Sprint CEO: Ignore Talk About Us Switching To LTE

and kill the Sprint LTE rumors as that's what they are. Sprint will always stay with WiMax.

They need to make a stronger statement than this. In 5+ years or so Sprint will have to convert the CDMA spectrum to LTE, or at least have a strong plan in place as CDMA WILL eventually go away. Qualcomm is apparently working on a CDMA to LTE transition in same spectrum.

Sprint needs to make a statement that Clear and the 2.5Ghz spectrum will stick with WiMAX and that PCS spectrum on CDMA will likely eventually go LTE, or that it is the strategic target.

LTE on yet another band makes no sense. There's already too many and therefore LTE has no chance at global roaming. WiMAX is mostly only on 3 bands, so we could more likely see global roaming as well as broader range of IEEE consumer electronics players.

Sprint doesn't need to move to LTE even for CDMA. they can move to Wimax and do all IP which would save them $$$$ in the end as VoIP would be the way to go for them. kill off the PSTN points that they don't need. Would be smart for them and what they'd most likely do.

Sprint already says they don't need to move to LTE. and VZW is the only one doing anything. TMO says LTE but did their trial with Sprint-Nextel-Clear and that was it.

Sprint can actually upgrade their CMDA network and keep going that way until they need to fully upgrade. Sprint's thing is they won't say what their doing and won't until they have something in stone or have it already out. The thing that gives Sprint the upper hand with that is they actually BUILT their network from the ground up (sm-sprint) unlike VZ and T. So it make sense for VZ to actually to move all across the board the same; but they won't fully move away from CDMA either as most areas won't have a ROI on it.

I'm guessing the Sprint CEO must of taken advice from Blockbuster's CEO.

If they do not dump WiMax then they will be regulated to the same position as Verizon Wireless has been with the only caveat is that they can sell mobile wifi devices, but then again so can LTE vendors so I see not advantage of not adopting LTE.

Since Sprint owns 54% of Clearwire, you can pretty much make book on the fact that Clearwire won't sell off a large chunk of spectrum without a Sprint ok.

We'll see. While Sprint's 4g strategy is currently WiMax, Clear can still lease away spectrum that they don't need. That lets them retain ownership while making money off its use.

Clear will never get rid of WiMax, if only because they have so many clients using it (the cable companies are also reselling Clear WiMax - and they're far more averse to pissing off their customers with hardware changes).

Chances are this statement is only to get investors believing that Clear has solid plan for its spectrum.

Wonder if they'll try doing what they did with x2 and k56Flex and make a comprise standard like v.90.

Sprint should plan for LTE since both AT&T and Verizon are going there. With Sprint, AT&T and Verizon all using the same protocol, the roaming options would be almost unlimited.

VZW and AT&T won't be able to roam on any other LTE system because of the 700 mhz band they have. Sprint/Clear's LTE deployment would be in the 2500mhz range while the other 2 would be in the 700 mhz range requiring totally different equipment altogether. By VZW and AT&T doing what they did, they are locked into there own little LTE universe with 10 mhz spacing while Sprint/Clear would be able to 20 mhz spacing in which the could deploy LTE advance equipment.

They'll both be dual-band actually. VZW and ATT on 700mhz/1700mhz, while Clear and the rest of the planet will be at 2.5-2.6ghz...

No. Sprint owns the majority shares but not the "controlling shares."

Hesse and 2 other Sprint executives recently resigned from Clear's Board of Directors. »www.bloomberg.com/news/2 ··· pid=yhoo

"...while Sprint owns 54 percent of Clearwire's outstanding shares, and can appoint seven of the company's 13 board members, major decisions like allowing another strategic investor require the approval of 10 board members. So, in theory, while Sprint holds sway on Clearwire's board, it is not the ultimate authority." »www.fiercewireless.com/s ··· 14KUQDQa

since when is a blog news? You belive what Fierce has to say in terms of who has controling shares. It'd be like Stop the Cap saying that VZ is buying ATT tomorrow and it being true.

The person who owns the most shares owns the controling share of the company. Go read the SEC and the IRS documents first. Control of stock controls voting options. Thus owns/controls the company.

Sprint/Clearwire needed to make this statement, as investors won't invest in a company that is indecisive.

"so much spectrum that we decided to do tests so in case we have multi-modal phones with other air interfaces"

If they have that much fallow spectrum laying around maybe it's time for the FCC to start taking it back and giving it to companies who will actually use it to provide service.

Then the FCC would have to pay back the money that was collected when the FCC leased them the spectrum. Given the state of the treasury, how likely is that scenario?

Actually, no they don't. There are time limits on how long they can let it lay fallow before they lose the license. If the licensee does not implement service they lose the spectrum with no recourse. Read the rules.

In that case, they need to take back spectrum from at&t and verizon first as they are notorious spectrum squatters.

I wander how much longer sprint is going to be around doing stuff like this?

Issuing press releases?

yes depending how how people see it can be just as bad as doing it