Sprint Nextel Corp. Message Board

You lame brain: DISh acquiring Sprint is not going increase the offer. It cannot happen soon enough and there is no way DISh will acquire Clearwire directly. do you keep up with the facts or go back to a recording made six months ago to replay a reality that you prefer to believe in? Indano, I think you are in need of a vacation or brain transplant.

Its sends the message that investors are upset and that SB-S must settle with 67% ownership for the time being and might find it good to lay out fractionally more acquire the rest. That's it. Its not all that dramatic. It might seem to be to you and to some in management who get it in their heads that they can do what they want without considering what others think. Son got pretty mad.. .which seems uncharacteristic. I'd expect to see that from Ergen.. he is such a rambling, gambling type character that going off into the deep end of the pool does not surprise... besides, its part of the card game.

Voting down the offer should be seen as almost being a normal part of the the investment picture. Why should investors ever accept the situation at face value without the normal give and take of the free enterprise system? Its crazy that so much power has been given up over the past 30+ years during a time in which investors/individuals have gained far greater access to communications/information with which to become informed and involved more intimately in the process. The fact that VCs, investment bankers, management probably don't like that is similar to how management at the car dealer does not like a very well informed buyer who questions why they should pay $200 for floor mats and $300 for 'deluxe undercoating'. The nature of free enterprise is that it evolves to seek out efficiency... those who don't like that should be rebutted. Investors have little enough real power, the little they do have they should treat responsibly to the degree that is reasonable.

I doubt Stanton worries much about it.

Valuing spectrum is not easy because so much of how it generates money for the operator has to do with what devices are currently or will soon be out in the world that run on that band of spectrum. In the world today there are only a few thousand TD-LTE mobile phones operating in other countries on what are still trial or early stage networks. There are zero phones in the US other than trial and lab units. Therefore, from a cash-flow generation perspective, 2.6GHz is still at next to nothing except as a legacy WiMAX network with diminishing net revenue.

The other way to evaluate spectrum in the terms that operators must, is in comparative cost of deployment to achieve the same degree of service quality. 2.5-2.6GHz required more base stations and has more difficulty penetrating into buildings. That drives up the cost of deployment and makes convincing users they should buy the service more difficult.. the numbers shown has proven that. Wireless professionals are not at all surprised... the technicians, network modeling analysts have known that.. and knew that marketing, salespeople and management had the job of trying to sell the Swiss Cheese networks nonetheless. A paycheck is a paycheck.. let the shareholders figure it out.. even if they refuse to after all these years of hearing it. Management has also put out information in SEC filings, in conference calls, in analyst reports, in company proxies, in many other pieces of information.. some only see the information they want to see and are in denial of the rest. Its OK to have a bias but to be absolutely stupid about it is not. Its ignorant and wrong headed.

Now you trust management more than your own brain? You are being foolish.. never trust anyone further than you can throw the fellow idiot. "Management tells us something so we must bow down and kiss their feet.. "We are not worthy... we are not worthy..." Come on, stop being childish. If management said that retail sales was not a problem they are either incompetent or lying.. there is no room for just a simple mistake. The figures are now old... dated well enough to be undeniable... Clearwire does not deny them.. whatever they may have said has been revised by more recent statements and, so that even the feeble minded web board idiots can understand, in the company's proxy statements and previous reports of the hired experts. What do you want, someone to drill a whole in your head and poor that information in and slosh it around until it sticks to the back of your eyeballs... sheesh, you are purposely being in denial... you cannot be this stupid.

Why do you bother to listen to these newbie investment advisors and writers? They are wrong, you should understand why.

Presto-chango.. all Clearwire needs is for LightSquared to be out of the way. Presto-chango, all CW needs is to sell off some spectrum to somebody. Presot-chango all that's needed is to use 40MHz channels of the vast 160MHz+ spectrum.. customers will recognize that and fill up the networks with high ARPU revenue. Presto-chango.. its just so simple any idiot on a web board can imagine it in their heads, plunk down their money and join in on the ride...

...Presto-chango gone down to ~$3 plus debt payoff.

