Sprint Nextel

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AT&T, Sprint Users: Yep, NSA Tracks Your Calls, Too

And it has collected credit card, web-browsing data: insiders

(Newser) - It's not just Verizon customers who face government surveillance: The NSA has also been keeping track of phone records from the other two biggest phone networks, AT&T and Sprint Nextel, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Journal puts it starkly: When most Americans make a call, the NSA...

Dish Offers Up $25.5B to Buy Sprint

...Even though SoftBank already has a deal to buy it

(Newser) - Dish Network wants to buy Sprint Nextel for $25.5 billion, the satellite TV company publicly declared today, in what the Wall Street Journal calls Dish's "most audacious attempt yet" to jump into the wireless business. The bid is unsolicited, which makes sense, given that Sprint already has...

Japan's SoftBank Snapping Up 70% of Sprint

$20.5B deal a record for Japan

(Newser) - Japanese telecom giant SoftBank has finalized a $20.1 billion deal to buy 70% of American wireless carrier Sprint, reports the AP . The deal announced in Tokyo today is the biggest-ever foreign takeover by a Japanese company and still needs to be approved by Sprint shareholders and American regulators. The...

Sprint to Get iPhone 5
 Sprint to Get iPhone 5 

Sprint to Get iPhone 5

But new Apple phone won't be here until October, sources say

(Newser) - The iPhone 5 will be available on Sprint's network as well as Verizon's and AT&T's when the new phone is launched, insiders tell the Wall Street Journal . The device will hit the market in mid-October, not next month as many had expected, the sources say. The...

As Telecoms Hype 4G, Recall How Long 3G Was in Coming

(Newser) - 3G landed in the US in 2003. But it wasn’t until the iPhone came around five years later that “consumers finally had a device that showed them the power of mobile broadband networks,” Stephanie N. Mehta writes in Fortune. In fact, "a few executives at US...

Sprint Nextel to Cut 8K Jobs
 Sprint Nextel to Cut 8K Jobs 

Sprint Nextel to Cut 8K Jobs

3rd-largest wireless outfit has lost millions of subscribers

(Newser) - Sprint Nextel is eliminating about 8,000 positions in the first quarter as it seeks to cut annual costs by $1.2 billion. The third-largest US wireless provider said it will complete the layoffs, about 14% of its 56,000 employees, largely by March 31. About 850 of the reductions...

Boost's $50 Prepaid Cell Plan Could Trigger Price War

Monthly fee for unlimited calls, text and data marks new low in wireless service

(Newser) - A new prepaid calling plan from Sprint’s Boost may spark a price war in the wireless market, USA Today reports. Boost will offer unlimited calling, texting and web browsing for a flat $50 a month fee. The plan may prove so attractive to cash-strapped wireless customers Boost could start...

Troubled Sprint Woos Angry Subscribers

New CEO tries personal approach with customers, staff

(Newser) - Facing upset customers, merger fallout, and peeved execs, Sprint’s new CEO started the job with his work cut out for him. The company has the sector's highest rate of customer dissatisfaction. But by getting personal with patrons and employees, new boss Daniel Hesse is fighting to save the company,...

Google Phones Running Behind Schedule
Google Phones Running Behind Schedule

Google Phones Running Behind Schedule

Issues with Android software will delay launch to 4th quarter

(Newser) - It turns out revolutionizing the mobile-phone industry isn’t as easy as Google thought it would be. The first phones to bear the search giant’s much-anticipated Android platform won’t ship until the fourth quarter, the Wall Street Journal reports, because carriers are having trouble customizing the software. Many...

Samsung's Instinct: Smart, if Not an iPhone
Samsung's Instinct: Smart,
if Not an iPhone
product review

Samsung's Instinct: Smart, if Not an iPhone

Sprint's touchscreen phone's no giant killer, but it's a contender

(Newser) - It isn’t an iPhone. But, says New York Times technology writer David Pogue, Samsung’s soon-to-be released touchscreen phone, called Instinct—while a little less sleek than the iconic iPhone—isn’t a bad effort. The newest iPhone wannabe debuts June 20 when Sprint Nextel rolls it out at...

