Dan Hesse

Sprint's turnaround plan complicated by iPhone, economy

Lynnette Luna — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 01:15:00 -0500

Subscribers, especially those highly profitable prepaid customers, continue to defect at an alarming rate from Sprint Nextel. Last week, the company reported a loss of 1.3 million net subscribers in the third quarter and a net loss of $326 million as CEO Dan Hesse embarks on his turnaround plan for the company.

His monumental task is exacerbated by at least two major factors in my mind: Apple's iPhone 3G and the sagging economy.

While it's not clear how many subscribers Sprint lost to AT&T Mobility because of the iPhone 3G, we do know that AT&T Mobility sold 2.4 million iPhone 3G devices and 40 percent of those activations were for customers that were new to AT&T. Verizon said it was impacted a bit by the iPhone, but it now appears that Sprint and T-Mobile were the most likely victims. T-Mobile's churn grew to 2.4 percent in the third quarter from 1.9 percent in the second quarter 2008, coinciding with the launch of the iPhone 3G.

Sprint has to be disappointed with the impact the Samsung Instinct had on its business, which appears to be no impact at all. Sprint worked very closely with Samsung to develop this touch-screen smartphone and spent a bundle on marketing it. Interestingly, we heard testimony from Sprint and Best Buy that demand was extremely high for the device and was breaking sales records in June when it was introduced. Apparently, that was a short-term phenomenon that didn't carry through the third quarter and probably stopped when AT&T launched the iPhone 3G in July.

T-Mobile has now launched the G1 "Google" phone that also has gained a high profile and could poach more customers away from Sprint going forward.

The economy is shaking consumer confidence, and the expectation is that people will spend minimally going forward. Sprint has acknowledged that some customers aren't paying their wireless bills because of the economy. And the expectation is that operators will become more aggressive with their offers to woo customers in a tighter market.

While Americans aren't expected to shut off their devices altogether, there is also the expectation that spending on the extras, such as data services, will drop off on most devices. Of course, that's bad news for all operators as that is the focus of new growth and revenue. And it is especially troublesome for Sprint since part of Hesse's battle plan is spurring customers to use more data services via a lineup of new data-enabled smartphones and applications such as the One Click user interface.

With these factors in play, is Hesse is doing the right thing by focusing on stabilizing the company's subscriber base before expanding gross additions? The operator must certainly work to keep the subscribers it has, but I wonder how much it should sit on the sidelines in an industry where the game has always been a balance between keeping customers and getting new ones. In light of the economy, the holiday season and new "iconic" devices such as the iPhone and G1, competitors are going to work even harder to woo Sprint customers away. Sprint could very well reach a point of no return in 2009 if the business isn't stabilized soon. --Lynnette

Sprint executive John Garcia resigns

Phil Goldstein — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:28:18 -0500

John Garcia, the head of Sprint Nextel's CDMA business, has resigned. The company declined to elaborate on the circumstances surrounding his departure.

Keith Cowan, Sprint's president of strategy and corporate development, will take over Garcia's role while the company looks for a replacement.

Garcia had previously been Sprint's chief marketing officer, senior vice president of product management and development and president of Sprint's failed Pivot joint venture with Comcast, Time Warner and other cable companies. The news comes at a tough time for Sprint, which saw its subscriber base fall to 50.5 million in the third quarter. The company also recently announced a voluntary separation package for some of its employees.

Since taking over as CEO, Dan Hesse has not been opposed to making top management changes. Shortly after his arrival late last year, Sprint saw the exit of CFO Paul Saleh, chief marketing officer Tim Kelly and Mark Angelino, the head of sales and distribution. There is no indication that Hesse had wanted Garcia to leave Sprint.

For more:
- see this article (sub. req.)

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Sprint may be considering outsourcing jobs

Phil Goldstein — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:22:01 -0500

Sprint Nextel, as it looks to cut costs, is said to be considering a possible outsourcing move that could shift positions to other companies in the mobile and network infrastructure space and lead to numerous job cuts, according to a report.

