Sprint Nextel has turned to a wireless industry veteran in naming current Embarq Corp. CEO and Chairman Dan Hesse new CEO and President. So what might we expect from him? Perhaps a focus on the many details of execution that seemed lacking in Sprint, of late. Hesse gets high marks for execution at Embarq.
Hesse also was considered a top candidate for the Qwest CEO post as well. And in some ways, Qwest and Sprint are in similar situations. Qwest does not have the financial ability to do some things one might expect from a former Baby Bell. Sprint likewise is in desperate need of serious attention to its core business, even as it contemplates a fourth-generation WiMAX rollout.
Neither company seems suited to a major acquisition that would fix the basic problems each faces. Qwest lacks scale to make some strategies work (it does not own a wireless network and arguably can't afford a major fiber-to-home video initiative).
Sprint remains the third-largest U.S. wireless carrier, but is feeling a rejuvenated T-Mobile nipping at its heels and has to do something really serious about its churn problems. Beyond that, Sprint is looking at some very basic decisions about future technology direction.
Volume in the global markets clearly is in GSM, and Verizon, the other major CDMA-based carrier, has made clear its decision to migrate to LTE, a GSM platform, for 4G. That leaves Sprint even more out on the fringe, as it now supports iDEN, which no other carrier uses, and CDMA which is losing traction in the U.S. market, if not yet internationally.
Before those issues can be tackled, Sprint has to stabilize itself. And Hesse is an adroit manager, most observers probably would say.
Before taking the helm at Sprint spinoff Embarq, he spent 23 years at AT&T, serving as President and CEO of AT&T Wireless Services from 1997-2000, then the nation’s largest wireless provider.
It is probably fair to say Hesse will have to right the ship before considering launching a new vessel.
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