Verizon: we have no interest in Sprint

[Emil]

Verizon Wireless CEO Daniel Mead has declared that he has no interest in buying Sprint Nextel. Verizon, a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group, will lose its top position in the US wireless market due to a recently announced decision by AT&T to acquire T-Mobile.

"We're not interested in Sprint. We don't need them," Mead told Reuters ahead of the CTIA Wireless Conference. In regards to the AT&T/T-Mobile deal having to go through US regulatory approval, he said: "Anything can go through if you make enough concessions." The deal will likely be approved if the companies agreed to certain conditions, and AT&T is expected to have to sell some assets.

Late last week, AT&T announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at approximately $39 billion. Interestingly, Mead said he would not oppose AT&T's plans because he does not want his company to be distracted from its goal of being the most profitable US wireless operator.

Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse is a lot more worried about AT&T's decision to acquire T-Mobile than Verizon's CEO appears to be. He said he's concerned that the deal will hurt his company and the industry, as the biggest two players strengthen their dominance. "I do have concerns that it would stifle innovation and too much power would be in the hands of two," Hesse said in a panel discussion at cellphone conference in Orlando, Florida, according to The Associated Press.

Mead's cool stance is very odd. More often than not, companies are up in arms when their competitors join forces against them. It's possible that the Verizon CEO is banking on the merger slowing the two down while his company plows ahead.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/42925-verizon-we-have-no-interest-in-sprint.html

 

[lawfer]

Verizon, a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group, will lose its top position in the US wireless market due to a recently announced decision by AT&T to acquire T-Mobile.

Last time I checked AT&T was already at the top position in the wireless market... AT&T's acquisition will just make that gap bigger.

Anyway, personally, I think they're just being cocky. I switched to Verizon about a month ago, and so far the service is good. I have a friend who has Sprint, and they usually carry the best Android smartphones, besides Verizon. I've heard the 3G speeds are faster than Verizon in most areas, too. Not buying Sprint seems like a stupid idea to me, but for them to think they don't need them, makes me think they have something planned. Whatever that is...

 

[Raswan]

I tend to agree lawfer. His comments seem more cocky than "unworried". Or, it might be a move to get Sprint to come to them instead of the other way around, if he knows Sprint has been losing ground for some time and thinks Hesse is worried enough about just being pushed out to come to Verizon with an offer while they are still viable.

 

[thewind]

lawfer said:

Verizon, a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group, will lose its top position in the US wireless market due to a recently announced decision by AT&T to acquire T-Mobile.

Last time I checked AT&T was already at the top position in the wireless market... AT&T's acquisition will just make that gap bigger.

Anyway, personally, I think they're just being cocky. I switched to Verizon about a month ago, and so far the service is good. I have a friend who has Sprint, and they usually carry the best Android smartphones, besides Verizon. I've heard the 3G speeds are faster than Verizon in most areas, too. Not buying Sprint seems like a stupid idea to me, but for them to think they don't need them, makes me think they have something planned. Whatever that is...

I agree. Sprint had the HTC EVO (which I have!) and it was the best smart phone on the market at the time. Also even though the coverage is better with Verizon, Sprint has cheaper plans that save me around $300 a year and the internet is faster. Having Verizon not acuire sprint is a bad idea... but I also think that as long as sprint is cheaper than the Verizon and AT&T is extreamly expensive they should do ok...

 

[Guest]

They don't have an interest....until AFTER the merger is complete maybe a year from
now, you can bet they will make an offer, or Sprint will try to get them to buy it.

 

[treetops]

I am going back to cricket verizon is to expensive.

 

[Guest]

It doesn't matter it Verizon is interested in Sprint, Sprint will be fine when all those t-mo customers switch to sprint for the cheaper plans and unlimited data they have now. now all Sprint needs is to buyout US Cellular, Already a CDMA provider and would add 6 million customers.

 

[MrAnderson]

I think this is for the best. AT&T needs to be able to offer the customers coverage that Verizon is throwing in people's faces. I do feel for Sprint... they should have been faster at working out that rumored Merger which would have probably been better.

But Innovation has really already been stalling in the US at least. With allth the possibilities that digital systems bring, both ATT and Verizon have not been doing anything interesting with phone service. They really have been just recreating a wireless internet that they want to pad lock.

They continue locking us into contracts and offering inflexable services. We have little choice. The Governement will have bigger targets now, so maybe we will be able to make some headway now.

I would love to see regulatory legislation that gives customers separte choice in data plan and voice on the headsets. That could creat some competition for price and service structure as customers might have an option to getting there mobile Internet access from someone othe than who they get their phone service.

I should have asked that question a while ago, but it only occured to me recently. Don't tell me becuase the phone can only work on one network - that too can be engineered around.

Where is the innovation in texting... the ability to block txt from comming from sources you don't want and the ability to manage all this. There is so much they could be doing, but they don't have competition to do it. And not the battle field extends to tablets. Lets hope we see some changes.