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Yesterday, we learned Sprint would be looking to back out of the bidding war for T-Mobile, and that they’d also be looking to get rid of Dan Hesse as CEO. The second half of that news was made official today as the Now Network has announced that they’ve named Marcelo Claure as the new chief executive officer of the company.
Claure is credited as the founder of Brightstar, a top Florida-based telecommunications company that was acquired by Softbank (Sprint’s new owner) in October of last year. Claure has been working with Sprint manangement in the past few months to help shape the company’s growth path. It sounds like he was being groomed for the spot for quite a bit of time, though that’s usually how it works with these high level management changes.
Dan Hesse spearheaded an ambitious 4G movement and stuck to his guns on unlimited data while the industry transitioned to tiered plans, though struggling network performance and a lack of consistent growth has seemingly overshadowed the bit of good he’s done. It’s even more troubling for the company that T-Mobile has potential to surpass them within the next few years with their Uncarrier movement.
Claure says the company’s focus going forward will to work on making the carrier “extremely cost efficient” and becoming a lot more competitive in the market. Whether that means a vastly improved network or groundbreaking perks like T-Mobile seems to throw out like candy remains to be seen, but their decision to back out of the bidding war for Magenta confirms they’ll be focusing on fixing themselves before trying to swallow up others.
“While consolidating makes sense in the long-term, for now, we will focus on growing and repositioning Sprint,” said Claure. That particular line leaves the door open for future dialog about acquisitions, but it looks like Sprint won’t be bothered with that in the here and now. That certainly seems to be the best way to go, and we’re sure many T-Mobile fans couldn’t be happier to hear it.
[via Sprint]
Thank God! Now t-mobile can take the rest of their customers and leave that corpse to rot.
Funny, last time I checked, T-mobile was STILL the 4th largest carrier in the United States with the worst coverage of the 4.
What kool-aid are you on? If you haven’t noticed the vast improvements they’ve made and will make you’re missing out. They can easily take over crappy Sprint next quarter with those new Apple devices releasing.
Oh, so you have noticed T-Mobile’s improvements but not Sprint’s? Typical.
I have. They’re bare minimum and not really making an impact. I regularly track all my choices in providers because it’s a service I use regularly. Let me know once they eventually release a reliable LTE network, because the 3rd network is playing catch up to the others in the top 4.
All of the top carriers, unlike T-Mobile, right now have been lacking in both innovating their LTE network with newer tech as well as bringing great offers to the customer.
Business wise T-Mobile has a larger turn around with adding customers and finally turning a profit. Sprint just did as well, but if they’re changing CEO there’s obviously something wrong.
If you’re bitter about being in the boonies and not getting good signal, you’ll have to hope the new spectrum they picked up includes your area. Otherwise, T-Mobile is great in major metropolitan areas.
Wow… Big ass Fred Flintstone head. I could just see this guy chomping down on a brontosaurus rib.
YESSSS! Tmobile lives to see another day! …. Am i the only one who thinks Tmobile is doing great by themselves and is the top dog in wireless providers
Let’s see them make a profit first. Currently, they are growing by giving away a lot. the question is can they make money off all the new customers.
Didn’t they just turn a profit?
Dear T-Mobile,
Just get coverage at my house and you’ll have my business ASAP! I live in one of the few areas in LA, where the signal for T-Mobile is non-existant.
Signed,
Long Time, Disillusioned Sprint Customer
Is it just at your house or in the entire area around your house?
Area around my house.
Use wifi calling, problem solved.
I had posted earlier, connected to yesterday’s article, wi-fi calling doesn’t solve the problem.
You shouldn’t have to depend on WiFi calling to fix the gap that the carrier doesn’t want to fix. WiFi calling should be for instances where, even though coverage exists, you still can’t pick it up. Such as, inside any building.
How the hell are there dead spots in major cities in the US in this day and age?
Ask T-Mobile and ATT, but neither of those carriers gets any signal at my house. Likely to do with the hills. Verizon gets 1-2 bars here and there. Sprint has been consistently the strongest…Go figure. Only reason I’ve stuck around so long.
stick with what works for you.
Well… Dan Hesse help lead them to WiMax… a total flop. Anybody could have told them at that point that LTE was the future. Hopefully Sprint can turn it around. I used to like them in the mid 2000’s.
You clearly don’t know the entire story behind why Sprint had to go to WiMax. As is the case for anyone calling WiMax a total flop.
The WiMAX decision was made before Dan Hesse took over Sprint. Hesse was saddled with so many huge problems when he stepped in, and he solved pretty much everything except the multi-network problem he inherited. When he stepped in, Sprint was predicted to go bankrupt. It didn’t. He saved it.
Does anyone else wonder if Unlimited Data will end up going away much like Hesse?
This is my concern.
Dear Framily,
It’s coming.
Love,
VZW
In the last seven years, SEVEN YEARS!!, Sprint has done nothing in my area to improve coverage. I am 50 miles outside of NYC. In that time, ATT has quadrupled their coverage going from Edge to 4GLTE. Even Tmobile now has better coverage than Spring in my area and they didnt even offer service here a year ago. Sprint needs to seriously invest in building out their network or they might as well just go away.
If what you’re saying is true they should be the 4th biggest carrier, not T-Mobile.
I would expect that to be the case pretty soon.
Did Sprint kick Hesse out of their framily plan?
Sprint still doesn’t offer 4g service in Denver (a major market), yet they still charge for it by telling customers that it will be rolled out shortly. I understand that it’s a big task to take on by upgrading your network, but they are waaay behind the other guys out here.
http://blogs.denverpost.com/techknowbytes/2014/06/30/sprint-4g-lte-denver-end-june-happening-sprint-mum-plans/13826/
Salespeople should not companies, innovators should.