Hello! And welcome to our Friday column, Worst of the Week. There’s a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWireless.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We hope you enjoy it!
And without further ado:
I will admit that I have used this forum on occasion to take potshots at Sprint, perhaps at times when the last thing Sprint needed was yet another potshot projected in its direction.
But, today I come before you to praise Sprint. And not just praise, but truly admire how Sprint has handled itself recently during all of this spectrum auction bickering that has generated some fine heat among the likes of T-Mobile US, AT&T and Verizon. As you can see, I left Sprint out of that heat generation, which is exactly why I am praising Sprint.
For those out of the loop, the Federal Communications Commission this week moved forward with rules for the upcoming 600 MHz spectrum auction that will see 30 megahertz of spectrum set aside outside the bidding reach of operators like Verizon Wireless and AT&T that already control more than one-third of sub-1 GHz spectrum in a market. T-Mobile US has spearheaded a call to push that set-aside up to 40 megahertz, even though it was also behind the initial push to set the limit at 30 megahertz.
Sure, Sprint could have thrown itself in the middle of this mess, with its most likely position being that it supported the viewpoint of T-Mobile US. And, perhaps behind the scenes Sprint was indeed using its lobbying influence in just such a way. And, some might say that if that influence was made a bit more public, perhaps the FCC could have been swayed in another direction.
But, with the FCC this week coming out against T-Mobile US’ proposal, Sprint was able to steer clear of an unneeded “defeat” in the eyes of the public, something that Sprint in no way needs at the moment. Instead, Sprint can be viewed as a neutral bystander more focused on its own immediate operations and able to deal with any hand it’s dealt.
I think we can all agree that at the moment Sprint is continuing to struggle operationally, what with more executives being shown the door, and its network, while showing some improvements, still looking to be billions of dollars away from where it needs to be. Why divert precious public resources toward a battle that seems to have already been decided on more than a year ago.
Plus, it seemed Sprint had little interest in the proceedings. Sure, it would probably like to prevent AT&T and Verizon from garnering a greater amount of sub-1 GHz spectrum, but it’s not like Sprint is going to participate in the 600 MHz auction. Past history has shown Sprint to be a basic nonfactor in government spectrum auctions outside of the 1.9 GHz PCS auctions in the mid-90s. Since then, Sprint has been more cagey in its spectrum dealings, picking up virtually all of its additional spectrum assets through mergers and acquisitions.
And, with the rate at which bidding activity has skyrocketed over past auctions, I am guessing those in charge of Sprint’s finances are not too enthralled with throwing money at a bidding war.
Instead, it looks like Sprint is taking a page out of Verizon Wireless’ recent strategy book in realizing it’s less expensive to throw money at infrastructure to densify a network than it is to take the old-fashioned route of throwing more spectrum at a problem. I would assume that by going off recent history a 10-megahertz license in the 600 MHz band covering a larger market will cost in excess of $1 billion, while a network densification plan using Sprint’s current spectrum holdings could provide a similar coverage/capacity gain at a fraction of that cost.
In heaping further praise on Sprint’s regulatory hutzpah, the carrier sitting out this most recent decision builds on its past victory in leading the charge against AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile US, which was ultimately shot down. Some might say that Sprint at that time would have been better served focusing its efforts on growing network issues, but it did at least manage to garner a significant regulatory victory that in turn has proven to be a boon for consumers, if not a bit of a headache for Sprint.
I am not quite ready to jump on the Sprint bandwagon just yet, but am definitely on board with how Sprint managed itself during these proceedings. Let’s just hope Sprint can somehow manage a similar level of brains and brawn as it tackles its operational challenges so I can begin countering all that anti-Sprint karma I have built up.
Thanks for checking out this week’s Worst of the Week column. Here is a quick, but satisfying extra:
– J.D. Power has made a name for itself in providing great insight for consumers into the reliability and performance of certain consumer products and services, backed by the fact that any product or service that garners such praise will plaster that praise all over its advertisements. However, the firm recently announced a “finding” that seems to leave a lot to be desired.
The firm earlier this year released volume one of its 2015 U.S. Wireless Network Quality Performance Study, with the headline: “Texting, surfing Web cause increase in wireless network issues.”
Now, I am going to guess that this headline was targeted at the more mainstream press, thus will attempt to cut it a bit of slack, but stating that using more of something that runs across a finite resource results in the degradation of that service, well … it seems a bit self-explanatory.
I welcome your comments. Please send me an e-mail at dmeyer@rcrwireless.com.
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