Sprint

Even though Sprint (S) could soon have a commanding advantage over its rivals in terms of spectrum holdings, CEO Dan Hesse still isn’t satisfied. Bloomberg reports that Hesse and Sprint are still plotting ways grab more spectrum even if the company succeeds in fully purchasing Clearwire and boosting its total mobile data spectrum portfolio to an industry-leading 184MHz. More →

Even as AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) sail confidently ahead with rising average revenues per user (ARPU) and subscriber levels, several major European mobile carriers continue stumbling badly. Vodafone Spain and Telefonica Spain lost 1.6 million and 3 million mobile subscribers in 2012. Now France Telecom is reporting a stunning 10% decline in mobile ARPU for 4Q12. Markets have been aware of the trend of aggressive challenger operators undermining big behemoths for a long time. Yet it seems that investors are still having trouble wrapping their minds around how bad things are getting. France Telecom’s share price sunk to 2002 levels following its 4Q report. How is it possible that American mega-carriers are doing so well considering that many of their European peers are now on the ropes? More →

2013 will be the year when Sprint’s (S) LTE network becomes truly nationwide. The Verge reports that Sprint has started flipping on its LTE network in parts of New York, Washington DC and San Francisco, three major markets that hadn’t yet been graced with the carrier’s LTE services. Even though Sprint hasn’t made any official announcements about providing LTE in these three markets, a spokesperson told The Verge that the “deployment is just beginning” and that “rather than deploy a site, test the equipment and then turn it off until we launch, we are leaving the sites on and customers are welcome to us the Sprint 4G LTE network wherever they find it.” So if you’re in a neighborhood in New York, DC, or San Francisco where you can get Sprint LTE, it seems the carrier is leaving it up for you to use indefinitely.

Here’s how you know that Sprint’s (S) LTE network has become well established: When the company releases a list of new markets that are poised to get 4G service, none of them really qualify as major cities. And that’s the case this week, as Sprint announced that 28 more markets would be getting LTE in the coming months, headlined cities such as Decatur, Ala., Gettysburg, Penn. and Hot Springs, Ark. In all, Sprint has made admirable progress on getting the United States covered ever since its first launch this past summer and the carrier late last year said it had officially launched LTE in 49 markets throughout the country.

There are choices on the market if you are looking for prepaid options from Sprint (S). The carrier offers no-contract plans through two subsidiaries, Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile, and also has roaming deals in place with Republic Wireless, which provides $19-per-month unlimited service. According to alleged internal documents obtained by AndroidPolice, Sprint may be looking to enter the prepaid business itself and offer self-branded no-contract phones to consumers. The carrier will reportedly offer unlimited talk, text and web for $70, however there are a few catches. The prepaid service isn’t available with most Sprint smartphones such as the Galaxy S III and is only compatible with two 3G handsets: The LG (006570) Optimus Elite and Samsung (005930) Victory.