A Message for Dan Hesse

Peter : On Rad's Radar?
Peter
| Peter Radizeski of RAD-INFO, Inc. talking telecom, Cloud, VoIP, CLEC, and The Channel.

A Message for Dan Hesse

sprint-logo-1sm.jpgThe merger of AT&T and T-Mobile will likely have extreme anti-competitive effects on the mobile industry. Certainly, the DOJ and the two F-Agencies (FTC and FCC) need to take note that mobile is churning the service economy of America right now and this merger could derail that. That being said, I have this to say to the CEO of Sprint, Dan Hesse:

You have lawyers and lobbyists and SVP's. Let them carry this fight for you. You need to keep your eye on the balls in the air. What are they you ask?

Clearwire - the wholesale 4G network that you need to be up and running nationwide in order for Sprint to be competitive.

Pivot - the cable cabal that you work with on Clearwire and other endeavors. If anything, you should find a way to sell deeper into the MSO market - out-of-region MPLS, FMC, VoIP origination and termination and of course Sprintlink (Internet bandwidth), which is still some of the best out there.

Sprint wireline - you need to have a message that Sprint Wireline is here to stay - and that you can talk about it for a whole hour without mentioning wireless. (So far, you can't talk about your fiber network for more than half an hour before wireless creeps into the conversation.) Your fiber may lead you to that thing stockholders call profitability.

And finally, while you have to know what your competitors are up to, you do not have to spend all your time comparing yourself to them or reacting to them. (I'm talking, of course, about Sprint Nextel Wireless network).

You have an M2M strategy that is more mature than AT&T or VZW, but you seem to lose business to them.  M2M is how you leverage your networks for extra revenue. (See the original Amazon Whispernet deal.)

Your job, Mr. Hesse, is to have vsion, develop the strategy, and lead the whole company, its partners and its stockholders forward. Netscape lost because it concentrated on IE too much. Pepsi is now the number 3 soda behind Coke and Diet Coke, partly (I imagine) because they spend so much time comparing themselves to the competition. Avis spent time talking about being No. 2, but never mentioned Hertz. Smart move.

There is plenty going on in the telecom space, and the change is occurring more rapidly today than before. Tablets, games, apps, OS, gadgets, Wi-Fi, etc.

Cricket, Leap, LightSquared, US Cellular, Cellular South and even MetroPCS could make for a great alliance. Not against the merger, but for the myriad ways that you partner. Spectrum utilization. Handset fulfillment and volume buying. Bundling. App stores.

Couple that alliance with Pivot and Clearwire and you could probably beat AT&T at its game - if you get creative and focus. But focus on your game. The fastest way to lose is to focus on the other side of the net and what your opponent is doing instead of on what you are doing, how well you are executing on the plan, and the strategy you use.


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