????斯普林特（Sprint）是美國第四大電信運營商，多年以來，它一直在苦苦尋找能使自己盈利的細分市場。該公司耗資數十億美元構建了一個4G的WiMAX網絡，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。假設反壟斷監管機構最終批準了美國電話電報公司（AT&T）對T-Mobile USA的收購，那么斯普林特在美國市場上的排名雖然升至第三位，但它將陷入更加不利的地位，遠遠落后于并購后排名第一的美國電話電報公司/ T-Mobile和排名第二的威瑞森無線（Verizon Wireless）。

????斯普林特最大的阻礙之一，就是未能成功確定4G戰略。不過事實上，總部位于堪薩斯州的斯普林特公司恰恰是第一家在美國推出4G網絡的電信運營商，這要歸功于該公司斥巨資構建的WiMAX網絡。不過現在威瑞森無線和美國電話電報公司公司都已經致力于長期演進技術（LTE）的研究，這是一種與WiMAX相競爭的第四代電信技術。隨著T-Mobile被美國電話電報公司收歸旗下，LTE也將在美國移動用戶中變得更加普及。

????Forrester Research分析師查爾斯?戈爾文認為：“WiMAX顯然不會是未來的主導技術，因此對于許多想要更高的網絡帶寬的客戶來說，LTE將是比WiMAX更可靠的替代技術。而其中一些客戶所在的細分市場正是斯普林特亟待打入的市場。”

????一旦LTE技術變得無處不在，企業客戶和個人客戶也會想在他們的移動設備上享受類似寬帶的網速，屆時斯普林特將更難取得大的成功。因為大型跨國公司希望其經常出差的員工所配備的技術和產品，在世界其它地區也同樣有效。

????Forrester公司的戈爾文表示：“在其現有的CDMA網絡下，斯普林特并不具備這種能力。在WiMAX網絡下，它仍然不具備這種能力。”像斯普林特一樣，威瑞森公司也運營CDMA網絡，不過不同的是威瑞森已經開始構建其LTE網絡了。而斯普林特是否會調頭進軍LTE？如果答案是肯定的，那么它何時進軍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，斯普林特肯定會面臨更大的壓力，促使它轉向LTE技術。

????美國電話電報公司上周日的聲明讓許多人感到措手不及。因為就在幾天前，還有傳言稱斯普林特可能與T-Mobile進行合并。

????美國電話電報公司在上周日發布的新聞稿中表示：“美國無線通信業是世界上競爭最為激烈的市場之一，在這起收購之后也仍將如此。世界上只有少數幾個國家的本地市場有五個以上的無線運營商可供大多數消費者進行選擇，而美國就是其中之一。”

????如果美國電話電報公司成功收購了T-Mobile，這將意味著在美國市場上，每四個無線用戶之中，就有三個是美國電話電報公司或威瑞森的用戶。在我看來，屆時美國市場更像一個雙頭壟斷市場，而不是什么“競爭激烈的市場”。

????斯普林特在客戶維系、客戶服務和產品陣容方面已經有了進步，此外它還試圖在定價上超越其他規模較大的競爭對手。不過面對威瑞森和強強聯手的美國電話電報公司/T-Mobile，這些小的進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能夠改變游戲規則的法寶，一些其它運營商提供不了的東西。

????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.