Sprint Pays New Landlord $670 Million

July 25, 2008 in Industry News, Sprint

Sprint Nextel has apparently decided to sell 3,300 of its cell phone towers for $670 million dollars and will now lease network facilities from the new owners in a long-term deal. For a company long rumored to be biting the dust, going from “owning” your towers to “leasing” them doesn’t seem like a step in the right direction.

Sprint executives like Bob Azzi seem to think its a huge success, “By leasing rather than owning these network facilities, we can better focus on our core business of providing communications services to consumers, businesses and government customers.”

Ummm… isn’t the whole tower thingy kind of essential in the whole communication service doohickey deal? This announcement is like broadcasting that you live on your mom’s couch just as you’re walking into a bar full of beautiful single women.

So why did Sprint think it was such an amazing idea? Probably because their financial advisor in this deal was Wachovia, a financial instituition who lost nearly $9 Billion Dollars LAST QUARTER. And no… nothing in that last sentence was a joke. I get mad at the weather guy for being wrong… but at least he doesn’t lose $9 billion dollars in 3 months! Unless of course you blame him for hurricanes and natural disasters since he is the one announcing them and all.

It looks like a last ditch effort to save a struggling company by sacrificing some core assets instead of simply waving the white flag. Its just odd considering the recent successes of the company seem like their first big wins in much too long. Just as the home team gets a taste of victory, the manager ships all the veterans to playoff contenders and claims it is time to rebuild.

Disappointing for Sprint fans to say the least.

[Via InformationWeek]

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