So, Ergen just needs to pick up that phone.. that is wonderful.. the guy can play the mulch-billion, technology and assets rich wireless ICT game with a few phone calls and getting out his personal check book. I've been under the false assumptions that it takes a competitive arsenal of capabilities that are in play in such a way to maintain momentum of device and technology development, marketshare, and business operations. "Presto, chango".. a few phone calls away from sitting at the head of a world-class mobile ICT operation.

Which means what? A $32 million dollar gesture for Barclays that will be made up by 1 month's worth of interest payments? It does not mean anything for the trajectory. Its Ergen putting in a very good show/try, but it does not measure up.

DISH is just too small of a FISH in the mobile ICT pond. What is needed is more free-flow capital flexibility and the world-class business experience and technical prowess that Softbank contributes/combines with Sprint. DISH lacks the technical depth and breath, ditto for business, and a vision that is broader and more capable. Looking deeper than the card-game numbers, DISH does not come close to Softbank. If DISH really wants Sprint, they need a take-out blow of more free-flow capital that can probably only come from having a major partner like American Movil to go at Sprint together.

One trend that supports that is the growth in pre-paid SmartPhones - It has increased to 32% of US share. A. Movil/TracFone if the largest US MVNO... if DISH were able to get mobile roaming matched to LTE IPTV, that would package competitively without stretching thin financially. The problem is in building the network.. the local node is easy-peasy compared to having back-haul and the rest of infrastructure... yea, Clearwire would be a good fit.. but its Sprint-whacked.

That is a fantasy: Hesse/Sprint certainly have had a hand in developing Clearwire's business model that may have contributed to their demise as a self-sustained firm but that was a) the plan from the start, b) part of the DNA of doing business with suppliers. Fundamentally, Clearwire was Sprint's network services supplier... Sprint 'just another customer'. The business model was supposed to have achieved a balance that would have ameliorated the natural friction that would arise from a the largest stakeholder in the company also being the largest customer. There may have been some hanky-panky grab axxing going on in the BOD and management that prevented Clearlywired from achieving its part of the more balanced business model, but that would have had to of started from the beginning because CW started going off-course since the near the beginning when direct customer sales failed to match projections ... or any projections to achieve a self-sustained volume or mix of ARPUs.. no matter how that were to be concocted. The spreadsheet has to show a cross-over point, not a take-over due to distress point being reached.

This board goes off into lala land of excuses: it was not willing to focus in on the fundamentals of the business. Blame management and the CW BOD for their role: was there talk about "Gee guys, we were supposed to be reaching 3 million direct subs by now (circa 2011), we need to change something to make up the risher ARPU or we are heading towards the rocky shores named TakeoutbySprint due to having lost our own retail rudder. Instead Erik and Hope followed the established company mantra of "160MHz+ spectrum!!! 40MHz channels!!! nobody else has that so its business magic!" Then when they finally threw up the hands, its "we can no longer survive without massive blood transfusions, sorry, 160+40 magic no longer works".. it never was a magic bullet solution.. something had to deliver satisfaction to user to make them want to buy CLEAR(lybankrupt)

I get the part about Son not having any real interest in pounding on Clearwire.,, and if it looks like the line of least resistance to accomplish overall aims is to leave CW as a majority owned subsidiary, so be it. I don't get this conceptualization of the past of Clearwire as Heese having beaten them up.. and that LightSquared was any more than being used as a big excuse.. that is a lie and you know it..come on, do the math.

Clearwire largely dug their own grave hole of debt by spending far too much for too little direct retail return. Sprint's part of the bargain resulted in all but 1.2 million of overall subscribers.. short by only 40-50% of initial goals versus Clearwire being short by about 90%. What spreadhseet are you using, the one on Bizarro World where up ids down?

