Sprint transition to LTE already underway, analyst claims

By on Mar 16, 2011 at 6:15 PM
Rumor March 16, 2011

According to analysts at Gerson Lehrman Group, Sprint is already in the process of transitioning to LTE. In an analysis published Wednesday, the firm claims knowledge of “project leapfrog,” allegedly Sprint’s codename for the buildout of a new LTE network that will take place over the next several years. “Sprint has initiated project leapfrog with Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, and Samsung to upgrade its network to LTE while also removing iDEN base stations and fully utilizing its 800MHz spectrum,” the report states. “This three year project is designed to leave Sprint with a competitive, nationwide LTE network while reducing operating costs.” The report follows earlier news that Sprint plans to finally shift the business it gained in acquiring Nextel off of its old iDEN network and onto its CDMA network.

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  • Sonya

    I knew this was going to happen. Everyone knew including Sprint themselves that WiMax was a fail from the start, I think they just deployed it just so they could be first.

    • Anonymous

      They did. I think I heard Dan Hesse said that Wimax was available first than LTE a few years ago. So they went to Wimax first to be the first “4G” carrier in the US of A.

      Source: AllthingsD Dive into Mobile something something

  • Anonymous

    HTC EVO (pick a number) LTE anyone?

    • dagamer34

      This network won’t be fully rolled out for another 3 years.

      • Anonymous

        Not true. Telus and Bell in Canada put together a HSPA network before the Vancouver Olympics in less than a year. They had CDMA network before.

  • Sean76

    Wowwww…so Wimax was a big giant waste.

    • Anonymous

      it wasnt a waste 80% of all the assets used to make wimax can be upgraded to LTE the only question is if their going to use a sim car LTE technology which i hope they do.

      • http://twitter.com/miusuario Omar Moya

        Untrue. LTE will run in 800 according to the report. This means replacing completely Motorola iDEN BTS and replace them with new LTE@800. There is zero synergies with their current WiMAX network. Deploying LTE@800MHz is the way to go though.

        WiMAX network was a waste of money from network solution perspective. But its value was to give some hype to Sprint and keep alive the company.

  • Anonymous

    So this means RIP WiMax or are they gunna go with both? AT&T is going to do both LTE and HSPA+, so does that mean Sprint is considering LTE and WiMax? Would be strange to see a company openly admitting they went in the wrong direction with their network. I guess a better question would be…is it even possible to run LTE and WiMax at the same time?

    • Southwestcomm

      At the time WiMAX was the only 4G option available to Sprint. They had to start using their 2.5 spectrum or potentially lose it.

    • Anonymous

      yes it is wimax is used for ISP’s(internet service providers) like comcast armstrong, etc its still an asset to the company thats why google and comcast are invested in clearwire as well as sprint if im not mistake, which i dont think i am.

    • Nyynke98

      Yes due to the spectrum holdings, they can run both

  • Blackula

    So if they are getting rid of WiMax, whats going to happen to people who have WiMax devices and cellphones like the evo 4g and etc.?

    • Anonymous

      well you have an upgrade sooner or later and wimax isnt just going to stop working, unless they use LTE sim car equipped cell phones then me n u n everyone else who has a evo or shift or epic then yea we might have a problem.

  • http://www.youtube.com/dfmediainc Triny D

    I’m glad they saw the light. Wimax was a dud from the very beginning

  • http://twitter.com/JaredHylton Jared Hylton

    I agree with Sonya — Sprint wanted to be first with “4G” so they went ahead with WiMax, but they knew they were going to scrap that shit for LTE. And I hope they do. I want them to move their EV network over to the 800MHZ they free up when they scrap that awful Nextel shit, and then put their LTE on a hybrid band somewhere.

  • dagamer34

    So WiMAX experiment is essentially over? When’s the last time Sprint/ClearWire added a new location for it’s 4G network? That’s telling enough that LTE had to be their long term plan for quite some time now. No point in chasing speed in a technology that’ll be obsolete in a few years. Plus, I bet you because so few WiMAX phones were sold, it will be cheaper to shut down their WiMAX network and give people a free upgrade than to keep it running for a longer period of time until customers naturally move to their LTE network with new phones.

  • Derail Doax

    Great news. Maybe we can get some more phones. Verizon has what 4 CDMA/LTE phones launching in the next couple months? From what I’ve heard Sprint has zero CDMA/WIMAX phones coming.

    • Anonymous

      No, VZW needs to worry about getting their LTE phones on the shelves first……Sprint just needs to have More than the current 3 that they have by then.

      • Nosprint

        get off sprints nuts.. You must be their one subsriber.

  • Anonymous

    Wimax wasn’t a failure for Sprint…Clearwire was a failure for Sprint. Big difference. People continue to forget that Sprints Wimax network is already out….why act like they need to build out completely new towers? Software and Card swaps and its a done deal. Shame on you for having an original EVO 3 years from now anyway.

  • Anonymous

    Yayyy! One step closer to carrier-neutral devices by the end of the decade (or 2015 hopefully)!

    Finally we can buy phones and tablets like the rest of the goddammed world and pick and choose carriers at a whim since they’ll all use the same technology. Carriers can fight with competitive pricing and services instead of who has the best suite of smart phones.

    Consumer victory here, but of course carriers will still try and maybe succeed at figuring out a way to ream us in the ass, ears, nose, and navel despite this potential for freedom. Let’s just hope they can’t pull it off.

  • Scorpioluv30

    I think this is a smart move on sprint’s behalf. All things look up now, now just don’t F it up :)

  • Securitywiz

    So when is LTE2 coming? :)

  • dave

    What many people don’t understand about this “great LTE” technology is that it is/will have some of the same problems as GSM technology, such as issues with dropped calls. You may be able to talk and surf at the same time on that GSM phone, but when you are talking on it and your signal is transferred from one tower to another tower, then you are most likely going to have a dropped call. CDMA, old as it may be, as limited in some respects as it may be, is a much more reliable technology for a cellphone (notice I referred to that device as a cell “phone”) when you are traveling and your signal must be transferred from tower to tower.

    • Shaown

      eh?. LTE is based on CDMA – specifically WCDMA. Why do you think CDMA2000 is better?

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