six pack

One Scenario for Sprint's Long Term Future

A view from ground zero.

iDEN under Nextel was extremely profitable. Sprint could not grasp the concept because of a "not invented here" mentality.
Nextel brought Qualcomm's Q-Chat that let's CDMA and iDEN networks mesh seamlessly together.
Sprint marketing under Hesse is leading with the PTT differentiator.
Nextel had the lowest churn in wireless because of the encapsulated PTT base that even with stodgy handsets and enormous coverage issues still stayed with the product right up until the merger.
VZ technical crews actually used Nextel as opposed to their own cdma system.
To spin off 18 million custmers on iDEN when the rest of the network is now technically ready to interact with it does not make sense until you migrate those customers.
Sprint unlike Att and VZ does not have a big bunch of wireline real estate that it has to make a profit on. Sprint can be extemely price competatve if and when it gets back on track.