Sprint - Nextel 2008 Annual Report Download - page 31

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
OVERVIEW
Business Strategies and Key Priorities
Sprint is a communications company offering a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline
communications products and services that are designed to meet the needs of individual consumers, businesses,
government subscribers and resellers. The communications industry has been and will continue to be highly
competitive on the basis of price, the types of services and devices offered and the quality of service. As
discussed below in “Effects on our Wireless Business of Post-paid Subscriber Losses,” the Company has
experienced significant losses of subscribers in the critical post-paid wireless market and is currently focused on
specific steps to reduce such losses.
Our business strategy is to be responsive to changing consumer mobility demands by being innovative
and differentiated in the marketplace. Significant steps in positioning ourselves for 2010 include our fourth
quarter 2009 investment agreement with Clearwire to contribute an additional $1.176 billion increasing our
ownership percentage to 56% as of December 31, 2009 and enhancing Clearwire’s ability to further its 4G
network buildout; and the fourth quarter 2009 acquisitions of Virgin Mobile USA, Inc. (VMU) allowing us to
broaden our product offerings in the prepaid wireless market and iPCS, Inc. (iPCS) to expand our direct
subscriber base, grow our direct coverage area and simplify our business operations. Our future growth plans and
strategy revolve around the following key priorities:
‰Improve the customer experience;
‰Strengthen the Sprint brand; and
‰Generate operating cash flow.
Our Sprint brand stands for Simplicity, Productivity and Value by making it affordable to do more than
just talk. We have reduced confusion over pricing plans and complex bills with our Simply Everything and
Everything Data plans and our Any Mobile AnytimeSM feature that offer savings compared to our competition. In
addition to savings offered to consumers, new Business Advantage pricing plans are available to our business
subscribers who can also take advantage of Any Mobile, AnytimeSM with certain plans. To simplify and improve
the customer experience, we have introduced tools such as Sprint®One Click that allows subscribers to access
various software applications through a single click on their mobile devices and Ready Now which trains our
subscribers before they leave the store on how to use their mobile devices. For our business subscribers, we aim
to increase their productivity by helping them upgrade from older, less flexible network technologies to IP and by
providing differentiated services that utilize the advantages of combining IP networks with wireless technology.
This differentiation enables us to acquire and retain both wireline-only and combined wireline-wireless
subscribers on our networks.
Consistent with the changing economic environment, our prepaid plans, primarily through the National
Boost Monthly Unlimited, Virgin Mobile and Assurance Wireless offerings, are experiencing strong demand as
our simple, no long-term contract solutions provide good service and value. We plan to continue to grow our
position in the prepaid market by tailoring our products and services to target markets while leveraging our Boost
Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Assurance Wireless brands through new and existing distribution channels.
Sprint has refocused its wholesale business as a reseller of new converged services that leverage the
Sprint network but are sold under the customer’s brand. We have adopted new pricing models, made it easier for
our customers to acquire access and resell our services by bundling wireless and wireline services and focused
our attention to partners with existing distribution channels. In addition, we have strengthened our sales efforts
and expanded to new markets in the rapidly growing machine to machine space.
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