The process, known as "re-badging," involves cutting jobs from Sprint's payroll and then paying a vendor to control certain aspects of the business or certain jobs, especially with network infrastructure and monitoring. However, not all of the cut Sprint employees would be guaranteed a job under such a program.

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has indicated that jobs cuts could be in store as the company moves into 2009, but has declined to say how many jobs could be cut, pending the company's fourth quarter results.

Sprint, which lost 1.3 million subscribers in the third quarter and is looking to regain its financial footing, will move cautiously in balancing the need to cut costs and maintaining the reliability of its networks, said Leigh Horner, a Sprint spokeswoman.

Sprint has also embarked on a voluntary separation package for some of its employees. "People need to make a decision about their career," Horner said. "Any additional things beyond that would be based on the state of our business and our planning for 2009."

For more:
- see this article

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Sprint loses 1.3M net subs, base drops to 50.5M

Sprint loses 1.3M net subs, base drops to 50.5M

Phil Goldstein — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:05:50 -0500

Sprint Nextel, in the midst of struggling to stabilize its customer base and improve its financial position, posted a net loss of $326 million in the third quarter, compared to a net income of $64 million in the third quarter last year, and said it had a net loss of 1.3 million subscribers in the quarter. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse reiterated that the company had been focused on retention of customers, improving the customer experience and paying down its debt more than it focused on acquisition of new customers. Wireless services revenue for the quarter was $6.8 billion, down 13 percent year-on-year.

Subscribers: The carrier saw a loss of 1.3 million net subscribers in the quarter, including a loss of 1.1 million postpaid subscribers and 329,000 prepaid users. By comparison, Sprint's two largest rivals saw large boosts in their net additions this quarter; AT&T Mobility added around 2 million subscribers and Verizon Wireless added 1.5 million. The carrier's base dropped to 50.5 million subscribers, which is the lowest the company has reported since first quarter 2006.

Churn: The company's post-paid churn was 2.15 percent, compared to 2.0 percent in the second quarter of 2008 and 2.3 percent in the third quarter of 2007. According to Technology Business Research analyst Kate Price, this increase in postpaid churn is due to seasonality and it is half that of historic third quarters, which indicates improvement.

ARPU: Wireless post-paid ARPU was flat at $56, compared to the first and second quarters of 2008, and down from $60 in the third quarter of 2007. For the quarter, data revenues made up about $13.50 of the total post-paid ARPU. That was mostly because of growth in CDMA data ARPU.

Company outlook: Hesse emphasized that the company paid down more than $1 billion in outstanding debt and was looking to stabilize itself with its customer base before expanding gross additions. He pointed to the launch of the One Click user interface on Sprint handsets, its Ready Now retail experience and Simply Everything voice and data plans as signs that the company was improving its customer experience. In addition, he noted that the company had closed customer service call centers as call quality improved. However, he acknowledged that the carrier would have to improve churn levels and reduce the decline in gross additions before it moved ahead in 2009 with increasing gross adds. "Turning this trend around in a recurring revenue business happens gradually," he said.

For more:
- see this release

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Sprint to keep iDEN network

Phil Goldstein — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:22:03 -0400

Sprint Nextel put to rest any speculation that it would try to sell the iDEN push-to-talk network that it acquired when it merged with Nextel in 2005. The company said it will hold onto the network, despite rumors that it had been shopping for a buyer.

In a statement, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse reiterated what he has said before: that the iDEN network is critical to Sprint's operations. "The iDEN network is a key differentiator for Sprint, as it allows us to offer products and services no other carrier in the industry can match," he said.

In September, Hesse said that Sprint was going to hold onto the iDEN network despite the drag it had made on the carrier's business, as the operator hemorrhaged subscribers. However, in early October rumors swirled that either Cerberus Capital Management or Latin American cellular operator NII Holdings might be a possible buyer of the network.

