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bigsnake49 last won the day on January 11

bigsnake49 had the most liked content!

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About bigsnake49

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    iPhone6s, Nexus5X, MotoG5 Plus
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  1. If the main argument of the judge's opinion is that the states have no standing to sue since this is the purview of the federal government and not the states then it will withstand appeal. If he also lists the fact that FCC and DOJ went over and above their mandate (they only had to use approve or reject the merger) by creating a new competitor and are putting Dish's spectrum to use I think there will not be any appeals. BTW if the merger gets rejected, T-Mobile will be fine. CBRS and C-band auctions are coming up and they can pick up sizable chunks of spectrum there. I believe the cable cos will be major players in those two auctions also. I have always thought that the cable cos using either Sprint's spectrum or CBRS/C-Band spectrum will be something to be reckoned with. They can blanket the urban/suburban landscape with strand/pole mounted antennas and offer very attractive bundles that includes wireless service.
  2. I do think that the merger will be approved but just in case, here's my thoughts on what should happen if it gets rejected in order of preferred outcome: 1. T-Mobile & Sprint merge their network operations into an independent company and they both become MVNOs. Dish is left out in the cold with their spectrum unused. FCC has egg in their face. Only way Dish gets their network deployed is if Amazon and/or cable cos invest in them. it could happen...the other possibility is that Dish sells their spectrum to Verizon/AT&T/T-mobile. Sprint does pretty good but they are no longer a price leader. Their pricing is rationalized and pretty close to what the other major carriers charge. 2. Sprint gets properly funded by Softbank. They buy Dish's 600Mhz/ AWS-3. They fill out their present network but do not expand beyond their current footprint. They charge for rural roaming and they price themselves rationally. They grow slowly. 3. Sprint gets acquired by a consortium of Amazon and cable cos. They use Sprint to promote their video offerings to millennials. The resulting company expands their network to provide a really solid network in the boondocks but fall short of Verizon/AT&T which is OK. They only expand where they can make money. 4. Sprint goes on without the financial support of Softbank and limps along. They shrink their network and become an urban based network. Some smaller markets and places where it does not make financial sense to have their network are dropped. They rationalize their prices and charge for roaming. Where they do offer service their network is really solid.
  3. I'd give him until the beginning of February. Remember that he had the opposing sides briefs in his possession for 3-4+ months. He and his clerk(s) identified the main issues from the briefs and asked questions about it during trial. The closing arguments are really a show by the lawyers and really unnecessary when in front of a judge that actually paid attention. The reason why I think it will be delayed until the first week of February is that he needs to keep up appearances that he did not rush through it and he was deliberative and thoughtful. The last thing a judge wants to do is to give the states ammunition for an appeal.
  4. I don't remember which blog it was but it had the best headline announcing the closing of the brand, "Sprint sacrifices Virgin".😂
  5. The analysts are just speculating. They don't know anymore than we do.
  6. Since my wife is a judge I know exactly how the system works.
  7. Yeah but it's a formality. The judge is already writing his opinion (well his clerk is :)). I think of closing arguments as theater particularly when it involves an experienced judge and not a jury.
  8. The trial is over by the way. Now we have to wait for the judge's opinion. Of course I think the merger will be approved without any or minimal changes to the agreement. I thought that the states missed an opportunity to settle with T-Mobile. They still have time to save face.
  9. 5x5 of 5G does not a usable 5G network make. They need Sprint's spectrum to deploy 5G to its full glory.
  10. It seems that the Justice Department and FCC filed an amicus brief supporting the merger: "In their filing, the Justice Department and FCC argued that if the states, led by New York and California, succeed in killing the deal the end result will be that rural areas of the United States will be slower to get access to 5G, the next generation of wireless." https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/u-justice-department-fcc-fight-152453519.html
  11. Thank you Robert for enlightening some of these guys on what capitalism is all about. It is for investor to make money. It is not to bring you, the public, lower prices. Lower prices only come about only when the cost of labor goes down (imports), you have achieved great efficiencies and you want to steal customers from your competitors, you have too much merchandise in your warehouse or you can't compete in any other way. Unfortunately Sprint cannot compete in any other way. Between lower prices and having to pay your debt, there is not enough money to invest in your network. Lowering prices in the short term is fine but as a long term strategy leads to a spiral of death.
  12. Misleading headline as usual. From the article: "JPMorgan, one of the banks lined up this month to lend Dish cash, was offering to back the company even earlier. A June 27 email from a JPMorgan banker displayed in court Wednesday arranged for financing of Dish's purchase of Sprint prepaid brand Boost Mobile with SoftBank's support. Mr. Ergen said the company was seeking a $1 billion general-purpose loan at the time and thought the SoftBank assistance "would give us margin" because the Japanese investment company can borrow at a "much lower rate" that could save Dish $70 million to $100 million. The Justice Department also approved the funding arrangement, which remains contingent on the T-Mobile purchase of Sprint closing, Mr. Ergen added." It's like somebody cosigning for you (your parents) so you can get a lower rate. Or taking out a loan for you because they have a better credit score and then loaning you the money for the same rate they got it. Softbank has been loaning Sprint money at a lower rates so they can refinance their debt so the interest payments can be lower.
  13. There was a time when I was driving on a Farm-To-Market road outside of Austin TX. Nothing but farmland for miles around. Yet I had Sprint signal, enough to make a phone call to my wife. And I thought how can Sprint make any money, not enough subscribers and there are 2 other companies here (T-Mobile did not cover this particular FTM road). I still have the same question.
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