Sprint could divorce Nextel to get hitched with T-Mobile

and yes, why again didn't nextel do all of those things vs. merge?
if they could have, they would have.

Clueless FON poster. The crap about "farmed out deal" proves the level of your cluelessness.

About the only thing you got right was that Nextel had plans, varied and robust, and the cash to make a go of it in the absence of the merger with FON. My bet is that Nextel would have continued to strategically buy spectrum and quite possibly would have started to buy up the larger regional players as well. At that time, those would have been Alltel, Western, US cellular, etc.

nextel was planning on ditching iden long before the merger. they already had a contract in place with qualcomm to develop q-chat (on cdma by the way) because they knew long before the merger of the 800MHz interference issues and had already committed to the gov/fcc to bail.
as for iden, it was engineered and developed exclusively by motorola for nextel, and contractually maintained wholly by motorola for years. sure some of the folks at nextel had spent the time and effort to cross over and actually learn the technology and supported it, but as a whole, it was a farmed out deal from start to finish. what a fake dot.com-like-do-nothing company.
but to be fair, yes they saw a niche to fill and provided great customer service. but,... "Donahue demonstrated value and return on investment to be important Nextel traits within the worldwide wireless-business market by concentrating on service over pricing." This is what Nextel also brought to Sprint, all of the left-over over spending, inaccurate, inappropriate, and unaccounted for spending and debt.
the majority of the loyal employees from nextel aren't even aware of their own history, and Tim Donahue was there every step of the way well before the merger.
and by the way, TD was a shakespearean major in college, no wonder he knew how to wow a crowd. what a fraud, flop, and sell out, and the nextel folks have given him undying loyalty because he appeared sincere and showered them with a little attention from on high.
"The educational and early work background of Donahue bore no relation to either telecommunications or technology. Upon his father's insistence Donahue studied English literature and Shakespeare at John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio, graduating in 1971." "Little is known about Donahue's early career. He entered the telecommunications industry in 1984, when he gained employment with MCI Communications Corporation."
http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/biography/A-E/Donahue-Tim-M-1949.html
i feel sorry for everyone at nextel that put so much stock in this guy.
by the way, he was a downright crook too. he was forced out of sprint nextel for his "business relationship" with his brother-in-law Glen Grella to the tune of some $18M. and people want to only focus on gary foresee for the merger mess? give me a break.

THEIR RETENTION DEPARTMENTS CANT EVEN DO THEIR JOB ANYMORE. HANG IT UP ALREADY! THEIR NETWORK BLOWS, IDEN HAS BETTER COVERAGE. VERIZON KILLS THEM ON PRICING AND QOS. VERIZON IS TRULY THE KING THAT BENEFITTED FROM THE MERGER.

THE WHOLE MERGER WAS THE WORST MISTAKE IN TELECOM HISTORY. PERIOD END OF STORY. THEY SHOULD JUST CLOSE THE DOORS AND HAND THEIR CUSTOMER LISTS TO VERIZON AND ATT. THEY ARE GOING TO TAKE THEM ALL ANYWAY, EXCEPT FOR THE POOR CREDIT PEOPLE WHICH IS MORE FITTING TO TMO OR SPRINT TO BEGIN WITH.

SPRINT RUINED A PROSPEROUS NEXTEL. IF ANYONE THINKS THATS INSANE TAKE A LOOK AT NII HOLDINGS. THEY ARE NEXTEL IN FOREIGN MARKET AND THEY ARE KICKING ARSE!

Keith Cowan's bonus letter is on file at the SEC, as required by law.

Was made public because company has to do so. Just like Hesse's currently "out of the money" options that made his pay package seem so lucrative on day one. Go to EDGAR online for the filing history

As to iDEN vs CDMA, I am constantly amazed at the vitriol from opposing techs.

Who cares? It's their constant bickering that shows why things have gone so wrong.

"Speaking of RF, Sprint techs BLOW AWAY iDEN techs"

Really!!! Then way is it that that a great deal of iDEN techs have FCC tickets and other industry certifications. I have yet to meet a single CDMA tech that holds an FCC. I am sure there are some but it is an extreme minority. Here in my market most of the iDEN techs have FCC and not a singe CDMA tech does.