For more:
- see this article

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Sprint CEO says wireless industry resilient to economic downturn

Phil Goldstein — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:42:12 -0400

Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse said he expected there to be 140 million potential U.S. WiMAX users by 2010, and said the wireless industry would weather the current economic storm at a luncheon Friday hosted by the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

After going through a history of the industry and where it is now, Hesse focused much of his remarks on WiMAX and 4G, literally knocking on wood that the Sprint-Clearwire deal to create the new Clearwire company would get regulatory approval and close by the end of the year. The Federal Communications Commission is expected to vote on the deal at its Nov. 4 meeting.

He said Sprint chose WiMAX as a 4G standard because it is "available now and our customers want 4G now."

"4G is here and the speed is real," he said. He also emphasized the way that, as opposed to Long Term Evolution (LTE) adoption proposed by Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility, WiMAX would disentangle service from devices and give customers more flexibility. One of the ways in which he said Sprint hoped to minimize the market penetration of LTE was that, simply, they were getting WiMAX out now. The company has deployed WiMAX in Baltimore and plans to deploy it in Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., pending the close of the deal.

"By 2010, we expect WiMAX service, 4G, to serve approximately 140 million people nationwide," he said.

After another tumultuous week in the financial markets, Hesse also addressed concerns about how the downturn in the economy would affect the wireless industry. He said he was thankful that the industry was so resilient. Had this happened five or 10 years ago, people would have viewed wireless as a luxury that they could get rid of, he said. He added that the industry will probably see a decrease in enterprise subscribers as businesses lay off workers, but said that Sprint was in a good position because it was "cash-flow positive."

"We have more money coming in than going out," he said. "As long as that's the case, we'll be OK."

However, Hesse said equipment makers would probably suffer the most as carriers cut back on capital expenditures.

Picking at another bone of contention, Hesse emphasized Sprint's continued support of Nextel and the iDEN network, and said the network is performing at its best levels ever. In addition, the company is rolling out new iDEN devices, such as the BlackBerry Curve 8350i.

Eleven days before the presidential election, Hesse also dabbled in politics slightly, and when asked what he would like to see the next president do to push rural broadband access, he quipped, half-jokingly, "Subsidies for WiMAX deployment."

He said, more seriously, that there will have to be a public-private partnership involving subsidies and incentives.

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5. Dan Hesse, one of the most powerful people in Wireless

Sprint to cut early termination fees

Phil Goldstein — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:06:51 -0400

Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse said the operator was going to be trimming early termination fees for its customers, joining the other three incumbent U.S. wireless carriers, which have already started to pro-rate termination fees.

Hesse said the carrier could start lowering the $200-or-more fee as early as December, and the new plan would reduce the fee gradually for each month the customer stayed with the service contract.

Earlier this spring, early termination fees came under closer scrutiny from the FCC, which had been discussing ways the carriers could work with customers to give them more flexibility in their contracts.

For more:
- see this article

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Dan Hesse steers Sprint through choppy waters

Phil Goldstein — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:40:27 -0400

Since taking over as CEO of Sprint Nextel late last year, Dan Hesse has made significant improvements, especially in customer service, but the carrier remains in a tough financial position, particularly with today's economic situation. Here's an in-depth look. Article

5. Dan Hesse, President & CEO, Sprint Nextel

Sue Marek — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:06:49 -0400

What makes him powerful: Sprint appointed Embarq executive Dan Hesse as its new president and CEO in December of last year. Hesse replaced former Sprint CEO Gary Forsee, who stepped down from the helm in October amid criticism for his performance and the escalating problems at Sprint.

Although Hesse's most recent job had been heading up wireline operator Embarq, he was no stranger to the wireless industry. He spent 23 years at AT&T, including serving as president and CEO of AT&T Wireless Services from 1997 to 2000.

