Hasta La Gadget!

The cost of switching to LTE: Sprint to spend $10 billion over the next two years originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We knew more or less that an announcement of this sort was coming. Back in July, Dan Hesse had teased us face-to-face with the promise of a “great story this fall around 4G,” and now the time to tell that tale has arrived. At its strategy event today, Sprint finally went public with plans to “simplify its network” by converting its 1900MHz holdings and LightSquared’s 1600MHz spectrum (“pending FCC approval”) to LTE, an industry favorite. Helping the operator make that transition is the swath of 800MHz spectrum it reclaimed from the, now defunct, iDEN push-to-talk network — which had been a drain on the company’s resources. This spectrum, acquired from Nextel, will be phased out by mid-2013 and rolled into LTE. The company plans for a rapid deployment of this new 4G network, with the first LTE markets and handsets to hit in mid-2012, and the full rollout mostly completed by 2013. Current subscribers signed up for WiMAX plans won’t have to worry as their devices will continue to be supported throughout 2012.

Beginning tomorrow, Sprint’s consolidating its 4G LTE (including LightSquared), 3G and Direct Connect networks into one single architecture. All the major technical milestones, such as test calls and field integration, have cleared their hurdles and work on over 22,000 cell sites are currently in process. Samsung, Alcatel Lucent and Ericsson have partnered with Sprint to install multimode 3G and 4G base stations to handle the network’s future traffic, essential for deploying the multitude of frequencies required by hosted devices. Prospective iPhone 4S users on the network will be able to take advantage of better signal strength and improved voice service as Sprint intends to also offload the latter onto 800MHz.

Expect a steep “reduction in roaming costs” and deeper signal penetration throughout the operator’s expanding national footprint over the course of the next two years. Naturally, LTE speeds on this new network will be significantly improved over the currently in-use WiMAX, and a planned implementation of WiFi offloading should help to cut congestion by 20 percent. By the end of next year, Sprint aims to have a combined WiMAX/LTE population coverage of 176 million — with 123 million covered by LTE and 76 million overlapping both. When the network build-out is nearly complete in 2013, the company should have over 250 million blanketed in LTE, far outstripping the stagnant 120 million served by WiMAX.

Sprint converts its network to LTE, plans ‘aggressive rollout’ to be completed by 2013 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Oct 2011 09:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already heard that Dish Network was in the mix for a possible Hulu acquisition (which still isn’t off the table), but it looks like the company could also setting its sights even higher. Speaking with Bloomberg, Dish CEO Joseph Clayton talked a bit about the possibility of getting involved with a wireless carrier, noting that it will “look at partnerships, acquisitions, all of the above.” When asked if that could include an acquisition or partnership with Sprint or Clearwire, Clayton reportedly said, “could be,” and added a “stay tuned” when asked more generally about the possibility of a Dish wireless network (which could benefit from some of the company’s existing spectrum holdings). Head on past the break for a video of the interview.

Continue reading Dish CEO muses about partnerships and acquisitions, possibly Sprint or Clearwire

Dish CEO muses about partnerships and acquisitions, possibly Sprint or Clearwire originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Does America need another wireless operator? Is the MVNO boneyard really due for another? Are you eager for a carrier that adapts to your needs, and magically delivers “stuff” that matters to you? Have you watched Napoleon Dynamite with your closest friends within the past week? We can’t promise that “Personalized Wireless” (or whatever it ends up being called) is destined to answer all of those inquiries, but it’ll at least strive to formulate a logical response to one of ’em. A newly-aired teaser clip promises a network of a different color here in the States, and the company’s product page (captured above) leads to believe that all will be revealed come September 26th. We’re surmising that this has something to do with either Comcast or Clearwire given the token “C” logo at the end, but we’d be happy hear other opinions of the origin down in comments below. Vid’s after the break, vaquero.

Update: We have it on good authority that the launch here relates to Cellular South’s recent buyout of a number of southern cellular shops, with this being the merger of those. There aren’t any details yet on what it’ll mean for prospective customers in that region, but it seems — at least for now — that this won’t be a national rollout.

Continue reading ‘Personalized Wireless’ launching September 26th (update: it’s Cellular South, and it’ll be regional)

‘Personalized Wireless’ launching September 26th (update: it’s Cellular South, and it’ll be regional) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Sep 2011 11:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sprint’s Dan Hesse told us point-blank back in July that he was penning a “great story around 4G” for this fall, and it looks as if October 7th will be the date that it “all becomes clear.” We just received an invitation to quite the atypical event — a “strategy update” for the press to cover in New York City. All we’re told is that presentations by senior management will be on tap, with a sure-to-be-lively Q&A session to follow. ‘Course, this may all be a ploy to waste our precious time on a precious Friday in autumn, but something tells us Sprint ain’t exactly in a position to be blowing cash on a Hot Air session. So, what’s on deck? Let’s count the possibilities: more details on its side regarding the iPhone 5? A full-on acquisition of Clearwire (plus a shift to LTE-Advanced)? More details on that elusive LightSquared arrangement? A merger with AT&T&T to create the largest telecommunications provider this side of Pluto? We’ll be there to find out, but for now, hypotheses are being accepted in comments below.

Sprint Strategy Update coming on October 7th, significant 4G plans likely to be unveiled originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Aug 2011 23:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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