Putting the spring back into Sprint
I feel it’s a bit of a cheek being I’ve not worked there for so long, but Sprint is what got me into this whole telecoms mess and I can’t resist coming up with a rescue plan. So here goes…
- Sell the long distance network.
- Sell the Nextel IDEN network. Either lease back capacity for the remaining business customers, or even better give up on the enterprise user maket and throw in Sprint Business customers into a new enterprise-focused carrier that would include the LD assets.
- Sell WiMax to Uncle Craig with a leaseback/MVNO option in case the battery life and chipset cost of a WiMax phone ever reaches anything worth shouting about.
- Focus back onto core PCS consumer network.
- Get on the plane to Japan and find some cool CDMA gadget to bring back for Christmas. The iPhone is going to make Sprint hurt, as there won’t be many boring silver clamshells coming down the heating flues of California or Cleveland and into bedside stockings this Yuletide.
- Pick up the phone to Nokia and Sony Ericsson, you need some cool phones — fast. Pay their CDMA development costs if need be. At least be ready for the next buying season. Be different.
- Ask the customers if they are happy before they phone to cancel. All hands on the customer service deck. Everyone needs to spend time in stores, in call centres.
- The only job title is “customer service”. “Hi Jane, this is Sprint customer service. This isn’t a sales call, but would you mind me having one minute of your time? I’m Joe Schmo, also Director of Network Planning at Sprint. We’re phoning each and every one of our customers to ask if you’re satisfied with your service and how we could improve.” Yep, all of them. Shock therapy. 50,000 employees, 10 calls a day, you’ll get there in a few months.
- Write a letter of apology to every customer who ever complained and has now left. No gimmicks, gift vouchers. Just an apology. Get each one signed by a real employee.
- Break every rule: Go non-contract, give them the benefit of the doubt, refund 10 minutes for every dropped call, write when there’s a better plan they should be on, use the bill to give them good news like some free calls to their friends etc.
- Start again on the PCS product. Better voice, better messaging, better picture sharing, integration with social nets, integration with GettingThingsDone/personal productivity, community, etc. Do all the media entertainment stuff via partners, or just give it away.
- Integrate with PC experience — it’s “Internet to go”, not “Mobile Internet”.
- Open the wholesale platform up, allow anyone to come up with a Vision-like data plan for their app, even throw in some voice too if that’s part of it. Forget MVNOs, give the users conveniently packaged applications at a fixed price.
- Get an “over the top” fixed-line play, go ride them DOCSIS 3.0 pipes and let the cablecos take the capex strain! Don’t play the quadplay game, you’ve got a losing hand.
- The best defense is vigorous ATTACK.
It’ll either kill or cure the patient!
Posted by Martin Geddes at 11:22 PM
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How would an OTP voip play help anyone at this point, much less sprint?
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