When Will Sprint Get Back on Track?

SoftBank might face a bigger problem than it originally forecast, as it positions Sprint for a run at significantly-higher market share. Most expected Sprint to launch a price-heavy assault on U.S. tariffs and other attributes of the mobile experience. 

But T-Mobile US already has moved to unsettle the market, meaning any future Sprint assault would have to contend with T-Mobile US.

To be sure, Sprint has had other issues. It had the Nextel shutdown and Network Vision transition. Either would have introduced some turbulence. But the point is that the last two years have seen the two largest national competitors continue their market share growth, while T-Mobile US unexpectedly began to grow in 2013. 



In many ways, the United States is an ideal telecommunications market, representing both higher spending by a typical customer and higher ability to spend, per customer. So Sprint cannot be counted out, especially once it has put the Nextel shutdown and Network Vision transitions behind it.

But it might not be as easy as SoftBank once would have hoped.