During that time, he is credited for convincing senior AT&T management to support AT&T Wireless' Digital One Rate plan. This plan was the first in the wireless industry to bundle roaming and long distance fees into a flat-rate airtime package for consumers. Digital One Rate was a huge marketing success. Other nationwide operators copied the Digital One Rate plan, which caused demand for wireless services to skyrocket.

Hesse has certainly had his hands full trying to turn Sprint around. The operator has struggled with its 2005 merger with Nextel and has been losing iDEN customers at an alarming rate. It also has been under fire for what some consider a risky (and costly) move--deploying a nationwide mobile WiMAX network in its 2.5 GHz spectrum.

Shortly after his appointment, Hesse made some big changes at Sprint. He eliminated 4,000 jobs, reduced the number of distribution points, including 125 company-owned stores and consolidating Sprint's headquarters to Overland Park, Kan.

Under Hesse's leadership, Sprint also introduced an unlimited rate plan called "Simply Everything" which provides unlimited voice, data, text, email, Web-surfing, Sprint TV, Sprint Music, GPS Navigation, Direct Connect and Group Connect for $99.99 a month.

Hesse also became the "face" of Sprint by becoming a pitchman for the company. He's been in two advertisements so far. In the most recent one, he explains how customers can have their phones configured for them at Sprint retail stores.

But Hesse's most powerful move to date may be the crafting of a complicated deal that will combine Sprint and Clearwire's WiMAX businesses and create a new company that will include a $3.2 billion investment from Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Trilogy Equity Partners. This deal is supposed to close by year-end.

When Hesse was named the new CEO of Sprint, not everyone thought he was the best man for the job. But if he can pull off a turnaround at Sprint, I suspect his critics will be silenced and he will once again be making wireless history.

Xohm founders celebrate WiMAX in Baltimore

Phil Goldstein — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:46:02 -0400

BALTIMORE--A little more than a week after the official launch of the Sprint Nextel Xohm WiMAX network in Baltimore, the top executives involved in the launch gathered here to tout Xohm's debut. Addressing a group of about 100 media and analysts, Barry West, the president of the Xohm Business Unit for Sprint Nextel, said that by December Xohm expects to have a dozen different Xohm- capable notebooks certified for the network and about 20 more devices are currently going through the certification process.

West described the history of WiMAX, why Baltimore was chosen as the first site and what the future of the network would be as it aspired to be a true 4G standard. He was joined by Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse and Sean Maloney, Intel's chief marketing and sales officer, in extolling the virtues of WiMAX.

West said Baltimore was chosen as the first launch market because it would be a challenge for the engineers because of its proximity to the water and all the brick buildings, which makes it difficult for wireless penetration.

What made Xohm and WiMAX different from other wireless broadband technologies was that it was a new business model, based on self-service on the customers' part, which he said would keep costs low. "We have introduced a completely new customer self-service model," he said, adding that Xohm disconnected buying the product with buying the service. "Someone can buy a WiMAX device and you can decide to use the service," he added.

Maloney characterized the event as a historic day and an opportunity for the U.S. to leap ahead in wireless technology and communications. "After 10 to 15 years of America tending to trail in new communications technology, this is a chance for the U.S. to lead," he said. "When you look at that network built out over the next few years, remember it started here today."

Meanwhile, Hesse said that the network would not be built out overnight, but that when it did happen it would be interoperable between 4G and 3G connection speeds. "WiMAX is not slideware. It's here, now," Hesse said. "It will take a while to have this new network ubiquitous."

He added that later this year Xohm will be launching multi-mode devices so that when WiMAX is available, consumers will get WiMAX speeds. When customers are out of WiMAX coverage, the Sprint 1xEV-DO Rev. A network will pick up the signal. Hesse also said he was confident that regulatory issues surrounding the completion of the deal that will create the Clearwire Corp. will be finalized before the end of the year.

