Thomas T. Veldhouse wrote:
> In alt.cellular.attws John Navas <spamfilter1@navasgroup.com> wrote:
>> <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/29/technology/29sprint.html>
>>
>> Sprint?s stock slid more than 9 percent after the company announced a
>> $29.45 billion fourth-quarter loss because of a huge write-down
>> related in part to its merger with Nextel Communications. The company
>> also said it was suspending the payment of its dividend and had
>> borrowed $2.5 billion through a revolving credit facility.
>>
>> Deep, deep trouble, as I've been predicting all along.
>>
>
> It doesn't take a genius to see the problems that would arise from trying to
> combine two established carrieres; one based on CDMA and on on iDen. Don't
> give yourself too much credit.

Only John realized that it would be a bad match.

Actually the real problem was that Nextel would have been a good match
for no one, it was just that Sprint was dumb enough to think that
Nextel's very high ARPU and market niche could be maintained over the
long term, and that Nextel customers, when they did change systems,
would automatically go to Sprint. Instead, there was a mass migration to
Verizon. Nextel customers are about the most unhappy campers of any
carrier, due to the horrible coverage at high prices.