This chapter analyzes the Sprint acquisition’s financial and technological failures and explains why, in a sector tied directly to national security, Chinese capital cannot be used—leaving SoftBank with only bleak strategic options.

2016-04-02
The following is from an article published by Sentaku.
Two and a half years after Masayoshi Son of SoftBank announced the acquisition of Sprint, the miscalculation has become impossible to conceal.
SoftBank’s market capitalization is now roughly equal to the value of its Alibaba shareholdings, meaning that the market value of SoftBank itself is effectively zero.
The losses of Sprint, on which Son staked the company’s fate, continue to grow exponentially.
What was once a lifeline has turned into a cash incinerator, and the once-rising “Son Kingdom” has entered a phase of decline.
Despite massive investment, there is no sign of recovery at Sprint, nor even of financial improvement at SoftBank itself.
Customer losses continue, revenue per user declines, and churn rates rise, primarily due to lagging network speeds and delayed LTE deployment.
Meanwhile, competitors press ahead with ease.
Although SoftBank appears to have access to Alibaba’s financial power, telecommunications is directly tied to national security, rendering Chinese capital unusable.
Withdrawal would make reentry nearly impossible, yet continued investment promises only further attrition.
Thus, the future of Sprint comes down to two options alone: withdrawal, or an extended war of exhaustion.