Sprint Nextel Announce 4G Plans with WiMax
August 8th, 2006
As expected at the Sprint Nextel news conference, Gary Forsee, president and CEO of Sprint Nextel, announced today plans for the company to develop and deploy its next generation of wireless technology; 4G wireless broadband networks that will use mobile WiMAX technology.
Working together with Intel, Motorola and Samsung, Sprint Nextel will develop a nationwide network infrastructure as well as mobile WiMAX-enabled chipsets that will support advanced wireless broadband services for computing, portable multimedia, interactive and other consumer electronic devices. These efforts are intended to allow Sprint Nextel customers to experience a nationwide mobile data network that is designed to offer faster speeds, lower cost, and greater convenience and enhanced multimedia quality.
The Sprint Nextel 4G mobility network will use the company’s extensive 2.5GHz spectrum holdings, which cover 85 percent of the households in the top 100 U.S. markets – the most of any wireless carrier in any single spectrum band. To access that network, Sprint Nextel will work with Intel, Motorola and Samsung to incorporate WiMAX technology for advanced wireless communications and help make chipsets widely available for new consumer electronics devices, connecting consumers to the Internet and to each other while providing them with the flexibility to do what they want or need to do regardless of time or place.
In working together with Intel, Motorola, and Samsung, Sprint Nextel has the experience, network infrastructure, spectrum and distribution channels to make 4G mobility services pervasive and indispensable for customers. The company’s deployment plans target a launch of the advanced wireless broadband services in trial markets by the end of 2007 with plans to deploy a network that reaches as many as 100 million people in 2008. Sprint Nextel plans to expand mobile WiMAX network coverage thereafter.
The company will continue to invest in and offer access to its current wireless and Sprint Power VisionSM mobile broadband networks to serve customer communications needs today and into the future. As evidenced by its strong data results and expanding 3G broadband network, Sprint Nextel continues its innovation and leadership in driving mobile data.
