Wall Street has been snapping up Sprint Nextel shares recently amid signs the struggling communications giant may be resolving problems that have plagued it since the second half of last year.
Perhaps the most encouraging sign comes in the form of record sales for the new "iPhone killer" Sprint co-developed with Samsung. Despite mixed reviews, the Instinct smartphone broke the company's record for the first week of sales for any high-speed EVDO mobile device.
"The strong early response tells us that wireless customers recognize Instinct as a highly innovative and convenient touchscreen device combined with the fast speeds available on the largest national mobile broadband network," said John Garcia, president of Sprint's wireless division.
The Comeback Road
Since joining the company early this year, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has been leading efforts to stem subscriber defections through the launch of beefed-up customer service and a $99 voice/data plan. That renewed focus on subscribers appears to be paying off. During a recent meeting with investors, Verizon Communications President Denny Strigl noted that Sprint's performance had picked up in the past 30 days, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Sprint has also agreed to spin off its fledgling WiMAX network, which had been threatening to drain as much as $5 billion from the company. A joint Sprint/Clearwire WiMAX deal announced last year will launch with a combined $3.2 billion investment from industry giants Comcast, Intel, Time Warner, Google and Bright House Networks.
And last month Sprint and infrastructure partner Samsung Telecommunications said WiMAX was ready for prime time. Recent tests in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C., areas show that the network has passed rigorous performance criteria pertaining to signal-handoff problems Sprint encountered earlier this year, the companies said.
In the short term, however, Sprint is relying on the Samsung Instinct to keep Apple's new iPhone...

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