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Sprint Will Stop Announcing New WiMax Smartphones and Focus on 4G LTE

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Sprint will stop announcing new smartphones, tablets, mobile hotspots, and other consumer embedded solutions that utilize’s the network’s 4G WiMax connectivity and instead choose to focus on building out its 4G LTE network and releasing new devices that run on LTE. While Sprint was the first carrier to launch a 4G service through WiMax technology and was the first out of the gate with the HTC EVO 4G, Sprint’s network is now slower than rival carriers using other forms of 4G technology. As such, the carrier has announced its Network Vision strategy to convert its network to 4G LTE in an effort to offer more competitive download and upload speeds utilizing its cellular network.

In an interview with PC Mag, Sprint says that it’s done with WiMax for now, and that recent releases will keep the carrier’s product line fresh.

The company had also announced 3 new devices at the Consumer Electronics Show that will operate on its LTE network. LTE build-out will be slow, and Sprint says that it will try to ‘over-deliver’ on its LTE footprint buildout. However, when compared to Verizon’s network, which launched over a year ago, or AT&T’s emerging LTE footprint, Sprint’s tri-city launch pales in comparison. However, the network still has time to grow, but there’s still a lot of uncertainty in the air.

For one, unlimited data plans are still being examined. While Sprint says that the Galaxy Nexus is a phone designed to work with an unlimited data plan, the network offered no concrete word that it would retain unlimited as part of its LTE strategy.

Secondly, Sprint’s partnership with LightSquared is still up in the air pending regulatory approval due to issues with GPS interference.

Via: PC Mag

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