OVERLAND PARK, KS—Sprint's CEO, Dan Hesse, is worried. At a reporter's roundtable here at Sprint's headquarters, Hesse laid out his concerns for the U.S. wireless industry, once again reiterating in rousing terms his opposition to the proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile.
Sprint has driven innovation among cell phone carriers for years, said Hesse and Farid Adib, Sprint's product development chief. Without Sprint introducing 4G WiMAX in 2008, Hesse argued, Verizon would have been much slower to turn on LTE, and AT&T would "just have called its 3G network 4G."
Hesse and Adib took a few minutes to discuss future phones and service plans. When asked about Sprint not carrying the Palm Pre 3, Adib said that "HP ... has been a lifelong partner of Sprint" and that "we still have open dialogs, and work together ... a lot of our OEMS have had ups and downs, but we never count any of them out."
Sprint's strength as the "only unlimited carrier" may or may not continue, depending on "how much capacity do we have," Hesse said. "Every few months we take a look, we take a look at tonnage, and we take a look at all the things we're doing to offload tonnage ... we'll just continue to monitor it. Nothing is forever ... [but] we think it's a terrific opportunity to differentiate ourselves in the market."
The Sprint CEO also said he's concerned about the current round of patent lawsuits between Microsoft, Apple, and various Android phone manufacturers. These could result in more expensive phones, and the costs would be borne by carriers and customers, he said.
"I wouldn't say don't worry about it," Hesse said. "We collectively, the industry, are the customers and potential victims in this. There's no upside to us and I hope it gets sorted out."
But Hesse's biggest worry by far is the AT&T/T-Mobile merger, which he describes as "the end of the U.S. wireless industry." While Sprint pushed the industry ahead in the past, innovation will slow down in a market dominated by two giant behemoths, AT&T and Verizon, he said. Sprint has a contingency plan if the merger looks likely, but "I don't spend any time on it," Hesse said, instead spending "all my time on making sure the decision is the right one."
"If this thing goes through I hope you like 4G, because it's going to be the last generation America ever gets," Hesse said.
Yesterday, Sprint said it plans to make a major announcement around its 4G network buildout this fall.