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Sprint CEO claims WiMAX is here to stay, says Clear's LTE trials were for potential multi-mode phones

Sprint and Clearwire have characterized LTE as complimentary to WiMAX time and again, but if that doesn't allay your suspicions of turncoat tactics in the wireless data space, take it from Sprint CEO Dan Hesse's lips. "Our 4G strategy is WiMAX, full stop!" he told GigaOM, adding that LTE isn't necessarily on Sprint's roadmap. Quizzed about WiMAX partner Clearwire's LTE trials, however, he dropped a very intriguing hint about the possible shape of phones to come: "We have so much spectrum that we decided to do tests so in case we have multi-modal phones with other air interfaces, we can add LTE on top of WiMAX and run both networks," he told the publication. Dual-mode WiMAX / LTE smartphone, anyone?