????斯普林特（Sprint）是美國(guó)第四大電信運(yùn)營(yíng)商，多年以來，它一直在苦苦尋找能使自己盈利的細(xì)分市場(chǎng)。該公司耗資數(shù)十億美元構(gòu)建了一個(gè)4G的WiMAX網(wǎng)絡(luò)，但卻未能成功盈利。此外斯普林特的客戶也在流失（即許多客戶與公司解約），而且它的客服口碑也不盡如人意。假設(shè)反壟斷監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)最終批準(zhǔn)了美國(guó)電話電報(bào)公司（AT&T）對(duì)T-Mobile USA的收購(gòu)，那么斯普林特在美國(guó)市場(chǎng)上的排名雖然升至第三位，但它將陷入更加不利的地位，遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)落后于并購(gòu)后排名第一的美國(guó)電話電報(bào)公司/ T-Mobile和排名第二的威瑞森無(wú)線（Verizon Wireless）。

????斯普林特最大的阻礙之一，就是未能成功確定4G戰(zhàn)略。不過事實(shí)上，總部位于堪薩斯州的斯普林特公司恰恰是第一家在美國(guó)推出4G網(wǎng)絡(luò)的電信運(yùn)營(yíng)商，這要?dú)w功于該公司斥巨資構(gòu)建的WiMAX網(wǎng)絡(luò)。不過現(xiàn)在威瑞森無(wú)線和美國(guó)電話電報(bào)公司公司都已經(jīng)致力于長(zhǎng)期演進(jìn)技術(shù)（LTE）的研究，這是一種與WiMAX相競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的第四代電信技術(shù)。隨著T-Mobile被美國(guó)電話電報(bào)公司收歸旗下，LTE也將在美國(guó)移動(dòng)用戶中變得更加普及。

????Forrester Research分析師查爾斯?戈?duì)栁恼J(rèn)為：“WiMAX顯然不會(huì)是未來的主導(dǎo)技術(shù)，因此對(duì)于許多想要更高的網(wǎng)絡(luò)帶寬的客戶來說，LTE將是比WiMAX更可靠的替代技術(shù)。而其中一些客戶所在的細(xì)分市場(chǎng)正是斯普林特亟待打入的市場(chǎng)。”

????一旦LTE技術(shù)變得無(wú)處不在，企業(yè)客戶和個(gè)人客戶也會(huì)想在他們的移動(dòng)設(shè)備上享受類似寬帶的網(wǎng)速，屆時(shí)斯普林特將更難取得大的成功。因?yàn)榇笮涂鐕?guó)公司希望其經(jīng)常出差的員工所配備的技術(shù)和產(chǎn)品，在世界其它地區(qū)也同樣有效。

????Forrester公司的戈?duì)栁谋硎荆骸霸谄洮F(xiàn)有的CDMA網(wǎng)絡(luò)下，斯普林特并不具備這種能力。在WiMAX網(wǎng)絡(luò)下，它仍然不具備這種能力。”像斯普林特一樣，威瑞森公司也運(yùn)營(yíng)CDMA網(wǎng)絡(luò)，不過不同的是威瑞森已經(jīng)開始構(gòu)建其LTE網(wǎng)絡(luò)了。而斯普林特是否會(huì)調(diào)頭進(jìn)軍LTE？如果答案是肯定的，那么它何時(shí)進(jìn)軍LTE？斯普林特還沒有就這些問題給出回答。不過隨著T-Mobile被收購(gòu)，斯普林特肯定會(huì)面臨更大的壓力，促使它轉(zhuǎn)向LTE技術(shù)。

????美國(guó)電話電報(bào)公司上周日的聲明讓許多人感到措手不及。因?yàn)榫驮趲滋烨?，還有傳言稱斯普林特可能與T-Mobile進(jìn)行合并。

