Sprint CEO: Failure Of AT&T/T-Mobile Deal Means 'Many More Options' For Sprint

Sprint spent much of 2011 battling a proposed merger between its competitors AT&T and T-Mobile USA. Seven weeks after that deal was officially declared dead, Sprint Chief Executive Dan Hesse said the break-off would create opportunities for Sprint.

“It means many more options for Sprint than we would have had if the merger had gone through,” said Hesse in an interview following Sprint’s Feb. 8th fourth-quarter earnings call. Hesse did not speculate on those options beyond referring to T-Mobile’s spectrum being back on “the table” in terms of general industry availability. During Sprint’s Feb. 8th call, Hesse said Sprint would entertain any transactions and partnerships that it viewed as benefiting shareholders. Analysts have suggested some possibilities. One of the most prevalent hypotheses is that Sprint will strike a network-sharing deal with T-Mobile. Such a move would grant T-Mobile access to a 4G/LTE network while giving Sprint additional spectrum/capacity and generating revenues.