Forsee: Sprint CEO Eyed As Likely Leader If Nextel Deal Inked
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Haute monde meets mass market. Friday saw Sprint (nyse: FON - news - people ) shares open higher and Nextel Communications (nasdaq: NXTL - news - people ) slide as the market digested news of a possible merger between the telecommunications firms.
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Nextel is reportedly in advanced merger talks with Sprint, a deal that would form the third largest US cell phone company. However, there were indications a third player, Verizon Wireless, might make a run
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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.
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Motorola Inc. MOT.N is betting it can  win more business from U.S. mobile phone company Sprint Corp.  FON.N as a result of Sprint's planned takeover of Nextel  Communications Inc. NXTL.O, Motorola's chief strategist said.
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With Wall Street singing the praises of a possible Sprint (FON:NYSE - news - research)-Nextel (NXTL:Nasdaq - news - research) merger, some wireless fans say they can hear overtures for other players.
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By DAVID TWIDDY    KANSAS CITY, Mo.  -- Sprint Corp...
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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;
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Nextel and Sprint are in talks that could lead to a merger between the two mobile phone operators, sources close to the discussions said on Thursday.
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Citing "sources familiar with the situation," Reuters is reporting that Sprint is in advanced talks to buy Reston-based Nextel in a mostly stock deal that would combine the No. 3 and No. 5 U.S. wireless service carriers.
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Sprint Nextel Corp  named Embarq  Corp  CEO Dan Hesse as its new president and chief  executive on Tuesday, hoping the telecom veteran can help the  No. 3 U.S. mobile service provider turn around its business.
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Qwest Communications may not be immediately affected by a Sprint-Nextel merger, but its options could become more limited. At one time, Qwest and Sprint were viewed as possible merger partners.
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NEW YORK - Just two months after the announcement that Cingular Wireless will acquire AT&amp;T Wireless, Sprint has announced that it plans to buy Nextel Communications for $35 billion.
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Verizon Communications Inc. has eyed a potential acquisition of Sprint Corp. (FON.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , but has no imminent plans to make a bid, people familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.
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Sprint Corp.&#39;s enterprise operation, including its nationwide fiber-optic network, suddenly is looking like a swan and not a lame duck, as Verizon Wireless assesses the possibility of making a bid for Sprint in the boiling cell-phone merger scene.
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InfoWorld - New Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse has lots of choices as heÂ takes over the ailing mobile carrierÂ and looks for problems to start solving.
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Activist investor Ralph Whitworth of  Relational Investors LLC is in advanced discussions to take a  seat on the board of Sprint Nextel Corp , according to the  Wall Street Journal Web site, citing people familiar with the  matter.
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If Sprint Corp. does hook up with Nextel Communications Inc. -- or, as some observers suggest, Verizon Wireless -- the merger partners will face a multibillion dollar-strategic dilemma.