Secondly you must not work on Lucent plug and play stuff. The training time for a tech is less then 6 months. I have techs that have been doing iDEN for two years know and still can't understand it, they are CDMA techs. Not one CDMA tech in my region could tell me anything about the Lucent BTS other then "when you get this red light change this card." Not one tech knew what the ibutton was and how it works, not one person understood the calibration process other than what was written in the job aid.

In my market CDMA techs are doing damage to the network both in CDMA and iDEN. While the iDEN techs have the fastest fix times, the lowest amount of alarm in netwatch and the highest PM stats. All this is provable via netwwatch and titan.

If you think you have such a good understanding of RF and iDEN they how many Duplexer have you manually re-tuned to meet rebanding deadlines? In my market we ran out of WB duplex and we hand to manually tune them to meet FCC spec's. We did it in the field with HP network analyzers. I have yet to meet a CDMA tech that can even power up and us the HP network analyzer I carry around. In fact every CDMA tech that watches me use it ask "What is that" and every iDEN tech say... "Why do you use that thing, just use HP spectrum with the tracking feature.

I agree with the MOTO guy 100%!

I used to work for GE but made my way to Nextel back in 1998. I was the lead RF tech for the mid-west with GE and I have been doing this stuff a very long time, stated in 1981. I hold a BSEE and a FCC and so on.

Oh! and my good friend that works for Sprint too that is in a "Motorola" markets says the Motorola BTS is so idiot proof that he wonders way they pay him the big bucks to work there. He said, "Any high school dropout can fix it". In fact he trained a admin person that knows nothing about CDMA to fix the Motorola stuff in 6 weeks. From what he tells me he is a good tech when it comes to CDMA but is not allowed to go near iDEN because he knows nothing about electronics and does not even know how to use a DVM.

Needless to say... you don't have a clue!

I am in a rush so sorry if this post is all messed up with its wording and spelling.

People like you are exactly why I left Moto. Incredibly stuck on themselves, and arrogant. Your the "cult" of RF.

Speaking of RF, Sprint techs BLOW AWAY iDEN techs. ITs not even close. iDEN has beome so plug and play that techs have forgotten about RF let alone electronics. Frankly its old, and antiquated and should be phased out ASAP. You may be getting high data rates in South America, but this isn't South America.
iDEN techs have caused numerous outages in CDMA because they don't understand basic electronics, and the attention to detail required in todays RF-World just isn't there. I agree with you on one thing. Making us work on each others technology was stupid. I hate it, iDEN is boring.

I believe what is envisioned by T-Mobile HQ (in Germany) is selling its USA GSM network (very marketable to someone who wants to be number 4 or a big number 1 in subscriber size) and buying Sprint. This would instantly make them the number 3 in the USA instead of a distant number 4. Since number 5 (Alltel) is now gone, number 4 is up for a big decision. Most analysts seem to believe that 4 national networks can continue to survive successfully.

Part of the true question for T-Mobile is "Do they want to be the owner of 3 inconsistent national networks of different technologies (CDMA/EVDOA, MIRS/iDEN and WiMax?" That is totally inconsistent with their international strategies to date, but not implausible.

The WiMax network investment risk is now in several hands, so that can be argued as a good shared risk, maybe not.

The MIRS/iDEN network risk is proven to be high, so that can be argued as a good potential sale, maybe not.

I would not discount T-Mobile's interests in ultimately succeeding in the USA market where ARPUs continue to grow. Time will tell.

Mr. Allen,

I believe your technical and operational experience with Nextel is unquestionable. But, you are not sticking to the point. Nonetheless, let's apply your expertise to the point at hand:

1. MIRS/iDEN could go to 3G data speeds, but it didn't. That was a decision your customer Nextel made, not Sprint Nextel. Why, I don't know. However, at the end of the day, they decided to sell it, rather than continue to invest in their Motorola network and recoup their investment in this promising technology of yours.

It may have had nothing to do with the technology, but Sprint apparently made the same decision about the technology, right or wrong. It is not going to be a long term solution in the USA market anymore. Perhaps that is a piece of a future decision by Sprint to sell it, perhaps not.

