Sprint being bought out

I searched and didn't see a thread on this. Just found this article a few hours ago and wanted to see other's thoughts. Wonder if/how this will affect Sprint (cost and service).


http://www.foxbusiness.com/indust...latestnews

If you read the article you would see there is to be no affect on the cost at this time; in fact with the infusion of cash; they expect to be able to move forward faster with the Networking of Sprint. They do not plan on reducing the Data Plans, as T-Mobile and another has Unlimited Data Plans, and that would be like cutting their own throats, per the article.

So did ya read it

Which is why Otousan (Softbank's dog/mascot) has been my avatar for the past day or so.

I expect to see commercials with Otosan within the next year or so..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptqV8ll5lFo
This commercial also has Tommy Lee Jones (guy who plays Agent K in MIB).

Anyway, I'm excited because Softbank completely changed the entire Japanese mobile phone industry. They were in dead last place when they bought Vodafone many years ago and bleeding customers (how Sprint was not too long ago), and now they are everywhere in Japan and have closed the gap immensely and even paid off like $12bn in debt last year, that the planned to pay off by 2020. They have surpassed the #1 and #2 carriers in many ways and they are now trying to play catch up with Softbank (not in subscriber numbers but other areas).


If any company can kick at&t and Verizon's ass, it's Softbank. I for one welcome the Japanese company and hope they bring us super fast internet and change the American wireless industry.

They also plan on bringing to Sprint, new phones from Japan over to here; to raise the competition level as well.

I agree with your statements

Quote from Piccaboo : They also plan on bringing to Sprint, new phones from Japan over to here; to raise the competition level as well. I agree with your statements

Agreed. I remember reading another forum discussing this and someone mentioned that softbank's most expensive contract plan was like $63/month when converted back to US dollars.

I'm ready for real competition. The CEO is also a real champ...he cares for his customers. He is the 2nd richest guy in all of Japan and during the tsunami last year he gave out free iPhones to anyone that lost their phones so they could call their family.

You'd never see a US company do even something remotely close to that.

They need to fix Sprint's network first but once they do I want a $40 unlimited everything plan with one of their many waterproof super phones.

I will be very pissed if Verizon or at&t try to get in the way of this...they have screwed us over for way too long now.

I hope all Hesse gets for severance when they show him the door is a SERO plan.

Of course I read the article. I was wondering over the next year as this takes place, if the service would get better. I'm excited about the changes and can't wait to see what it could bring about.

It scared me when I read the title, but after reading the article I think this will be a good thing. I have been with Sprint for years and I like my plan. Sounds like things will get a kick in a good way!

Quote from dzap : Agreed. I remember reading another forum discussing this and someone mentioned that softbank's most expensive contract plan was like $63/month when converted back to US dollars. I'm ready for real competition. The CEO is also a real champ...he cares for his customers. He is the 2nd richest guy in all of Japan and during the tsunami last year he gave out free iPhones to anyone that lost their phones so they could call their family. You'd never see a US company do even something remotely close to that. They need to fix Sprint's network first but once they do I want a $40 unlimited everything plan with one of their many waterproof super phones. I will be very pissed if Verizon or at&t try to get in the way of this...they have screwed us over for way too long now.

I have someone who works inside of Sprint/Nextel - I'll have to get their read on this - so I'll need to shoot off an email to them.

But I see nothing but good coming out of this.

Quote from RHCCapri : I hope all Hesse gets for severance when they show him the door is a SERO plan.

He wont, he'll get hooked up. Years ago I knew someone who worked at sprint. The person at the time was a desktop support tech. He was workin on one of an SVP's computer and saw a quartly bonus document. Dude got a $60k quarter bonus...at which time no one was buying them out, nothing important was happening. That same SVP will probably get a million or more for this deal.

Hesse on the other hand will probably get 15-20 million just from this buyout plus whatever else was in his contract when he first started with sprint...the only reason I say that is when sprint bought nextel the coo received a 12 million bonus for that deal.

Thank god upper management gets these huge bonuses. Id hate to see them not be able to buy several homes and high end vehicles.

Quote from Piccaboo : I have someone who works inside of Sprint/Nextel - I'll have to get their read on this - so I'll need to shoot off an email to them. But I see nothing but good coming out of this.

Yeah let us know.

Personally I would like the entire brand rebranded to something like Softbank (yeah first time I heard the name I thought it was a bank...had no idea it was a mobile/telecommunications company).

...or at least a logo change. Softbank changed Vodafone straight out to Softbank when they bought them in 2006, and it took less than a year for the rebranding to start.


But since Softbank only owns 70% of Sprint, we'll see. They might end up financing more money and buy it out 100% if they think it's worth it, but I'm just super excited about this, because pretty much every other country has refused to touch the American mobile marketplace because it's so established.

Hell even Softbank knows we have a duopolistic market (at&t and Verizon) and they mentioned that in the presentation, and even mentioned how T-Mobile was trying to pull out of the US.

Most major globabl carriers always go to emerging markets like China, Indonesia, multiple countries in Africa etc.

For Softbank to invest so much in Sprint in America means they are going in for the long run and have plans to change the way Americans think about cell phone service. They've done it three times already (bought Japan Telecom in the late 90's and rebranded it and made it profitable, bought Vodafone in 2006 that was in deficit, and make it extremely profitable, bought out bankrupt Willcom, and merged the brand with Softbank and made it profitable).

Come on Sofftttbaaaannnnkkk.

New Sprint logo maybe keep the iconic yellow..

as long as they dont mess with my SERO

http://www.vir.com.vn/news/busine...print.html

Update - I just read that 'sprint' will now become 'new sprint'