DISH has the option to sell their spectrum, in which case it makes sense to pump up the potential use of it beforehand. that includes trying to acquire Sprint.. if that doesn't work out then at least DISH has lined interest in the financial community that gains awareness of the potential use of the spectrum and it raises potential interest among other operators. Its likely that DISH/Ergen will net a large investment gain if they were to sell their spectrum. The other option depends partly on what happens with the FCC: The FCC and DOJ have strongly wanted to see more competition develop... they have tried to maenuver spectrum into the hands of minority players and set open access, roaming rules and have tried to stimulate the market to provide wholesale access, including going along with easing of rules for MSS and Clearwire's EBS/BRS spectrum. None of that has prevented broad consolidation into the hands of the top four operators with the top two, Verizon and ATT having about 2/3 of marketshare and threatening to gain greater dominance going forward. The future looks likely for the two juggernauts to gain 75%+ marketshare unless Softbank acquires Sprint and infuses technology, marketing and similar volume efficiencies.

Meanwhile, VZ, AT&T, DISh, Crest, and a few others are beating up on the FCC to re-evaluate the 2.6GHz spectrum and spin some of it out. That is very unlikely but it adds to the rationale for setting rules to open part of it up to roaming and wholesale access that would be favorable to DISH in particular... because they would use it to increase BB IPTV that should be their unique stance in the market.

So, if that happen, DISH can build their own networks... with money they have saved and lined up in the process of going after CLWR and Sprint. That might be the better course for Ergen to pursue. The part I don't know in finite terms is the ability to access and build a back-haul grid network... that can be a real stickler.

Who the heck do you think you are? Get off it.. your assuming rights and framework of how companies operate that does not exist on this planet... go back to school, experience the world, and then report back with more awh... balanced wisdom.

"We are shareholders/// bow down to our mighty roar because we say so... we stare at our navels in wonder why the universe does not evolve around us." Come on, grow a brain stem... you have lost it. You have a position in a stock that has a vote and a legal challenge... and that is it.

Sorry for the rambling.. I opened a bottle of red...

Ergen won't let up.. its great to see someone with his own skin in the game. Ergen's ambitions are that of a skilled poker player but also of a very bright guy.. not just a fluke who knows how to master one thing well. I like what he represents... a juggernaut. McCaw was like that at one point but what happened? Surrounded with methodology and compromises. If young McCaw had come on the scene to start up Clearwire, maybe things would have been different. Who knows.. the success of McCaw Cellular was a very different circumstance.

Ergen has the gut drive to change things. I have never met him so maybe I don't know.. but that is the sense I get from the man. I wish to heck it he could buy Sprint-CW and have enough vitality left in the financial bargain to take on the ICT world as we know it. I just do not see it happening.

However, Ergen can craft something different.. throw the monkey wrench into the grand grab #$%$ scheme of things.. but most likely not via Sprint-CW as much as he 'needs a mobile operator'... if only the FCC had balls... to enforce roaming, some unlicensed that wasn't massively castrated, and cause the leotard galloping brain dead industry to open up more. Ergen and guys like him could create a tsunami of broadband that is Efficient.

Tear down the Walls.. up against the walls MFs Viva la near-dead revolution.

Wow, that's a geopolitical, massive time-scale generational question.

Think about it: the world has changed a lot, going from this guy named Einstein working in a patent office in Bern, Germany, free from the corporate or university publish or perish mind-puck to think about theories of the universe to the Nuclear annihilation post WWII reality, onto the Surviving industrial power of the USA, USA, USA, world mantra, and then to opening the door to 1.2 billion Confucian heritage Chinese (commies). The recent flicker of time has seen the US go from the world's largest producer and innovator, to a cuckold society of consumers... 1/20th of the worlds 7 billion human idiots consuming the largest amounts of almost everything... until the liberation of China finally rivals our plunder. maggots... bent on extinction as inevitable as any Matheisen study dictates.

In just 30 years, China has going on 2 trillion US dollars trade surplus vs. the USA. Why the heck not let 'free enterprise' balance out the ledger books? Because, China is a state controlled economy that has issues with intellectual property, civil rights, and such a large population to feed and house that equivalency of economies is whacked. Its a teutonic like movement of economic and social imbalances that its a mind bongling unleashing of atomic forces... we unleashed it but we do not quite know what to do with the results... the Nuclear waste of clashes of atomic/economic forces. We stupid little human animals don't understand what the puck we are doing to our planet... to civilization... are we hell bent on harnessing the forces of science to the point of mutual mass destruction? Ribit... human idiots... we are great at doing tearing it up. And going into denial (Retardo Republicans and mindless have-fun Dems).

