Sprint, Nextel get mixed reception
29181
Sprint Corp. announced plans yesterday to buy Nextel Communications Inc. for about $35 billion in a deal that could give consumers better service but leave them with higher bills due to less competition.
416575
New Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse has lots of choices as he&#160;takes over the ailing mobile carrier&#160;and looks for problems to start solving.Sprint, the third-biggest wireless operator in the U.S., is&#160;losing subscribers as it keeps working through the merger of Sprint and Nextel, which occurred in 2005. On Tuesday,&#160;Sprint announced Hesse is taking over immediately for Gary Forsee, who was forced out by the company&#39;s board in October. Hesse, 54, previously led Embarq, the local wireless carrier Sprint spun off as part of the Nextel deal.Sprint needs to both distinguish itself from competitors and get its own house in order, according to mobile industry analysts.&quot;They couldn&#39;t go on without someone who&#39;s willing to set a direction,&quot; said Avi Greengart of Current Analysis. Sprint could try to compete with Verizon Wireless and AT&amp;T Wireless on price, or with more flexible terms of service, or bring out more innovative devices, but it&#39;s failed so far to choose, according to Greengart.&quot;Their brand right now doesn&#39;t stand for anything,&quot; he said.One thing the Sprint name has been associated with recently is disappointing customer service. Reporting on the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company blamed accelerating customer &quot;churn&quot; to other carriers in part on longer help calls and waits for those calls. The introduction of simplified bills, expected to continue until the middle of 2008, boosted the number of those calls, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Sprint also noted new handsets at rival carriers, clearly a reference to AT&amp;T&#39;s Apple iPhone.Meanwhile, thanks to about 700,000 subscribers quitting the aging Nextel network, Sprint&#39;s subscriber base as a whole declined by a net 337,000 in the quarter. The carrier said it had about 54 million subscribers on Sept. 30.What could most set Sprint apart is also its biggest gamble, the WiMax wireless broadband network it plans to build across the U.S. at an estimated cost of US$5 billion. Though the WiMax network is likely to be in place first, set to reach 100 million people by the end of 2008, Sprint&#39;s main rivals plan to have their own high-speed data offerings using a similar technology, LTE (Long-Term Evolution). And WiMax won&#39;t fix Sprint&#39;s long-overdue need to harmonize its cellular operations, currently split between CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) and Nextel&#39;s older iDEN technology, Greengart said.If it goes ahead with WiMax -- interim CEO Paul Saleh said this month the business might be spun off -- Sprint will have to convince skeptical investors it&#39;s making the right move, said Yankee Group&#39;s Phil Marshall. It will also need to find a way for WiMax to truly complement the cellular business, Marshall said. So far, Sprint has painted WiMax as a mobile service distinguished from its conventional voice offerings by the promise of an any-application, any-device model. A better plan would be to push WiMax as an alternative to wired broadband that&#39;s bundled with Sprint&#39;s cellular service, Marshall said.However, in the short term, Hesse just needs to get the company to run its existing businesses better, Marshall said. Cleaning up customer service would be one key move, he added. Judging from Hesse&#39;s previous performance -- he once headed AT&amp;T Wireless -- the new CEO is qualified to do this, according to Marshall.&quot;He&#39;s very pragmatic and systematic in his management style,&quot; Marshall said.&#160;
403349
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Sprint Nextel Corp. on Wednesday said it would continue to support its Nextel-branded walkie-talkie network, which industry observers had speculated the company might shutter.
308378
Sprint and Nextel Communications could unveil their $36 billion merger within a few days, but speculation has intensified about the emergence of a rival bid.
454138
A Sprint-Nextel merger could be announced soon. Will a deal be bad news for consumers and investors? NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - And then there were four?
45474
DECEMBER 10, 2004 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - Rumored merger talks between Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications Inc. yesterday were met with a &quot;no comment&quot; from Sprint.
12318
When Sprint and Nextel Communications merge, they will be competing against their much larger rivals, Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless.
580706
Reports that Sprint Corp. may be close to a $36 billion takeover of Nextel Communications Inc. yesterday alarmed consumer advocates, who predicted it would
313866
The proposed merger of Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications Inc. could face a shaky start as the companies work to run and eventually merge two wireless technologies without losing a ton of money or customers.
18725
Industry watchers don&#39;t expect any trouble from regulators or competitors when it comes to the proposed Sprint (Quote, Chart) Nextel (Quote, Chart) merger.
23260
The proposed merger of Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications Inc. could face a rocky start as the companies work to run and eventually merge two wireless technologies without breaking the bank or losing customers.
209613
The freewheeling wireless industry, known for its upstarts and edgy competition, got a little more run-of-the-mill Wednesday when Sprint and Nextel Communications formally announced a merger
215799
Sprint Nextel Corp. isn't apologizing for its decision to ax customers it determined were calling customer service too often.
47986
Sprint Nextel and its hardware partners today sought to convince a small CES audience that their WiMax plans are solid.
271646
By DAVID TWIDDY    KANSAS CITY, Mo.  -- Sprint Corp...
115133
PHILADELPHIA/NEW YORK  - Sprint Corp. is close to  an agreement to buy Nextel Communications Inc. for about $35  billion in a mostly stock deal that would combine the No. 3 and  No. 5 U.S. wireless telephone companies, sources familiar with  the situation said on Friday.
129100
Sprint Nextel, which has struggled to attract customers with marketing criticized as confusing and unfocused, will try again when it rolls out new advertising this weekend.