Sprint COO, Before Stepping Down, on Outlook for 2018
Sprint’s COO of Technology Guenther Ottendorfer, who announced hours after taping an interview with Cheddar Friday that he is stepping down from his post, discussed what the telecommunications company has in store for the year ahead.
Ottendorfer said that in 2018 Sprint is looking to add new sites to its network and will spend $5 to $6 billion in the next year. He added the company is prioritizing massive MIMO, a multi-antenna technology, and plans to expand its High Performance User Equipment (HPUE) program, which was unveiled in late 2016.
“That will help us, in a world of growing data, to fulfill our customer demands,” Ottendorfer said.
In a statement he said that HPUE can expand its 2.5 GHz coverage by up to 30 percent, including indoors.
These investments come after Sprint recently called off a merger with rival carrier T-Mobile. The companies have been in talks on and off since 2013.
The wireless telecommunication market in the United States was worth an estimated $256 billion in 2016, according to Statista. Currently, the industry is dominated by both AT&T and Verizon, the same report noted. A merger of the #3 and #4 players in the industry would have still lagged behind the giants.
Still, analysts consider that as consumers prefer unlimited data, both Sprint and T-Mobile are poised to chip away the AT&T and Verizon’s market share dominance.
In the tweet Friday, Ottendorfer said he was leaving the company to be with family in Vienna.
“I have been working here with full energy [and] passion [and] I am proud of all we have accomplished and [I’m] excited for what Sprint will do next!” he said in the tweet, adding that the “network is in excellent hands [with] my friend Dr. John Saw,” Ottendorfer said.
He’d been with Sprint since 2015.
Markets are emerging from a turbulent Q3. Horizon’s Mike Dickson shares insights on interest rates, small caps, and where investors should look in Q4 and beyond
Bambu Ventures's Kyle Pretsch dives into Lemonaid’s $10M buyout, down from 23andMe’s $400M price tag, and what’s next after Chrome Co.’s dramatic pivot.
Former Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers learned all about technology’s volatile highs and lows as a veteran of the internet’s early boom days during the late 1990s and the ensuing meltdown that followed the mania. And now he is seeing potential signs of the cycle repeating with another transformative technology in artificial intelligence. Chambers is trying take some of the lessons he learned while riding a wave that turned Cisco into the world's most valuable company in 2000 before a crash hammered its stock price and apply them as an investor in AI startups. He recently discussed AI's promise and perils during an interview with The Associated Press.
Grove Collaborative’s CEO shares how the company is reinventing everyday goods with sustainability at the core and working toward a plastic-free future.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens shares plans for affordable housing, community-led growth, and why private and public grocery stores could be key to food equity.
Tesla reported a surprise increase in sales in the third quarter as the electric car maker likely benefited from a rush by consumers to take advantage of a $7,500 credit before it expired on Sept. 30. The company reported Thursday that sales in the three months through September rose 7% compared to the same period a year ago. The gain follows two quarters of steep declines as people turned off by CEO Elon Musk’s foray into right-wing politics avoided buying his company’s cars and even protested at some dealerships. Sales rose to 497,099 vehicles, compared with 462,890 in the same period last year.