2. Qchat may never be as good of a PTT solution as MIRS/iDEN. That was a decision your customer Nextel made, not Sprint Nextel. Why, I don't know. However, at the end of the day, Sprint decided to use it after the acquisition, rather than continue to invest in their Motorola PTT network and exploit their investment in this proven, promising technology of yours. It is not going to be a long term solution in the USA market anymore. Perhaps that is a piece of a future decision by Sprint to sell it, perhaps not.

3. Transferring the SMR market and its technology to PTT/MIRS/iDEN by Nextel/Motorola/Nortel/et al was a thing of beauty, perhaps never again to be repeated in the USA market. I agree that it is very poorly understood. However, it is not going to be a long term solution in the USA market anymore. Perhaps that is a piece of a future decision by Sprint to sell it, perhaps not.

4. I take your word that the MIRS/iDEN network was in excellent shape before the acquisition. Apparently, the Nextel team didn't think that was sufficient to go forward alone. Sprint may be able to use the advantageous dispatch capabilities of MIRS/iDEN and its original quality as a valuable asset in a future decision by Sprint to sell it, perhaps not.

5. I take your word that rebanding the Nextel network may have caused significant issues not reflective of the MIRS/iDEN technology. That was a decision your customer Nextel made, not Sprint Nextel. Either way, it is merely a point in history.

6. I take your word that the person who said there was no circuit database at Nextel is a moron. Either way, it is merely a point in history.

7. There is no question, at least in my mind, that Sprint executed miserably at transferring and integrating the Nextel operations (network and people) into Sprint Nextel. Shame on them. They have paid and continue to pay the price for this. Either way, it is merely a point in history. Keep in mind that as an investor (or in the eyes of any potential acquirer) this is not a good reason for investing in a combined Sprint Nextel; however, it is a good argument for Sprint to try and sell it to finally absorb their mistakes financially and move on.

8. I for two hope that Sprint sells off the MIRS/iDEN network, perhaps for different reasons than you. However, I for one would not purchase it, perhaps for all the same reasons that you have given it.

9. The technology wars that have persisted in the USA digital cellular and PCS market over the years have been incredible, but probably a good thing for the USA consumer in the long run. At the end of the day, it boils down to shareholder returns and Nextel shareholders apparently decided that selling MIRS/iDEN was the right answer. No matter how right/wrong that may have been, they decided it, not Sprint. The point of this discussion is whether Sprint will make the same decision or not, given shareholder returns at this point. I believe you have provided several passionate points in support of that possible decision and more juice for all of the speculation.

10. The consolidation of mobile carriers in the USA via acquisition and "integration" has been incredible; highly debatable whether this has/will be good for the consumer in the long run. It has obviously been great for some employees in that industry and bad for some others. Sprint Nextel was a unique consolidation in this regard, and they failed miserably so far, for many reasons. It has obviously not been good for Motorola as the sole investor in MIRS/iDEN technology or for any of its passionate employees.

Remember DialCall, OneCall, Airtouch, GTE, NYNEX, Airstream, PrimeCo, APC, McCaw, AT&T Network Systems, etc. etc. etc.? Perhaps their stories are totally different, but perhaps the net effects on their employees were precisely the same. Alltel is next and VzW has already stated that, in time, they will wipe out 2400 of the 3000 former Alltel jobs in Little Rock. Decimating to several passionate employees. Those consolidated companies that have survived are getting good to great earnings; not Sprint Nextel.

At the end of the day, Nextel as a standalone company is history, but not yet is MIRS/iDEN. Perhaps it can live on under new ownership, perhaps it is too late. The debate rages on.

Back to the point: Is Sprint likely to sell MIRS/iDEN? I believe so. I believe Mr. Larsen has provided several good points in support of that speculation, but it is still speculation nonetheless. Time will tell.

You are an idiot. Any executive company bonus or reaward such as this would have to be reported and filed with Security Exchange commission thus making it public knowledge.

