In late 2007, I wrote that the recession can be a carrier’s best friend. I still believe that.

Recently, Dan Hesse, CEO of Sprint Nextel, spoke at the final keynote session of UBS’ investors conference. Hesse acknowledged the Sprint Nextel’s struggles in the last year. Hesse’s view is that the company making slow progress in terms of improving the network.

The recession has hurt businesses and people. It has hurt Sprint Nextel. It has hurt Verizon Wireless. It has hurt everyone. However, the recession has also leveled the playing field in the competitive battlefield.

The recession has bought Dan Hesse the time he needs to turn around Sprint Nextel. It looks like he is fighting for the company’s life; looking at even the AT&T-Verizon lawsuits as a positive event for Sprint Nextel. In my opinion he is fighting for Sprint Nextel’s life; and he should be.

Questions have been floating regarding the company’s investment in Clearwire. I had questions regarding the wisdom of the investment. I finally came to the conclusion the investment was a good idea for Sprint Nextel’s long term plans but the idea require time to execute. The question is whether or not Sprint will be given time by Wall Street.

The ideal solution for Sprint Nextel would be a merger between it and Comcast. As I have said frequently in past blog postings, on my own site and other sites, a merger between the two would present a powerful competitive threat against carriers like Verizon and AT&T.