Sprint hasn't been coy about its
love and adoration for all things
WiMAX, and while it obviously has a vested interest in seeing the next-gen wireless protocol thrive, even it isn't completely ignoring the possibility of dabbling in
LTE. Or, at least that's the impression we get from a recent spokesman answer to a question on whether it was "evaluating LTE equipment." Speaking on behalf of the carrier, John Polivka wouldn't go so far as to confirm nor deny whether it was actually dipping its toes into LTE testing while its
Clearwire buddies weren't looking, but he did affirm that "as a prudent technology development organization, [Sprint] is always collecting competitive information about various technologies / equipment to monitor and asses the competitive landscape and any potential impacts to Sprint's plans." We've already seen a few CDMA mainstays admit to
siding with LTE for 4G, and honestly, we wouldn't be shocked to see Sprint eventually cave too. Whatever stops the
bleeding, right?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SoCoolCurt (PSN: KillaKornbread - XBL: SoCoolCurt) @ Mar 10th 2009 9:20AM
i just like the idea of SIM cards mainly when talking about CDMA companies going to LTE for 4G. my friends use AT&T and it just looks so convenient for him to be able to pick a phone in the morning, slide his card in and go (he buys a lot of phones). i think i read somewhere that Verizon may require phone manufacturers to make the SIM cards non-swappable (the consumer can't get to it inside the phone) so i'm hoping that if Sprint does drop WiMAXX they don't do the same.
Brian @ Mar 10th 2009 10:57AM
I don't think this is a bad idea... but haven't Google, Sprint, Clearwire, and friends already dumped billions of dollars into wimax? I can't imagine these companies are just going to cut their losses and invest in their competitors technologies.
Econ @ Mar 10th 2009 11:09AM
I can't imagine that Sprint would actually be evaluating LTE as an alternative - this sounds more like a comment intended to emphasize the competitive stance Sprint/Clearwire. Something to the effect of, "We're not blind - LTE is a competitive threat and we're going to learn all we can about it and it's weaknesses," rather than insinuating that they may be considering a WiMax/LTE combo or transitioning from WiMax to LTE.
Think of all the embedded capital still being depreciated. A switch like this would be unfathomable for a company with free cash flow issues like Sprint.