How do you think AMR got put in the hot seat not to long ago with a very similar issue? They were handing out huge bonuses to their top Execs while pilots and other employees were taking pay cuts in effort to save the company. While Sprint Nextel employees aren’t getting pay cuts they have had to for go raises while top executives continue to cash out.

I am continually flabergasted that the Sprint/T-Mobil merger garbage keeps coming up. Let's face it folks. The two companies have different networks. T-Mobil has something like 3 or 4 different GSM technologies already. Why would T-Mobil want to try and hodge-podge in 1 or 2 more technologies that have no fit whatsoever into what they already have? What makes anyone think either company wants to try bridging the CDMA/GSM gap is beyond me. The two technologies are mutually exclusive.

As for the retired Motorola dude, I appreciate company loyalty, but get over it.
Nextel was already SERIOUSLY in trouble before the merger. They knew it and decided to hide it from Sprint until it was too late.
The "regionalized control" of the Nextel network never worked. It always came back to one or two people back in the Support group that had to put in way too many hours fixing the messes the EF&I vendors (yes, that's you, Motorola) caused, or doing the jobs that regional "engineers" were supposed to do but never did. Customers were already fleeing the Nextel network because of the huge backlog of work that wasn't getting done.

The reason Sprint has "stumbled" since the merger is because Sprint decided to dismantle its working business model and replace it with the Nextel "no-one knows what is going on, and nothing is actually getting done, but don't we sure look busy?" model instead of continuing to do business processes that had matured and were working.

Hey Motoman...relax. Enjoy retirement. iDen/MIRS was good at what it did, but face it, it is dead in the US. Also, before you trash Sprint because you see Motos royalties cutting off, look at how well your hemoraging Moto has been run. I'm personally happy to be free of the single vendor garbage now with WiMax.

stop with the LIES all you laid off sprint employees! sprint is not going to sell iden and you know it. ptt market leadership will save sprint. it is all about the button. these stories are only here because vz and att don't have so many laid off employees complaining. will we hear about vz problems with integeating or selling alltell? I think not because they don't have those bitter exemployees. as for the bonus, that's just standard contract language and doesnt mean resolution is selling iden!! sheesh. let's get some instinct sales figres on here.

stop with the LIES all you laid off sprint employees! sprint is not going to sell iden and you know it. ptt market leadership will save sprint. it is all about the button. these stories are only here because vz and att don't have so many laid off employees complaining. will we hear about vz problems with integeating or selling alltell? I think not because they don't have those bitter exemployees. as for the bonus, that's just standard contract language and doesnt mean resolution is selling iden!! sheesh. let's get some instinct sales figres on here.

Once again I find myself shaking my head at the lack of understand toward MIRS AKA iDEN.

"the inability to take the iDEN network to 3G capability" This is total rubbish! MIRS using "WiDEN" and 4 T-1's can handle high data rates. It is being done in the South American markets where Spectrum is not a big problem like it is here in the USA. We were getting speeds up to 1.7 mbps at one customer location. For the USA market this would not be possible unless MIRS had 20 MHz contiguous spectrum to operate in.

The current PTT service on Sprint's CDMA network is not capable of the many "unknown" functions of MIRS thus government groups like police and fire etc. can't use the service as a primary system where as they can with MIRS. Not only that the Q-Chat service is having problems and will never meet and or exceed MIRS's PTT service. It may come close but will never match a 100 ms setup time that is possible on MIRS. The CDMA EVDO protocol has too much built in delay thus it is not possible to match MIRS's connect speeds or exceed them.

Here is what I wrote in another blog here. I just don't want to repeat myself again. Before you people start taking about MIRS or iDEN you really should get your facts and stop putting out bad or misunderstood information. I also added just a tad more.

OK here is the real scoop on MIRS aka iDEN.