West and Maloney also responded to WiMAX critics who have said it is a model doomed to failure. "Part of the badmouthing is, what do your competitors answer with? Nothing," West said. "There is nothing that they can come out in two years," he added, referring to LTE technology. "And then there's the question of whether they have the spectrum to do this."

Maloney said he saw the same kind of reaction to WiFi for two or three years. "Generally it's people who feel threatened by it," he said. "The reality is WiMAX is here now. The performance on it is stunning. The devices will be stunning."

To underscore these points, West gathered all of the principle players for Xohm on stage, took out a large wire-cutter and cut a long, blue wire down the middle.

Click here to see photos from the event...

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Sprint looking for bidders for Nextel unit

Phil Goldstein — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:28:40 -0400

Sprint Nextel is looking for bidders for its Nextel unit, and may have found a few suitors already, people close to the negotiations said, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

According to the report, Sprint is looking to sell off the Nextel unit, which it acquired in 2005, along with its iDEN network. Two possible bidders may be Latin American carrier NII Holdings and the private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management.

In any possible deal, Sprint is looking for the buyer to assume at least $5.4 billion in debt. As late as two weeks ago, Sprint's CEO, Dan Hesse, told a gathering in New York that the company was looking to fix the Nextel unit and improve the integration, and was not looking to sell. Since 2005, Sprint has fallen behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T mobility in market share as the Nextel unit has struggled to retain subscribers.

For more:
- see this article (sub. req.)

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Sprint's CEO Dan Hesse back as a pitchman

Phil Goldstein — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 10:45:51 -0400

To boost its faltering subscriber base, Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse has returned as a pitchman for the carrier, explaining in a new commercial how customers can have their phones configured for them at Sprint's retail stores. Article (Sub. req.)

Sprint CEO looks to improve Nextel unit

Phil Goldstein — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:18:35 -0400

Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel's CEO, said the company is focused on fixing the Nextel part of the partnership, and said despite the lag it has put on business, the Nextel unit is not something Sprint necessarily has to sell.

Hesse was speaking Thursday at a conference hosted by Goldman Sachs, and said the company's top priority right now is to reinvigorate Nextel, but he also spoke about paying down the company's debt. A sale of the Nextel unit would go a long way toward doing that, though Sprint is not likely to get anything near the $38 billion they forked over for it in 2005.

Since Sprint bought Nextel and its iDEN network the company has struggled to integrate it and has fallen behind AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless in market share.

For more:
- see this article

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CTIA: Carriers talk "open" network but no clear definition

Sue Marek — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:24:40 -0400

SAN FRANCISCO--During this morning's keynote session at the CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment show in San Francisco, three of the top four U.S. wireless company CEOs attempted to explain their interpretation of "open" access and "open" wireless networks. However, it quickly became clear that "open" still means different things to different operators and some have a clearer vision than others.

Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse said an open network is not "regulated Internet" but instead a world where the customer can use the company's new OneClick widget to have access to the mobile Web, not just sites predetermined by Sprint. Sprint plans to have new devices available with OneClick for the holiday buying season.

On the open device front, however, Sprint still wants to maintain device authorization. Hesse said that the company does have many devices on its network that are not necessarily purchased through the Sprint network, such as the Amazon Kindle or a device from one of its MVNO partners.

For T-Mobile USA, the critical element in the open equation is for the carrier to be able to unlock innovation and allow developers to have transparency in the network. CEO Robert Dotson spoke specifically about how T-Mobile USA will advocate an open source operating system through its relationship with Google's Android OS and will use the Open Handset Alliance to get devices authorized on the network and in consumers' hands more quickly.

For Verizon Wireless, open access is not something defined by the carrier but is driven by what the consumer wants. CEO Lowell McAdam said the wireless carriers need to "open the doors but protect the network" because otherwise they will stop innovation. One way Verizon is moving to a more open network environment is through the company's Open Device Initiative. Through ODI, new devices such as a wireless router targeted at the insurance industry are now being allowed on Verizon's network.

