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From Fierce Wireless
Editor's note: The Star's Sprint Connection Web site will post Sprint's quarterly results -- analyst reaction and comments from CEO Dan Hesse -- early Wednesday morning before the stock market opens.
When it announces its fourth quarter 2009 results Wednesday morning, Sprint Nextel is expected to begin recovering from a string of subscriber losses. However, analysts are divided over how strong the comeback will be.
In the heard on the grapevine department, Bloomberg News reports on possible suitors for prepaid wireless provider MetroPCS, which reportedly is looking for a buyer.
Here's the story:
Sprint Nextel Corp., the third- largest U.S. wireless carrier, may buy MetroPCS Communications Inc. as acquisition activity in the low-priced mobile-phone service industry heats up, Collins Stewart LLC said.
Deutsche Telekom reportedly is considering a public offering of stock in T-Mobile USA, the fourth largest wireless player. But demand for shares may be weak and any merger faces obtacles, according to an online report in BusinessWeek.
Days after The Wall Street Journal reported that Leap Wireless may be looking for a buyer, the Journal says T-Mobile’s German-based owner might spin off its U.S. operations.
Neither story named sources but both demonstrate the magnitude of shifts going on in the wireless industry.
T-Mobile USA, owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, might become a separate publicly traded company, it might sell a 20 percent stake to public investors, or it might be open to a merger, though the Journal discounted that last option.
Verizon Wireless ranked highest in J.D. Power's wireless customer care performance survey for the second consecutive year.
T-Mobile finished second, and AT&T third, according to the semiannual study.
Finishing fourth was Overland Park-based Sprint Nextel. But Sprint showed the greatest improvement since the previous study in August 2009.
The study provides a detailed report card on how well wireless carriers service their customers in three categories: telephone calls with customer service representatives or automated response system; visits to a retail wireless store; and on the Web.
From Bloomberg News
AT&T Inc., the second-largest U.S. mobile-phone carrier, may keep its exclusivity deal for the iPhone longer than expected, putting rival Verizon Wireless at a disadvantage, Credit Suisse Group AG said.
AT&T has a 75 percent chance of keeping the device, made by Apple Inc., through 2011, analysts Jonathan Chaplin and Bill Shope said in a report. That could be 12 to 18 months longer than investors anticipated, as many expected the exclusivity to cease this year, they said.
ComputerWorld reports that news and a photo of Sprint Nextel Inc.'s first WiMax smartphone, code-named Supersonic, have surfaced. The company has not yet confirmed the device.
Sprint Nextel Inc. officials enticed reporters at CES in early January with comments that its first WiMax-enabled smartphone was coming later in 2010, partly to show the value of the emerging next-generation wireless network.
From Bloomberg News
Shares in Sprint Nextel Corp. rose the most in almost two months after reports that rival Leap Wireless International Inc. might be bought.
Leap, based in San Diego, hired advisers to help it evaluate options including selling itself, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.
Sprint might benefit the most among carriers from buying Leap, said Craig Moffett, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York. While it costs Sprint more to sell contract- free wireless service than Leap, the two companies still compete on price. Sprint and Leap also use the same network technology, known as CDMA.
Palm announced the launch of its Hot Apps Program, promising $1 million in total cash bonuses to developers whose webOS-based mobile applications create the most consumer interest.
Palm will award $100,000 cash to the developer whose free app yields the most total downloads during the Feb. 1-May 31 contest period--in addition, the device maker will give another $100,000 to the premium webOS app that generates the most total revenue. The next 20 apps in each category will score $10,000 each, and the next 200 apps in each category will win $1,000 each.
AT&T said today ti is waiving wireless usage charges for customers in Haiti for wireless and text messaging services.
The billing relief, retroactive to Jan. 12 when the earthquake hit, will be in effect until Feb. 28.
AT&T also said it is devleoping a calling and data plan for relief workers in Haiti who remain there after March 1.
The Wall Street Journal reports online that Leap Wireless wants a buyout.
The article did not identify its sources but said the cellular service provider has hired Goldman Sachs and created a committee of directors to consider a sale or merger.
That committee has hired Morgan Stanley, the Journal said, and includes the former CEO of Nextel Partners that merged into Sprint in 2006.
Leap Wireless, which uses the brand Cricket, evidently has felt the pressure of price cutting on the pre-paid side of the wireless market, the article said. Sprint's growth has come on that side, most recently by acquiring Virgin Mobile.
The Associated Press
Maybe AT&T’s new slogan should be “More books in more places.” The phone company added a near-record 2.7 million wireless customers in the last quarter, defying expectations with the help of new e-reading devices.
AT&T said Thursday it added 1 million non-phone devices with built-in cellular service in the fourth quarter. AT&T has deals to support the latest version of Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle, Sony Corp.’s Reader and Barnes & Noble Inc.’s Nook.
Verizon Communications Inc. reported a fourth-quarter loss this morning but continued growth in its wireless subscriber base, which now totals 91.2 million customers.
Subscriber count grew by 2.2 million on the wireless side, including 1.2 million retail customers.
But the company said its wireline business continued to feel the recession and will cut 10,000 jobs this year, or 9 percent, according to Bloomberg News.
Speculation is ramping up that Apple Inc. will begin selling its popular iPhone through all wireless carriers, ending its exclusive deal with AT&T.
Bloomberg News reported on a report from equity analyst Tim Horan at Oppenheimer & Co. His claims puts iPhones within reach of T-Mobile customers this summer and Sprint and Verizon customers this fall.
From Bloomberg News
Apple Inc. may need to deliver first-quarter sales of almost 9 million iPhones and more than 3 million Macs to appease investors, who have already driven the shares to a record in anticipation of a new tablet device.
“Investors are thinking: 3.1 million to 3.2 million Macs and phones of 8.8 million,” said Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray & Co. “Those are the two bogeys.”