Sprint Tries to Open Up to Customers

Struggling telco's CEO seeks suggestions for improvement

(Newser) - You won’t get Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse if you email “Dan@Sprint.com,” but you will get the company’s attention, reports the New York Times. In an ad campaign designed to get Sprint in touch with its customers, Hesse asks “If you could change the...

Cell Phone Market Nears Saturation

Which means services for customers should get better

(Newser) - The number of Americans signing up for cell phone service is slowing down after more than a decade of explosive growth, reports USA Today. Within a couple of years, experts say, just about everybody who wants a cell phone will have one, meaning good news for consumers as companies focus...

Cellphone Sales Drop
 Cellphone Sales Drop 

Cellphone Sales Drop

Recession driving down sales

(Newser) - The cellphone market is experiencing a significant sales slide, with the most serious decline so far among lower-income users, reports the Wall Street Journal. Studies reveal first quarter sales dips ranging from 5% to  22%. Analysts expect growth to slow even further. The market may be reaching saturation with 83%...

Sprint Loses 1M Customers, $505M in Q1

Embattled carrier will cut 4K jobs, close outlets, sell assets

(Newser) - Sprint Nextel continued to hemorrhage customers in the first quarter, losing more than 1 million subscribers and tallying losses of $505 million, more than double its losses in the same period last year, reports Bloomberg. Sales slipped nearly 8% to $9.33 billion. The carrier, rumored to be a takeover...

Sprint in Talks to Sell Struggling Nextel Unit

Wireless carrier reportedly ready to give up on troubled acquisition

(Newser) - Sprint is considering selling or spinning off its Nextel division, signaling the end of a troubled, disappointing merger, the Wall Street Journal reports. Talks are already under way with Nextel founder Morgan O'Brien, who would integrate the unit into his new wireless public-safety network, and other prospective buyers, including private-equity...

T-Mobile Parent Mulling Bid for Sprint Nextel

Deutsche Telekom continues looking outside Germany for growth

(Newser) - T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom may bid for troubled Sprint-Nextel, a deal that would move the German telecom to the top of the US mobile communications heap, ahead of AT&T and Verizon, reports the Wall Street Journal. DT increasingly has looked to global options to help fuel earnings hurt by...

Sprint Nextel Takes $29B Loss as Customers Walk

Loss includes huge one-time writedown; company announces cover-everything plan

(Newser) - Sprint Nextel posted a net fourth-quarter loss of $29.45 billion and doesn’t expect a quick recovery, the Wall Street Journal reports. The No. 3 US wireless company will hold off dividend payments and draw down credit lines for protection as more customers leave the service. It has also...

Sprint May Go Lower Than $99.99
Sprint May
Go Lower
Than $99.99

Sprint May Go Lower Than $99.99

Mobile provider expected to undercut flat-rate calling plans

(Newser) - With both AT&T and Verizon unveiling $99.99 flat-rate unlimited calling plans this week, Sprint's is expected to undercut its rivals by up to 40%, plunging the wireless industry headlong into a price war. Sprint isn't telling yet, but analysts predict it will offer unlimited calling for roughly $60...

Sprint Plans Major Asset Write-Off
Sprint Plans Major Asset Write-Off

Sprint Plans Major Asset Write-Off

So much for goodwill: $31B in losses pegged to Nextel merger

(Newser) - Sprint Nextel says it may write off up to $31 billion related to the merger that created the combined company. The move comes just after a regime change at the company, which has struggled since the 2005 merger, and lost about 1 million customers last year. The write-off, accounting for...

Sprint Nextel Revives WiMAX Plans
Sprint Nextel Revives WiMAX Plans

Sprint Nextel Revives WiMAX Plans

Mobile carrier looks for partners to cut cost of high-speed wireless network

(Newser) - Struggling Sprint Nextel, burdened with layoffs, retail store closings, and massive mobile-subscriber defections to AT&T and Verizon, may be getting back in the game. The company, which recently caved to investor pressure to drop plans for a $5-billion nationwide WiMAX network, is again talking with Clearwire, its partner in...

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