1) The system was created to replace our (Motorola's) aging analog SMR's and to create a cellular style system instead of having the BSC's on site.
2) MIRS was create with dispatch in mind, not IC. IC was added to the design a bit later, during beta.
3) No network can beat the dispatch function of MIRS because that is what it was created to do. Connect times can be as low as 100 ms.
4) The network was put together with very high standards in mind and sometimes even exceeded our standards, Motorola's.
5) Before the merger the iDEN network was working in tip top shape and the statzilla stats prove this pretty well. National stats collected via statzilla show that Nextel had a pretty darn good working system, better then Sprint's CDMA network.
6) Rebanding has caused a lot of the problems on the iDEN network in the USA. This is not a problem with iDEN but a problem with spectrum returns. If Nextel did not make the rebanding deal then there would have been no impact to the iDEN system at all. In markets where there are no spectrum issues iDEN works better then any other voice network in the world. In South America and Latin America and in the State of Hawaii iDEN is the number one provider for voice calls.
7) Given the ability to own or have a large chuck of spectrum iDEN is able to have high data speeds by using widen. These speeds can be as high as EVDO rev. o. and may exceed them.
8) To the moron that said Nextel had no circuit database: That is a flat out untrue and you are a liar. There is and was a data base in many markets. One thing Nextel did is allow markets to try to work as they see fit and not have some insane corp. moron tell the markets how to work when they have no clue about the market. Each market is different. There were and are plenty of circuits in the Nextel network, in fact there were too many that were not being used and they were being turned off.
9) Someone said here that Sprint turned a $35 billion company into a $5 billion and I agree. You have to look at the steps Sprint took with Nextel to see why this happened. Sprint tried to have the CDMA techs work on iDEN and in doing so they caused big network issues. Franky Speaking most all Sprint (CDMA) technicians and managers and RF layer engineers are not qualified to work on iDEN and in many of many cases they caused a lot of pain to the customer and cause a fair amount of defections. Sprint CDMA techs have zero knowledge of RF and who it works. This translated in cell sites being off air for days, hardware connected wrong that caused MS issues. iDEN is not a technology that is easily mastered by engineers or the people that have to fix it. Sprints CDMA techs and engineers just don't have the job skills or expertise to work on iDEN and many of the iDEN folks are now gone to better jobs. Sprint did not understand this and thought they could just tell the Nextel people they were cranks and crackpots and little "primadonnas" and turn their noses on them. Well the customers figured this out and turned their noses on Sprint Nextel! Most all of the talent that knew how to work iDEN is gone from Sprint Nextel. Many of the people that built it, fixed it, designed it etc. are gone and now Sprint Nextel is left holding the bag. It is amazing to see actually. It's like what happen to Russia when the wall came down, a massive sucking sound or "the brain drain" as they called it, same thing with Sprint Nextel.

Sprint had and has a management style that will not work within iDEN. It takes more then barking down orders from KC, it takes giving power to the local groups and trusting you have good people on your staff. It takes weeding out managers that can't cut it, it takes weeding out staff that can't cut it. iDEN demands people have a lot of talent and Sprint just does not fit that mold. Sprint is more of a massive cluster that has no direction and has lower than average talent working for it.

I for one hope Sprint Nextel sells off the network to a group that cares about it. It can be very profitable in the right hands and was! it is pretty clear to all that Sprint Nextel is not the people that should be running it.

As I read all the comments here I am just shocked at the total lack of understanding of iDEN and people that think they know but don't! Plus the bitterness people have about it, shocking.

My advice to you all, get some facts before you speak or don't speak at all!

Richard Allen

Retired Motorola Engineer (41 years of service)

1. The exec's bonus is publicly documented.
2. The resolution to the "iDEN problem" is not obvious, all human emotion aside.
3. The speculation that they might sell it is plausible. It is debatable that it is likely and absurd if anyone says that it is obvious.
4. Given the past writeoff of iDEN, the continued loss of iDEN subscribers, the very slow transition of iDEN subscribers to CDMA subscribers, the compounding effect it is having on the continued loss of CDMA subscribers (and the Sprint brand), the inability to take the iDEN network to 3G capability, the ability to use new Sprint PTT w/o iDEN and yet still support existing iDEN PTT users, etc., why not sell it?
5. The iDEN purchase and brand/service integration was unsuccessful. Is it recoverable? If not, why not sell it?
6. If there is a large base of government subscribers on iDEN and the government is searching for a "public safety" network, why don't they buy it from Sprint?

