1. AT&T and Sprint
A race to become the nation’s top
wireless provider

2. Home Screen
O A merging market: AT&T/Cingular & Sprint/Nextel merge
O Winners and Losers: Who reaped the benefits???
O Why did we lose? Sprint-Nextel Friction and Finger
pointing
O Where’s the opportunity for improvement
O Who has the brighter Post- merger Future???

3. A Merging Market
O In 2005, AT&T and Cingular Wireless completed a $41 billion
dollar deal, becoming the nation’s largest wireless carrier in
terms of subscribers.
O Cingular brought along more than 46 million subscriber's;
becoming a profitable asset to AT&T and surpassing its biggest
competitor, Verizon Wireless.
O In 2005, Sprint and Nextel Wireless inked their merger as well,
becoming a serious contender in the consumer wireless
market.
O Nextel, much like Cingular, brought a new set of subscribers to
Sprint. The companies’ wildly popular “Walkie Talkie”
cellphone on the “Push to Talk” network became Sprint’s
major cash cow at the time.

4. Winners and Losers: who reaped the
benefits?
AT&T
O
opening access to both the Cingular
and AT&T Wireless GSM networks to
further improve coverage, allowing
customers of both companies to use
the new, combined network without
roaming charges.
O
Shortly after their merger, Apple’s
IPHONE was exclusively on AT&T’s
network. This increased their revenue
within the wireless marketplace.
O
Nextel did not deliver nearly the
number of subscribers that Sprint
was eagerly anticipating.
O
The distinct differences in business
cultures and plans for the company
from the CEO’s all the way down to
their staff members became toxic;
leading to a lack of consistent
leadership and a unrealized
company vision.
O
Sprint, back in early 2008, passed
up on a deal to bring the IPHONE to
Sprint’s network; a self-inflicted
mistake.
Customers had the ability to utilize
both companies cellular networks for
no additional charges.
O
SPRINT

5. Sprint and Nextel: “A match not made in heaven”.
The CEO of Sprint, Dan Hesse, was unable to get the CEO of
Nextel to compromise in terms of his role within the company
after the merger was approved. This problematic business culture
facilitated itself from the top of the organizational level down to
the bottom.
Consumers were complaining about the poor customer service
quality and subsequent lack of innovation with regards to Sprint’s
cellphone inventory.
In fact, Gary Burcham, CEO of the Missouri Bank and Trust co.
stated that “Ten years ago, that was the phone of choice for our
customer base. Now, I don’t see them”.

6. Where’s the Opportunity for improving?
O AT&T is not resting. They’re relentless and determined to
become the nation’s top wireless provider.
O AT&T almost struck another huge merger with the company, T-
Mobile but the deal was not approved by member of the U.S.
Congress; citing the companies’ aspirations of becoming a
technological oligarchy.
O Sprint, on the other hand, is trying to rehabilitate their
tarnished image after the distasteful merger with Nextel.
O Sprint is making strides towards doing just that. Just
recently, the company is working on offloading the Nextel
portion of the company to Japanese wireless
company, Softbank for an estimated $20 billion.

7. Who will have a brighter future???
Only time will tell. AT&T and Sprint have already come a long ways
regarding their profitability and customer base after merging with
Cingular and Nextel.
AT&T is a close second to Verizon Wireless regarding cellular and
data network performance.
Sprint is a distant third but can gain tremendous ground on both
companies if their upcoming merger with Softbank is agreed upon
and approved. This will eliminate a lot of the toxic waste that has been
holding the company back for quite some time.
A brighter future is ahead for AT&T and Sprint if they are innovative
and consumer savvy enough at figuring out what will keep them
signing up for more in years to come.

8. REFERENCES
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Pasternak, Laura. A plan for the brand. Communications World. Pgs. 32-34. (Jul-Aug
2012).
Smith, Barbara-Fagan; Skelton, Ruta. Practical tips for merger communication. Roi
communication. Pgs.1-3. (2012).
Solheim, Shelley. Cingular Nation? E-Week News and Analysis. Pg.40. (Dec.2004).
McGuire, Russ. McGuire’s Law: The value of any product or service increases with its
mobility. Word Press. Pg.1 (2011). http://mcguireslaw.com/russ-mcguire/
The 7S Model and change: Increasing your chance of organizational success.
Educational Business Articles.(2012). http://www.educational-business-articles.com/7smodel.html
Haryanto, Andry. Sprint Nextel Merger Analyzed using Organizational Metaphors. Scribd.
Pgs. 1-21. (Apr-2008). http://www.scribd.com/doc/2621922/Sprint-Nextel-MergerAnalyzed
Anderson, Lisa. Merger and Acquisition: Integration key to Success. LMA Consulting
Group. (2012). http://www.lma-consultinggroup.com/article_ma.html
Whitacre, Edward. (Testimony). Testimony of Edward E. Whitacre Jr. United States
Committee on the Judiciary. (Jun-2006).
http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=e655f9e2809e5476862f7
35da1172414&wit_id=e655f9e2809e5476862f735da1172414-1-1.

9. REFERENCES
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Davis, Mark. Sprint plans for end of Nextel push to talk network. The Kansas
City Star. (Jun-2012).
http://www.kansascity.com/2012/06/18/3664694/sprint-plans-for-end-ofnextel.htm
Richman, Barbara. Face to Face communication can help you accomplish
business objectives. Memphis Business Journal. (Aug 2012).
http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/print-edition/2012/08/17/face-toface-communication-can-help.html?page=all.
Burton, John; Doyle, Sheena; Stone, Kathryn. Message Received?
Community Care; 5/1/2003, Issue 1470, p44.
Twiddy, David. Sprint Affiliate sues over Virgin deal. The Seattle Times. (Sep2009).
Carr, Housley. Designers expect a flurry of work as major Wireless Players
Merge. ENR: Engineering News-Record; Sourcebook, Vol. 254 Issue
25A, p83-84 (Jul-2005).
Palmer,Ian; Dunford, Richard and Akin, Gibb. Managing Organizational
Change. Second edition. Ch.2. Pg.24 (Jan 2008)

10. QUESTIONS???