Sprint CEO Hesse chats 'fireside' about what Sprint does and doesn't have

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse, engaging in a "fireside chat" at the Goldman Sachs 20th Annual Communacopia Conference in New York City this afternoon, quickly dispatched with the question on many a listener's mind.

"I'm not going to talk about the iPhone, and whether we will or won't have it," he announced first thing.

What he felt like talking about, he said, were customer experience, brand and cash, and leading off in the direction of the former he reiterated that Sprint just saw its 14th consecutive quarter of improved customer experience, its 5th J.D. Power & Associates award also suggesting as much and its lowest ever quarter for churn.

Which again brought him back to the iPhone.

"That is the number-one reason customers churn — lack of iPhone. Number one."

His point was that despite not one but two Sprint competitors having an iPhone, over the last two quarters it still managed to post record-low churn rates.

Hesse went on to talk up the Sprint brand, which he said stands for "simplicity and value — that's one of the reasons we continue to offer the unlimited plan," and apps Sprint offers that others don't, such as Google Wallet and Google Voice.

He also spent some time addressing AT&T's proposed purchase of T-Mobile, which Sprint has come out vehemently against. Of late, however, the deal has suffered major hits, with first the Justice Department and then seven states' attorneys general filing complaints in federal court to bar the sale, making it seem less of a given then it once did. Perhaps because of this, Hesse struck a conciliatory tone.

"Let me say, we're not better or more ethical or moral than any other company," he said. "Sometimes you're fortunate that the interests of your shareholders align with the interests of the public, which is the case for us [regarding the AT&T deal]."

While before the FCC Hesse smeared AT&T's unrealistic version of competition within the industry, he told the Goldman crowd, in gentle terms, that AT&T's argument is fundamentally that they don't consider T-Mobile a competitor —"They don't consider them to be material" — and suggested that the deal had become a platform for some political posturing.

The conversation also dipped into the popular prepaid market, where Sprint's Boost brand is a consumer favorite.

"The economy is clearly making prepaid a more and more important part of the industry. ... I don't have a crystal ball, but it appears that the prepaid industry is stabilizing," Hesse noted.

He added that subsidies are a big motivation for American consumers, and while devices are becoming more expensive — and more expensive to subsidize — that doesn't mean prepaid subscribers shouldn't be offered "great Android devices." Like the Samsung Transform Ultra, he stopped short of saying (CP: Boost Mobile takes a play from Sprint, tacking $5 onto Android phone plans).

Hesse also commented on the possibility of a wireline business — "If there are opportunities out there to benefit from more scale, we'd be open to looking at that," — but shopped short of discussing Sprint's 4G network.

He responded to a circuitous question regarding Sprint's relationships with Clearwire and Lightsquare by saying the person will want to attend Sprint's planned Oct. 7 event — which invitations describe as a "strategy update" but that rumors suggest will include news of the iPhone 5 (Unfiltered: Jobs or no, Apple iPhone 5 introduction expected Oct. 4).

Again regarding the iPhone, Hesse turned obviously vague during the subsidies portion of the conversation. "I'm not saying whether we would or would not have any of these 'special devices,'" he said, drawing a laugh from the crowd. "But as long as it's ... profitable, our intention is to do what's in the long-term interests of our stockholders."

The laugh suggested that Hesse's face or manner were saying more than the audio webcast listeners could make out. I hope it'll be more clear Oct. 7th.