearing up to hassle my local store to see what the deal was, now I can leave them alone. ;)

Suddenly, my $30 SERO plan does not seem as rock steady. If things are really that bad financially for them, I could see them killing off the whole program. And then being invited back for the $99 plan.
That would suck.

I have been with Sprint since something like 96 or 97....not due to any loyalty to Sprint whatsoever, but just because every time my contract comes up and I shop around for the best plan and coverage (including cost of roaming in extreme rural areas) I keep on signing another contract with Sprint because they offer the best deal, with the best coverage, and the best options for roaming.

I personally have had issues with Sprint CS, but never in that time have they not....evidentually....fallen in my favor.

With that said, numbers talk. Coverage is a matter of geographical perspective. Opinions and experiences with vary greatly. I find it ironic that because a major CS issue with ATT (I think) that went past the regional level of their org that I originally moved to Sprint.

Mergers can be beneficial in the long run, but also very risky for the current customers with the unknowns of plan policy changes, pricing spikes, CS even becoming more challenging, etc...

The bottom line if nothing else, is we need competition in the US for the CDMA network. We need at least two big players.

Are the 2 million lost customers numbers of only those who left? Does it reflect number of how many may have joined during that that time as well? In other words, do we know how many joined Sprint during that same time they lost all those customers?

If they launch the flat rate unlimited plan nationally, that will be huge. It could even be the spark to help save the company. But more importantly hopefully start a plan war among all the carriers.


[RIGHT]....I guess this would be my glass half full view of the situation. :D [/RIGHT]

Just a guess, but I bet most of the customers lost were old nextel customers that don't like how things are now post-merger. That would tie in well with the decision to totally write off the nextel goodwill.

I'm also a Sprint longtime customer (since 99)... I've had my issues with CS over the last year and a half and was about to switch over but they did a complete 180 and gave me a deal on an HTC touch that I couldn't refuse! Since Jan 2008, Sprint CS has been a total pleasure to deal with. With the new $99 unlimited plan and WiMax coming out in April, I think Sprint will recover quite nicely.

This $29 Billion write-off is surprisingly a good business move on their part, Nextel was starting to bleed them dry and they would've lost much more in the long run.

WiMax is going to be their saving grace.