Blah, blah, blah... we are probably 10-20 years from letting China buy America.

By sending your notification to the company or via your stock broker, that you are requesting an appraisal, you are leaving that option open. The Delaware law states that you can withdraw your decision at any time. The appraisal only goes into force IF the acquisition if voted in the affirmative, YES, by shareholders. Otherwise, that is NO vote, you request is dropped as no longer valid because the acquisition under the current terms will no longer be valid. If Clearwire were to go out for a new proxy vote, you would need to send in a fresh request or via your broker.

If the proxy is voted YES, and the appraisal process is therefore initiated in the Delaware Chancery Court, you may elect to withdraw your request to be part of the appraisal process up to the statutory period of notice... I think its 15 or 30 days prior to rendering a decision, you can check the statute as well as I can.

Crest can view this as a way to add pressure to force a higher bid, to embolden shareholders to vote NO, as well as add an additional leg to the legal battle. Clearlywired is wired to have an infusion of capital development by whoever acquires them that goes with other network and device developments to spawn greater use of the spectrum. Sprint-Softbank hope to move forward with that as soon as they can because Verizon and others are racing ahead to be first to exploit the wider expanse of AWS combined with other spectrum.. to deliver a crushing blow to competitors.. during the brief 1-2 year window of opportunity advantage because the gap can be closed. Verizon and AT&T will likely keep a coverage gap for 3-5 years... Sprint and T-M/PCS or any other combination can't close that until they get access to TV incentive spectrum and deploy into it... altogether might be 5-6 years. SB-S can build the 'Cloud4G' stress on bandwidth and cloud services aided by microcell coverage... but lacking in suburban-rural compared to VZ.

Keeping your options open is a good thing.

Nobody wants to pay more than they must. However, Clearwire's spectrum is valuable only when coupled with massive spending and time for growth to occur. Nobody will take advantage much of the 2.6GHz spectrum without first building business on other bands. Ergen cannot do it.. not on his own. That puts DISH in a position of needing a mobile operator much more than they need him/DISH despite having 45MHz of raw spectrum. Of Ergen's 45MHz, 30MHz is able to be deployed into in relative quick order. However, even though very useful, it is not an internationally common band so current devices will not operate on it. It will take time to develop his market, 4-5 years from now most likely, because first DISH or whoever they were to acquire, will have to pump out those devices onto store shelves, advertize against the competition, slowly seed the market with devices. You folks have come to understand how difficult that can be.. a major operator is needed who has the retail stores, brand recognition for mobile, etc. Otherwise, its a slow and challenging growth prospect.

DISH+Sprint+CW equals a high degree of debt leverage which makes the run up of sales to pay that down all that more challenging. Softbank is not perfect but they fit extremely well in their technology and deployment focus and, TaDa, they have capital, attractive web, ecommerce, mobile/online banking, device, cloud computing.. device volume synergy, they simply blow DISH out of the water as the best choice to fill the development gap and build up a new enterprise. I do not think DISH comes close... the only reason why I have not said it quite so simply is because Ergen could have come up with a new partner, like rumored American Movil/Carlos Slim. IF DISH had $15-$20 billion without the cliff-overhang of debt leverage, then it would be a whole different matter. However, that has been very unlikely because the time to scale the combined enterprise does not work out so well. Its dead imo.

That would be more likely if this were not a heavily regulated industry or if Sprint didn't hold 90% of Clearwire's business and incumbent use of spectrum, or if they didn't hold de facto majority interest and, as they said that they will soon admit, de jure control of the company. you guys are #$%$ against the wind on this.. you have the 'holdup' and that's it.. CLWR is a corpse and only the formality remains to bury it as fertilizer for the new crop. Even if, which I think is extremely unlikely, DISH were to prevail in their bid to acquire Sprint, the status of Clearwire will remain the same.. its dead with only the value of the chemical fertilizer remaining to be fought over.