Sprint: no 'kiss on the cheek' with T-Mobile again, but rather $6 billion into a better network
After the failed merger talks with T-Mobile, the two smaller US carriers are now on their own, and have to significantly up their game in terms of coverage, if they want to compete with the investments of Verizon and AT&T. That is why Sprint revealed a $6 billion network expenditure plan for 2018 that may double what it spent this year on improving coverage. Sprint is about to build thousands of new towers, said CFO Tarek Robbiati during an investor conference.
While the tower rollout will be focused on areas where rapid population growth has exceeded Sprint's coverage, there will be focus on new technologies that limit congestion, too, like MIMO, and band support upgrades for its towers. There is no other solution left for Sprint going forward but to become bigger and better on its own, as the CFO nipped rumors that merger talks with T-Mobile may resurface in the bud.
"We were dancing. It was really exciting. We exchanged a kiss on the cheek. And then our parents saw that and sent us back to our rooms," he joked before revealing that it was Sprint's parent company SoftBank that killed the deal, and more specifically its chairman Masayoshi Son, who was worried about regulatory obstacles, and giving away too much control in Sprint to the eventual new venture after the merger.
source: RCRWireless
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