Sprint CEO hints at an upcoming price hike, opens up on failed merger with T-Mobile

Say what you will about Sprint, but the carrier has been home to relatively aggressive deals over the years. Those deals seem to have caught up with the company, however, as Sprint CEO Marcelo Claire hinted that those days could soon be over.

Speaking publicly at an investor event, Claure hinted that Sprint will increase prices sometime during the next quarter. The executive remained coy about which plans would see a price hike, and the company has yet to respond to a request for comment, but the increase looks to be the result of Sprint’s renewed focus following the failed merger with T-Mobile.

Touching on that failed merger, Claure confirmed that talks broke down because, if the merger was to happen, the resulting company would have been controlled by T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom. SoftBank and CEO Masayoshi Son did not want to give up control of Sprint, so an impasse was created that, as we found out not too long ago, could not be bridged.

As weird as it sounds, the failed merger might have been the kick in the pants that Sprint needed to get its act together. The carrier might be increasing the price of its plans, but according to Claure, it looks like those price hikes could be accompanied by an improved network:

We came to the realization that we’re still far away from what the Sprint network can actually deliver. I don’t think we’ve put all our assets to work.

Claure also stated that Sprint could end up spending over $6 billion building out and improving its network and utilizing its purchased spectrum. We’ll see whether things go Sprint’s way in the near future, but it sounds as if the company and its CEO are more than willing to make things better, even if it means customers might have to pay a bit more than before.