We’ve had an inkling for months that Sprint would start offering the iPhone this Fall. Peculiar job listings, leaked memos, and even The Wall Street Journal have all contributed to the theory.
But Sprint itself has been relatively quiet on the subject (at least publicly), until now. Cnet relays comments, picked up by Fierce Wireless, made by the carrier’s CFO yesterday in regards to the Sprint-bound iPhone…
Sprint’s Chief Financial Officer Joe Euteneuer was on hand yesterday at an investor’s conference to field questions about the ongoing iPhone speculation. And while Euteneuer didn’t confirm the rumors, he didn’t exactly debunk them either.
When asked whether or not Sprint felt its network could handle the extra iPhone traffic, the CFO answered:
“Steve [Elfman, president of Sprint’s network operations and wholesale] and his team have been relentless on watching the existing network to make sure that we are spending the capital we need and to make sure we don’t create a bad user experience – irrespective of all the rumors.”
Another big question was if the carrier planned to continue offering unlimited data:
“Offering unlimited data is about ‘managing the network properly.’ If we got to a point where we thought that keeping an unlimited plan wasn’t going to create the profitable marketplace that we wanted, then we would have to look for change. But we think we have great runway room.”
And finally, Euteneuer was asked if selling the iPhone would put pressure on Sprint’s margins. He answered:
“It does come with some short term pain on your operating margin. But what it does for them [carriers selling the iPhone] is an increasing of their brand and a reduction of churn. The benefits of having such an iconic device are really huge.”
Not only is Sprint expected to start offering Apple’s smartphone next month, rumors suggest that it will soon start carrying its tablet as well. Obviously, only time will reveal the whole truth, but things are definitely looking up for Sprint customers.