In an interview posted on Gigaom, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said "our 4G strategy is WiMAX, full stop". After Sprint merged their spectrum with Clearwire, there were some concerns that they'd change their 4G strategy when reports came in that Clearwire were testing LTE (the competing 4G technology). Per reports from Clearwire, the purpose of these tests was to experiment with multi-mode devices, as they've got enough spectrum available to run both WiMAX and LTE if they wanted to in the future; the tests were not an indication of a plan to stop building their WiMAX network in favor of an LTE network. Hesse again stated, "we have not announced a decision to put LTE anywhere in our network, and we are not intending to."
Hesse's statements will hopefully put to rest any doubts about Sprint/CLEAR's plans for the future of their 4G WiMAX network. They've been able to get the jump on Verizon's VZ4G LTE network and currently offer 4G WiMAX service in 61 markets throughout the country, so an abrupt switch to a different technology at this point would seem like a bad decision.
Related Links:
- CLEAR/Sprint 4G WiMAX Markets
- Verizon VZ4G LTE Markets
- Check Coverage With 3Gstore's 3G/4G Coverage Map
