Dan Meyer from RCR Wireless and I discuss Sprint's CY1Q16 results but revisit where Sprint is since Marcelo Claure has taken over as CEO. We look at his priorities when he took over in August 2014 in the areas of:
The executive team - who is in, who left, how the company is organizing
Network - CapEx
Cost containment including leasing companies, layoffs and $2.5B savings target
Stabilizing revenue, the postpaid subscriber base and being the Value carrier
In the back half of the video, we talk about Glenlivet 12.
In early 1Q16, the US carrier community pushed Buy One Get One (Free or 1/2 price) BOGOs hard in an effort to retain existing subscribers with an upsell of an additional line. In parallel with this effort was the availability of the Samsung Galaxy S7, announced in February at Mobile World Congress.
Secondarily, it has to be that Samsung continues its marketing push to retain its loyal Galaxy customers to push them to the next iteration, whether they're Galaxy S4, S5 or S6 customers.
All these BOGOs are yet continuous carrier efforts to trot out the latest hardware. But BOGOs are not new and have been used for years. Unfortunately, the era of contract free plans and equipment financing have cut into upgrade rates. In the old days, additional upgrades help retain/lock customers longer with low subsidized values. Given the sobering price tag of new devices and long term financing (24-30 months), that desire to upgrade has trended downward as more subscribers are keeping their handsets longer. Don't get me wrong, the early adopters will always have a place but the mainstream upgrade trend is slowing. Caveat: We'll see how the public en masse embraces the next generation of iPhone (7).
For those scotch watchers, Dan Meyer and I talk a bit about the scotches we're currently drinking for the webcast here. We are self-admitted newbies and don't go in-depth as dedicated scotch YouTubers do but we share our likes and other scotch thoughts.
The AWS-3 auction that began in mid-November 2014 mercifully ended today, January 29. The in-take was $45 billion in bids subject to discounting some bidding credits. Many articles have been written on how it exceeded expectations, producing more than two times lofty projections. The ink isn't dry on this and as of this writing, we don't know who the winning bidders were but it's safe to say that those carriers with positions in AWS-1 (e.g., Tier 1 - AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile) will be the winners. It's also likely those with deeper pockets will likely control the major urban markets (e.g., Los Angeles, NYC, etc.)
Here are my thoughts with RCR Wireless' Dan Meyer in mid-January. Key things we discussed were deployment conjecture, spectrum clearing and sharing with the Federal government, implications for the 2016 broadcast incentive auction, and general idle chit chat.