Click here for photos from this keynote...

Sprint customers continue to flee, base drops to 51.9M

Sue Marek — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:28:53 -0400

Sprint Nextel disappointed investors once again with some less-than-stellar second quarter results. In particular, the company continues to lose customers at a rapid rate--it lost 901,000 customers in second quarter, giving it a total of 51.9 million customers, compared with 54 million the end of the same quarter last year. On the revenue front, the operator had a second-quarter net loss of $344 million, compared with a year-earlier profit of $19 million. Revenue fell 11 percent to $9.06 billion. Wireless revenue was $7 billion, also a decline of 11 percent year over year.

In a call with financial analysts and investors this morning, Sprint executives tried to mitigate the damages by singing the praises of the company's "Simply Everything" unlimited voice and data plan and the introduction of Samsung's Instinct smart phone. CEO Dan Hesse repeatedly talked about how Simply Everything is encouraging stabilization among its customer base and has performed better than expected. In addition, he talked at length about how the Samsung Instinct is driving more data usage among customers.

Sprint also said it plans to make an offering of $3 billion in cumulative perpetual convertible preferred stock but executives wouldn't go into any details on that offering. Last month Sprint agreed to sell almost all of its towers to private tower company TowerCo for about $670 million in cash. The company planned to use the proceeds to pay off debt.

Here's a rundown of the key metrics:

Churn: Postpaid churn was 2 percent, which is an improvement but still far higher than its competitors. Verizon had a postpaid churn of 0.83 percent while AT&T had a postpaid churn of 1.1 percent. Boost Mobile churn was 7.4 percent, compared with 9.9 percent in the first quarter.

Subscribers: The company lost 901,000 customers, 776,000 of those were postpaid and 250,000 were prepaid. At the end of the quarter, the company had 38.9 million postpaid subscribers, 4.2 million prepaid subscribers and 8.7 million wholesale and affiliate customers. iDEN customers totaled 14.6 million, while 1.7 million were PowerSource customers who use both CDMA and iDEN. The carrier had 35.5 million CDMA customers.

ARPU: Postpaid ARPU was $56 per month. Data contributed $12 to ARPU. CDMA data ARPU was $15 per month, an increase of nearly $1 over first quarter.

For more:
- see this release

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FEATURE: Sound off - Industry players discuss the Sprint/Clearwire WiMAX deal

Fri, 09 May 2008 06:59:53 -0400

On May 7 Sprint and Clearwire announced plans to combine their WiMax businesses and create a new company (called Clearwire) with a $3.2 billion investment from Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and others. Here's what members of the wireless industry are saying about the deal. If you would like to weigh in on this deal, answer our poll question here.

"The biggest challenge is getting all these companies that are important participants to agree on the essential value proposition, both from a marketing and distribution standpoint. How will this relate to Sprint, if Sprint remains a standalone wireless company? If Sprint continues to be standalone wireless company as it is today, how do they promote the value proposition of the new WiMAX entity vis-a-vis their own cellular network? What is the value proposition for Sprint if there is Clearwire? That's a key issue..." --Mark Lowenstein, managing director, Mobile Ecosystem.

Click here to see more of Mark Lowenstein's thoughts as well as what Atish Gude, Dan Hesse, Ben Wolff, Adlane Fellah and Kate Price have to say about the deal...

Bye Bye Xohm

Wed, 07 May 2008 06:59:59 -0400

Bye Bye Xohm

Less than a year after Xohm made its big brand debut at Sprint's Technology Conference, the cryptic name for Sprint's WiMAX network is already dead. Thanks to this morning's big announcement about Sprint and Clearwire combining their WiMAX businesses, Xohm will be relegated to the wireless brand graveyard where it will rest in peace alongside so many other dead brands--Cingular, AirTouch, VoiceStream--to name a few.

