Sprint today hyped a number of emerging technologies it says should dramatically improve the customer experience. In a company announcement, Sprint said it will be using a collection of technologies including carrier aggregation, MIMO (multiple input, multiple output), and HPUE (high power user equipment) -- to take better advantage of the company's 2.5 gigahertz spectrum assets and eventually gigabit connectivity down the road.
At an event today in New York City, Sprint demonstrated HPUE specifically, a technology Sprint claims is capable of extending its 2.5 GHz coverage by up to 30 percent to nearly match its mid-band 1.9 GHz spectrum performance, including indoors where it says an estimated 60 to 70 percent of wireless traffic is generated.
“HPUE is an incredible innovation that will dramatically improve the performance of our high-band spectrum and deliver an even better experience for the millions of customers on the Sprint network whether they’re streaming videos, playing games or using apps, both indoors and out," said Sprint CTO John Saw.
"With HPUE, our customers using 2.5 GHz-capable phones can have nearly the same reach as our 1.9 GHz spectrum. This gives them all the coverage advantages of mid-band spectrum while maintaining the tremendous speed and capacity advantages of high-band spectrum."
Sprint says the company's network is ready for the initial roll-out of HPUE, including in its 250 LTE Plus markets. Samsung, one of Sprint’s most important ecosystem partners, is expected to support HPUE in devices slated for commercial launch in 2017 (read: the Galaxy S8).