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Day 6 - IFA International

  • Text
  • Berlin
  • Consumer
  • Products
  • Wireless
  • September
  • Sprint
  • Appliances
  • Global
  • Content
  • Devices
  • Www.cleverdis.com

Keynote Feature DAN

Keynote Feature DAN HESSE Dan Hesse received a BA from Notre Dame, an MBA from Cornell, and an MS from MIT where he was awarded the Brooks Thesis Prize. From there, he spent 23 years at AT&T, becoming President and CEO of AT&T Wireless Services from 1997-2000. He served as CEO for Terabeam Corporation and subsequently Embarq Corporation, before his appointment as CEO of Sprint in December 2007. TAKEOVERS AND MERGERS MARK 2013 Sprint Nextel Corporation and SoftBank Corp. this summer announced the completion of their merger whereby SoftBank invested approximately .6 billion in Sprint, consisting of approximately .6 billion to be distributed to Sprint stockholders and an aggregate billion of new capital to strengthen Sprint’s balance sheet. Dan Hesse continues to serve as CEO of the new company, which dropped the “Nextel” to be known simply as Sprint, while Softbank's Masayoshi Son will become the new company's chairman of the board of directors. It is reported that Masayoshi Son has “big plans” not only for Sprint in the US market but also for Softbank on a global scale. Sprint this summer also announced the successful completion of its transaction to acquire 100% ownership of Clearwire. The merger agreement was first announced in December, 2012 and Clearwire shareholders approved the transaction at a special meeting of stockholders held on July 8, 2013. The deals have been described by analysts as among the more complicated and interesting acquisitions in the industry in a long time. Sprinting Towards the Wireless and Consumer Electronics IFA specialises in innovations and progress in CE & HA, yet it is of particular significance that 2013 saw the first ever keynote by a US wireless CEO. The presence of Dan Hesse, CEO, Sprint Corporation, to address the conference on Friday marked a turning point. IFA and Sprint together is emblematic of the convergence of wireless with CE & HA – for both, the future is connected. Dan Hesse Chief Executive Officer, Sprint “Wireless has evolved to enable an entirely new dimension for home appliances, for smartgrids, healthcare and cars (…)” As one of the leading mobile phone companies in USA, Sprint is wellplaced to see the direction telecommunications are heading – and in his groundbreaking keynote he addressed the impact of a society that is ‘always on’. Hesse spoke of his first visits to Berlin many years ago, when from Checkpoint Charlie he could see across the wall. He likened the changes that are happening in our industry to the changes that took place back then: "On the subject of change, perhaps no industry has changed more or been reshaped more than the wireless industry in recent years. The innovations that are reshaping the wireless industry are transforming perhaps every product that is represented here at IFA. And they are not incremental changes, they are transformational." Hesse said they bring to mind the words of a British writer, Arthur C. Clark, who said that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". "The more we understand these transformations and work together to address them," said Hesse "We can use advanced technology – this wireless magic – together in productive ways." "Wireless has evolved to enable an entirely new dimension for home appliances, for smartgrids, healthcare and cars", he added. Global wireless data communications surpassed voice communications in 2009 and the gap continues to widen. Speaking about the onset of 4G networks, Hesse told the audience that it’s estimated by the end of this year there will be 244 commercial LTE networks in 87 countries. “Wireless is challenging the status quo and affecting everything from grocery shopping to medicine,” Hesse said. “With the advent of ultra-high-speed mobile networks, wireless will play an even more integral role in virtually every aspect of our lives. Advances once thought far in the future, like augmented reality, vocal recognition and real-time translation, will become commonplace.” Sprint offers wireless and wireline communications services bringing the mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint served more than 55 million customers at the end of the first quarter of 2013 and is widely recognised for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the US. The American Customer Satisfaction Index rated Sprint as the most improved company in customer satisfaction, across all 47 industries, during the last five years. With this pedigree, and having recently acquired Clearwire, Sprint is ensuring it is future-proof. “Clearwire’s 2.5GHz spectrum resources 18

Keynote Feature Mobility Revolution now inseparable at IFA Dan Hesse, IFA 2013 Keynote Speaker allow Sprint to increase the capacity and speed of our 4G offerings” said Hesse, adding: “Sprint has a long history of industry firsts, including being the first national carrier to launch 4G in the US. The exploding popularity of smartphones and tablets, accessing applications and content such as video and music, make it desirable for carriers to upgrade to 4G to provide the capacity and network speed necessary for a high-quality customer experience.” But the future is not just about maximising network speeds and capacities. Sprint is number three among America’s greenest brands. “Sprint leads the US telecoms industry with its portfolio of sustainable devices, device re-use and recycling, the development of environmental criteria and reducing our overall impact on the environment. We are more than halfway to our goal of a 20% reduction in absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 2017.” Hesse’s keynote also highlighted the ways in which all electronics, appliances, communications and The Internet Of Things are converging. It seems we are not far from “a dishwasher that runs remotely when the electricity is cheapest. A fridge that you can access from your phone to find out what’s in it when you’re at the supermarket. It could even make suggestions, based on its contents, as to what you might cook that evening when you get home,” he predicted, adding that Sprint has begun working with Chrysler, working towards 90% of all new cars being wireless by 2020. This certainly chimed with another first at IFA2013 – the debut keynote delivered by fellow American, Alan Mulally President and CEO Ford Motor Company. To help implicate itself further in this global technological evolution, Sprint has become empowered through its recent acquisition for .6bn by Japanese powerhouse Softbank. Hesse said, “We believe that SoftBank’s investment will enable Sprint to be a stronger competitor in the US market by enhancing the company’s financial and competitive position, including purchasing scale and the ability to make investments in spectrum and network. In addition to the SoftBank investment, the shut-down of the iDEN network frees-up the valuable 800 MHz spectrum for our LTE and CDMA networks and removes the financial burden of maintaining the iDEN network”. With a keynote that covered everything from Brazilian governments installing microchips in trees for the “(…) after 2013, IFA’s focus on CE and home appliances will widen to incorporate telecommunications (…)” monitoring of illegal logging, to the security concerns of a wirelessly connected world – “the trade-off between logistics and privacy” as he called it – one thing is clear: after 2013, IFA’s focus on CE and home appliances will widen to incorporate telecommunications. “IFA is a large and very wellrespected platform to share the advances and issues associated with America’s embrace of, and even obsession with wireless technologies,” he said, and the world is listening. Wirelessly. www.ifa-international.org IFA International • Wednesday 11 th September 2013 19

IFA International