Of course, the amazing thing about Xohm is that it was a brand that never even had a product. Just as we were getting accustomed to its weird new-age sound (rhymes with Zone) it has been replaced. Consumers really never had a chance to get familiar with Xohm, it died before it made its commercial debut. Ã‚Â

Thanks to today's merger Xohm will now be the new Clearwire, a much easier to pronounce name that already has some consumer awareness in markets where Clearwire has launched its WiMAX services.

Of course today's news is much bigger than just a brand name. It's about the formation of a new company that will likely revitalize the entire mobile WiMAX ecosystem. To recap: Sprint is merging its Xohm Business unit with Clearwire and heavyweights Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks and Trilogy Equity Partners will invest $3.2 billion in the combined company.

Of course, I'm skeptical whether this hodgepodge of powerful players will be able to pull off such a complex deal. Leadership will be incredibly important. Wireless legend Craig McCaw will be the chairman of the board and he has assembled an impressive group of board members including Brian Roberts of Comcast, Glenn Britt of Time Warner, John Stanton of Trilogy Equity Partners and Dan Hesse of Sprint. It appears to me that McCaw has brought together some of his trusted players from his early days in wireless to be part of this new venture. Stanton (the former head of Western Wireless) and Hesse are old-time McCaw Cellular/AT&T Wireless guys who were known for their innovation and perseverance. Those are two characteristics that this new venture will certainly need in the months ahead. -Sue

Sprint appoints Brust as CFO

Fri, 02 May 2008 06:59:58 -0400

Sprint Nextel has tapped former chief financial officer of Eastman Kodak, Robert Brust as its new CFO. Brust also previously served as a finance executive at Unisys and General Electric. Sprint's interim CFO William Arendt will stay on as controller, according to the carrier. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said his executive shuffling is not yet over. Hesse recently named Steven Elfman as president of network operations.

For more on the appointment:
- read this Sprint CFO release

Hesse looks for push-to-comeback

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:59:54 -0400

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse announced a half dozen push-to-x QChat phones that are set to run on Sprint's EVDO Rev. A network instead of the old Nextel iDEN network. The new Direct Connect service supports one-to-one and group push-to-talk capabilities with other QChat users as well as Nextel users. The QChat phones also only require one phone number for both regular calls and PTT calls, which is a change from the legacy Nextel phones which required two numbers. Hesse also announced an as yet unnamed WiFi-enabled BlackBerry that will run on the Nextel iDEN network. No word yet on a timeframe for a launch on the device.

Sprint said to expect the phones to launch this summer and price points should come out shortly before the launches. -Brian

To learn about the individual phone launches:
- read this article in full over at CTIA Live!

Hesse looks for push-to-comeback

Brian Dolan — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:55:00 -0400

Here's a quick rundown of the QChat phones that Hesse unveiled this morning:

Ã‚Â· Motorola V950: a rugged flip phone with a 2.2 inch, 320-by-240 screen and a 2MP camera. This feature-rich phones looks to be the most expensive of the new QChat phones.

Ã‚Â· Sanyo PRO-700: a ruggedized, 1.7 inch slim flip phone that will retail for $69.99 with a two-year contract and $50 mail-in rebate. Other features include GPS, Bluetooth, email.

Ã‚Â· Sanyo PRO-200: a similar handset, but the non-ruggedized version of the slim flip phone that will retail for $49.99. Other features include GPS, Bluetooth, email but no camera.

Ã‚Â· Samsung Z700: a midrange clamshell with a high resolution 2.1 inch screen, 2MP camera, Bluetooth, microSD slot and more.

Ã‚Â· Samsung Z400: ruggedized but a more modest version of the Z700. The Z400 features a lower-res screen, a 1.3MP camera and a rubber exterior.

Ã‚Â· LG LX400: 1.3MP camera, GPS, speakerphone.

Sprint said to expect the phones to launch this summer and price points should come out shortly before the launches. -Brian