????美國(guó)電話電報(bào)公司在上周日發(fā)布的新聞稿中表示：“美國(guó)無(wú)線通信業(yè)是世界上競(jìng)爭(zhēng)最為激烈的市場(chǎng)之一，在這起收購(gòu)之后也仍將如此。世界上只有少數(shù)幾個(gè)國(guó)家的本地市場(chǎng)有五個(gè)以上的無(wú)線運(yùn)營(yíng)商可供大多數(shù)消費(fèi)者進(jìn)行選擇，而美國(guó)就是其中之一?！?/p>

????如果美國(guó)電話電報(bào)公司成功收購(gòu)了T-Mobile，這將意味著在美國(guó)市場(chǎng)上，每四個(gè)無(wú)線用戶之中，就有三個(gè)是美國(guó)電話電報(bào)公司或威瑞森的用戶。在我看來，屆時(shí)美國(guó)市場(chǎng)更像一個(gè)雙頭壟斷市場(chǎng)，而不是什么“競(jìng)爭(zhēng)激烈的市場(chǎng)”。

????斯普林特在客戶維系、客戶服務(wù)和產(chǎn)品陣容方面已經(jīng)有了進(jìn)步，此外它還試圖在定價(jià)上超越其他規(guī)模較大的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手。不過面對(duì)威瑞森和強(qiáng)強(qiáng)聯(lián)手的美國(guó)電話電報(bào)公司/T-Mobile，這些小的進(jìn)步還不足以使斯普林特生存下去。斯普林特真正需要的是一個(gè)能夠改變游戲規(guī)則的法寶，一些其它運(yùn)營(yíng)商提供不了的東西。

????譯者：樸成奎

????Sprint (S), the fourth-largest U.S. carrier, has struggled to find its niche for years. It spent billions of dollars building out a WiMAX 4G network that has failed to pay off. It's also battled customer losses (a.k.a. churn in industry lingo) and a reputation for less-than-stellar customer service. Assuming AT&T's (T) acquisition of T-Mobile makes it through anti-trust regulators, Sprint will be forced into an even further weakened position as the number three U.S. carrier, way behind AT&T/T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless (VZ).

????One of Sprint's biggest hurdles has been figuring out a 4G strategy. The Kansas-based carrier was actually the first U.S. operator to launch a 4G network, thanks to the expensive WiMAX buildout. But both Verizon Wireless and AT&T have already committed to LTE, a competing fourth-generation technology. With T-Mobile under AT&T's fold, LTE will have even greater reach to U.S. mobile users.

????"WiMAX was clearly not going to be the dominant technology going forward," says Charles Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research. "This is going to make LTE technology more viable as an alternative for many customers trying to get broadband to their homes, some in markets that Sprint was aiming to address."

????If (or more likely, when) LTE becomes ubiquitous, it will be even harder for Sprint to score big wins among enterprise customers as well as everyday consumers looking for broadband-like speeds on their mobile devices. That's because large, multinational companies want to arm mobile employees with technologies and products that work in the rest of the world.

????"Sprint doesn't have that with its current CDMA network and they don't have that with WiMAX," says Forrester's Golvin. Like Sprint, Verizon phones also run on CDMA networks, but unlike Sprint, Verizon has already started building out LTE. If and when Sprint migrates to LTE is a question mark the company hasn't yet answered, but the T-Mobile acquisition will definitely put more pressure on the carrier to do so.

????AT&T's announcement on Sunday came as a surprise to many. Just days before, rumors circulated about a possible merger between Sprint and T-Mobile.

????"The U.S. wireless industry is one of the most fiercely competitive markets in the world and will remain so after this deal," AT&T said in a press release on Sunday. "The U.S. is one of the few countries in the world where a large majority of consumers can choose from five or more wireless providers in their local market."

????But AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile means that AT&T and Verizon combined will own nearly three out of every four wireless subscriptions in the U.S. Sounds more like a duopoly than a "fiercely competitive market" to me.

????Sprint has improvements in customer retention, customer service and product lineup. It's also tried outdoing larger competitors on pricing. But these small improvements won't be enough to survive against a new and combined AT&T/T-Mobile and Verizon. What it really needs is a game-changer, something that other carriers can't offer.