RSSSprint hands keys for cellular towers to third-party
By Ed Oswald | Published July 25, 2008, 10:49 AM
Operation and maintenance of Sprint's cellular network towers will be taken over by TowerCo, freeing up capital for the cash-strapped company.
TowerCo paid $670 million for about 3,300 CDMA and IDEN towers. In exchange, the company has signed a long-term lease with Sprint for their use. The deal is expected to close within 90 days.
Monies realized from the sale are likely to be applied to pay down Sprint's $24 billion debt, the company said. Sources also indicate a sale of the Nextel division is also being considered.
While at first the deal may seem somewhat strange, it makes sense for Sprint due to the carrier's current situation. By outsourcing the upkeep of its network to another party, Sprint expects to save money in the long run and better focus on its customers.
It's also not all that uncommon. There are other companies doing the same thing as TowerCo -- such as American Tower and Crown Castle International -- and other carriers have already sold off some of their towers, including AT&T and Verizon Wireless.
"Significantly, this transaction provides Sprint Nextel with additional liquidity which gives us greater flexibility in managing our company," Sprint's head of field engineering and operations Bob Azzi said in a statement.
Most of the Sprint-owned towers are located in large metropolitan markets, which makes them very valuable to the owner. Its not immediately clear if TowerCo works with any of Sprint's competitors, such as Verizon.
I thought that the iDen network was being sold to the DOD for goverment uses, so they wouldn't have to keep purchasing contracts with AT&T/Sprint/Verizon for work/standby cellphones for goverment employees, military, firefighters, ambulances, etc - also segmenting them from flooding commercial traffic during emergencys...
http://www.phonenews.com...-iden-sprint-wimax-1055/
http://www.engadget.com/...nt-nextels-iden-network/
Considering that the most valuable part of the nextel buyout was their licence on the 800mhz spectrum, saving them from bidding on the newly opened 700mhz bands - whats left of nextel other then a couple customers who haven't already been switched over to sprints CDMA network?
Score: 0
|So...Does this mean a layoff of thousands of Sprint tower maintenance employees?
Score: 0
|Is this a serious question?
If Sprint can lease tower services for less than they can own them outright, pay lease for the sites and maintain them they would be crazy not to sell them.!
If another management company can maintain them and sell space on them to various service providers and this increase their revenue, AND MAINTAIN THE WORKERS NECESSARY TO MAINTAIN THEM, then more power to them.
Evidently now companies are supposed to feather bed the employees regardless of how the market changes!
(Go lookup he origin of that term featherbedding!)
Score: 0
|