If they don't sell it soon, then those debating that they would never sell it will feel vindicated, even before they find that Sprint may sell it later.

If they never sell it, then this one exec has got his hands full trying to come up with a solution that gets him his $1M bonus. To him I say "Good Luck!"

I predict they sell it.

I would have to agree that this article is crap. Sprint would not get divorced from Nextel just to get with T-Mobile. Jason knows this so I dont have to tell him why. It is a very slow news day.

Mr. Larsen is trying to create a "perceived" investment opportunity to potential investors by floating a scenario based on speculation and wishes. Remember, Mr. Larsen is trying to make his employer money any way he can. The stock market analyst's comments are based on a perceived value of a "what if". Consider this an "infomercial".

The following is on Page 70 of Sprint’s most recent 10Q filing:

June 11, 2008

Mr. Keith Cowan

2001 Edmund Halley Dr

Reston, VA 20191

Dear Keith:

I am pleased to inform you that the HC&CC approved a $1.5 million cash award in recognition of your ongoing leadership and the key role you will play in executing our turnaround strategy especially as it relates to M&A activities. Specifically, the Human Capital & Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors has approved subject to your continued employment with the company:

•

$500,000 upon the close of the Sprint– Clearwire WiMAX transaction, and

•

$1,000,000 upon the Board’s approval of the strategic resolution of the iDEN network.

This unique award reflects our confidence in you and the important role you play in our success. Because of the select nature of this special award, I must request that you treat it as highly confidential and discuss it only with Sandy Price, Ellen Petrocci, or me until it is publicly disclosed. Beyond that, you may only discuss the award on a confidential basis with your immediate family, personal financial planner, or personal attorney.

Once again, my congratulations Keith. I appreciate your personal commitment to deliver on our goal of making Sprint Nextel the nation’s leading provider of mobility solutions.

This is starting to get really interesting. The Goverment is looking for someone to buy the 700 Mhz D block to run a nationwide public saftey network. Sprint is having problems moving iDen customers to CDMA. Sprint is also trying to come up with 3 billion dollars. It would not be that hard to move iDen from 800/900Mhz to 700Mhz. That is a big cost savings. Not having to build a new network from scratch. By the way customers at sprint have been leaving from BOTH networks. Sprint has made mistakes but there is no sense in dwelling on mistakes of the past.

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew." Abraham Lincoln

There are NO buyers for the Nextel network currently valued at 5 billion. The total value of the iDEN network decreases every day with each and every customer that churns to the competition. There could be a buyer at 1 billion or less assuming Sprint includes WiMAX frequencies in the deal.

The only solution at this point, for Sprint to be slavaged, is for Sprint to become an MVNO, outsourcing all business units except Marketing and Sales.

The $1 million bonus was publicized by Sprint and the media picked up on it. For once, Jason isn't wrong about that. What he is wrong about is Sprint getting rid of iDEN. It isn't going to happen.

Jason did hit the nail on the head though. He has nothing to whine about, it's a slow news day and I think he gets paid by the letter. Too bad it's still shoddy journalism.

Uhhh, Dan Hesse was actually quoted providing details about the $1M bonus at stake for the M&A executive. I don't doubt that analysts speculate, as that is part of their job description. But in this instance the dude happens to be correct. If I'm not mistaken the Star and other media outlets ran a story about a week (or two) ago where Dan Hesse said something like, "....Mr. "Whatever His Name Is" has a $1M bonus tied to the strategic resolution of the iDEN business.

I sincerely doubt anyone knows the specifics of any employee's contract, let alone a high-level executive. Forsee's exact compensation wasn't made known until he was fired (i.e. the employer-employee relationship was terminated). It's basic employment law. I'm sure this is based on something, but I doubt it's inside information. It's more like gossip, which does not make for solid journalism.

So these "analysts" even know how much of a bonus Sprint execs get if they close a deal? Typical analysts spouting off crap they dream up in their head. I highly doubt an analysts knows how much money anyone within the Sprint would get for anything. KC Star, try printing an artcile once that has a hint of truth not just something you cut and pasted off another blog you located somewhere on the internet. Try doing some actual journalism