networkvision
Latest
Sprint's LTE network now covers all five NYC boroughs plus 45 additional markets
Sprint may have taken a backseat lately to John Legere and his unorthodox UnCarrier ways, but the Now Network's, once again, moving fast to cover new LTE territory. With today's market expansion news, Sprint LTE is now officially available throughout New York City -- not just in the Bronx and Brooklyn -- though note that 4G coverage is still not all-pervasive. Sprint's also continuing to roll out "enhanced 3G" service as part of its Network Vision plan, which should translate into better speeds and stronger signals for its subscribers -- all thanks to infrastructure upgrades. An additional 45 smaller markets, mostly located in the south, will also now see LTE service "turned on," bringing the carrier's LTE coverage to 230 markets in total. To see if Sprint LTE is now live in your area, check out the PR after the break.
Sprint brings LTE to 21 markets, details plans for 34 more
After nearly a year of soaking rural and suburban locations with 4G, Sprint is finally starting to extend its reach to some major cities. Having wrapped up test runs in a handful of areas, the carrier is now officially offering LTE in 21 additional markets, including Los Angeles, CA, Charlotte, NC, Virginia Beach, VA, Memphis, TN and West Palm Beach, FL. What's more, the Now Network revealed plans to bring its new high-speed offerings to more than 170 additional markets in the months ahead. Some of the cities on its docket include Orlando, FL, Portland, OR, El Paso, TX, Tulsa, OK and Spokane, WA. Didn't see your hometown name-checked here? Check out the press release after the break for the full list.
Sprint improves Chicago LTE coverage, brings 4G to a few other new areas
Today, Sprint expanded its existing LTE coverage for customers in the Chicago metropolitan area. Not stopping at the Windy City, the carrier dropped six more regions into its high-speed bucket: Indianapolis, Indiana; York and Franklin County Pennsylvania; Santa Rosa California, Vallejo, California; Shenandoah County, Virginia and Southern Puerto Rico. These may not be the highly populated areas that some people are craving, but be mindful that some big city folks have encountered phantom 4G with a promise of the real thing coming soon. As Sprint moves forward with its network development plans, hopefully you won't have to wait too much longer before the LTE train makes a stop in your neighborhood.
Clearwire sees wholesale revenues dip, LTE delays as it posts a $41.3 million net loss in Q3
Clearwire's figures show that the network it isn't cool to love will be making placating faces at its bank manager for yet another quarter. It pulled in revenues of $313.9 million for the three month period, but with business costs (and depreciation) clocking in at $646.7 million, the company posted an operating loss of $332 million and a net loss of $41.3 million. If that wasn't bad enough, it's also hacked back a target to add TD-LTE to 5,000 sites before mid-2013 to just 2,000. A similar problem has occurred over at newly-minted majority owner Sprint, which has found itself a quarter behind its own LTE timetable thanks to parts shortages -- so let's hope the folks over at Softbank can help both companies improve their estimating skills.
Sprint sells 1.5 million iPhones, 1 million other smartphones, but makes a net loss of $767 million
Sprint's latest financials show that while the network is slowly stemming the flow of cash from its veins, it's not quite there in terms of turning a profit. The country's third biggest carrier suffered a $767 million net loss and an operating loss of $231 million -- much less than the $629 million operating loss it had in Q2, but on-par with the $208 million lost in the same period last year. The business did manage to bring in total revenues of $8.8 billion, but had to take a hit on a $397 million write-down on costs related to Network Vision and the continued pain of the Nextel shutdown. On the customer size, it added a further 900,000 users, sold 1.5 million iPhones and a further 1 million "LTE smartphones" in the quarter. Those with long memories will know that the company sold the same number of Apple handsets in the last two quarters, with around 40 percent going to new customers then as now. However, churn, the deadly enemy of all carriers, increased to 1.88 percent, up from 1.69 percent in Q2. The network did manage to coax 59 percent of former Nextel customers to stay tied up with Big Yellow, which may account for it selling nearly 1.2 million Direct Connect devices. While it's hardly a rosy estimation of Sprint's financial health, this report doesn't take into account Softbank's $20.1 billion buy-out or the regained controlling stake in Clearwire -- so we're expecting the next financial announcement to contain some more exciting news. Update: During the conference call, Dan Hesse was asked about adopting a shared data plan to rival Verizon and AT&T, but unlike the last call, he was dismissive of the idea.
Sprint lights up new LTE markets in Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Kansas and Texas
As Sprint continues to play an epic game of LTE catch up, the Now Network has officially flipped the 'on' switch for its 4G customers in the Chicago suburbs of: Addison, Bolingbrook, Des Plaines, Downers Grove, Kankakee, Rockford, Joliet, Naperville, Palatine and Plainfield. Further expanding its not-so-mainstream LTE footprint are Gary, Indiana; Wichita Falls, Texas; New Bedford and Fall River, Massachusetts; and Hutchinson and McPherson, Kansas, too. While these aren't exactly the big markets that many were hoping for, it's good to see that America's third largest carrier is expanding its next-gen coverage for the less populous parts of the country. As for you big city folks patiently waiting for Hesse and company to call your number, rest assured that you haven't been forgotten. We're just hoping that Softbank's latest investment doesn't encounter any additional delays during its LTE rollout, because delays are for the birds.
