Sprint Imports Executive from Japan

Sprint announced that the key executive behind SoftBank’s network in Japan joined Sprint in a newly created position, Technical COO as of November 1. Junichi Miyakawa, has been with SoftBank since 2003 and oversaw the company’s network, and the rollout of its 2.5GHz spectrum. This is the same spectrum that makes up Sprint’s LTE network. Miyakawa will remain a member of the Board with SoftBank but it seems his primary focus will be on Sprint. Senior Analyst at Wells Fargo, Jennifer Fritzsche and her team, “We view this news as a positive move for Sprint. Given the amount of spectrum it has (more than any other Big 4 carrier) the network experience is critical to allowing Sprint to improve customer perception and gain share vs. the other carriers in the space. With Sprint’s multiple bands of 20×20 channels of 2.5GHz spectrum, we continue to believe S has real competitive advantage vs. its peers and should be able to offer a faster and better data experience given the depth of this asset. If executed correctly, we believe S has a real opportunity to turn the ship in terms of gross adds, churn and thus net adds. This hire may be the first of many steps to attain this goal.”