Softbank confirms 70 percent Sprint acquisition for $20.1 billion
In a joint press conference, Softbank has officially announced that it is buying a 70 percent stake in US mobile carrier Sprint for $20.1 billion. The Japanese company is paying $12.1 billion for existing shares, with a further $8 billion for new shares that the network is issuing. CNBC has reported previously that it would net Sprint around $3 billion in much-needed cash, which it could use to regain control of Clearwire and bolster its LTE rollout. When Dan Hesse took to the stage, he said that the company's heavy investment (both in Network Vision and in its iPhone gamble) would bring a "margin expansion" in 2014.
Sprint brings LTE to parts of Kansas, Illinois and Massachusetts
Has anyone else noticed a surge in locations getting newly-minted LTE of late? Sprint has, and it's joining the bandwagon with a further five areas from today. Users in Lawrence, Topeka and Wichita in Kansas, Waukegan-Lake in Illinois and Barnstable-Hyannis in Massachusetts will be able to slurp down Big Yellow's new service soon, if they can't already. The company has also revealed that Chicagoans, Angelenos and New Yorkers will be getting 3G service thanks to the company's Network Vision program, as it continues to swap out its aging Nextel hardware for something a little more futuristic.
Sprint announces 100-city LTE expansion in 'coming months,' adds New York, Chicago and LA to the list
Sprint's efforts to bring LTE to the masses have led to a large amount of frustration from the consumer base, but an announcement made by the carrier this morning shows that it's hard at work to rectify that. The Now Network is nearly ready to blanket up to 100 markets with the high-speed data tech in the near future, and the full list of cities (shown after the break) can expect to enjoy LTE in the "coming months." That leaves a whole lot of wiggle room for Sprint, admittedly, but at least the company is not backing away from its Network Vision goals. Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, Miami, New Orleans, Orlando, Philadelphia and Washington DC are among the major markets listed, but take a look below to see if your municipality has made the cut this time around. Sprint 4G LTE service is expected to be available in the coming months in Chicago, Boston, New York and Los Angeles. And that's not all. We expect to bring Sprint's all-new network to more than 100 new cities during this period.
Clearer calls with HD Voice on Sprint expected before the year's out
We were pretty impressed with our demo of HD Voice on the HTC EVO 4G LTE earlier in the year, but are still waiting for the feature's launch to test it in real situations. We may not have to wait much longer, though, because according to Phone Scoop, Sprint is aiming to roll out the service by the end of 2012. The carrier's Network Vision architecture upgrade is progressing nicely, a necessity for implementing clearer conversations, although coverage is still patchy. We might see an official launch this year, but HD Voice is unlikely to be widely available on the network or on other devices until well into 2013 and 2014. However, if you happen to be a Sprint customer, HTC EVO 4G LTE owner, connected to the right tower and calling someone that's ticking exactly the same boxes, listen out for that bump in quality as the New Year approaches.
Mobile Miscellany: week of May 28th, 2012
Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This past week, we learned of another possible prepaid destination for the iPhone (hint: it's a subsidiary of Sprint), and Samsung announced a combined sales total of 50 million Galaxy S and Galaxy S II smartphones. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of May 28th, 2012.
Mobile Miscellany: week of May 21st, 2012
Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This past week, it was revealed that the HTC EVO 4G LTE likely supports simultaneous voice and data connections on Sprint's network, Samsung's Galaxy Ace 2 landed at Three in the UK and Vertu revealed a refresh to its Constellation series of luxury phones. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of May 21st, 2012.
Sprint caps year of Network Vision milestones with first LTE cluster deployment in Kankakee, Illinois
Overhauling a nationwide wireless network isn't exactly for the faint of heart, but Sprint continues marching toward its LTE future and the broader plan known as Network Vision. With a majority of the rollout to be in place by 2013, the carrier is working to bring multi-modal functionality and spectrum integration to its towers, which the provider suggests will deliver expanded coverage, stronger signal and fewer dropped calls for all customers. Earlier this year, Sprint launched its first multi-modal tower in Branchburg, New Jersey, and has now completed its first cluster of sites in Kanakee, Illinois. With the first LTE-capable devices on track for a mid-2012 arrival, Sprint claims that it's wrapped-up field tests and is poised for a rapid LTE deployment. We certainly hope so, because AT&T and Verizon are hardly wasting time in flooding the airwaves with blistering 4G goodness. You'll find the full PR after the break. [Thanks, Xavier]
Sprint phasing out Nextel's iDEN network, selects vendors for $5b network upgrade project
Looks like the Motorola i1 Android set (not pictured above) will stand as the highest-end Nextel phone ever -- Sprint just announced that it's phasing out the iDEN network sometime in 2013 as it begins a new four to five billion dollar network enhancement project called "Network Vision." We've expected this for a while -- the Sprint / Nextel merger has been beset by subscriber losses and rumors of a breakup for years now -- but this is the first time we've gotten a date. Sprint's rolling out push-to-talk on its own network to support its 10.6 million Nextel customers, but we don't have a schedule for that yet. Sprint's also announcing vendors for Network Vision: Alcatel-Lucent, Samsung, and Ericsson will each handle a region and be tasked with expanding and fortifying Sprint's existing 1900MHz 3G network while buying 800MHz, 1900MHz, and 2.5GHz spectrum for future use. Interestingly, Sprint's definitely hedging its WiMAX bets a little -- it can upgrade its new gear to LTE with swapping in a baseband card and issuing a software patch, which certainly gives the company some 4G flexibility should Clearwire not pull things together. We'll see what happens -- the underdog's making some moves.
