Technology upgrades and spectrum management are a fact of life for mobile operators that are having to constantly update networks and rearrange spectrum assets in order to continuing serving growing customer demand and keep up with competitors in the marketing wars.
However, few carriers take on such tasks in the manner in which Sprint Nextel (S) is looking to overhaul its current network over the next several years. The carrier, which currently operates a CDMA network in the 1.9 GHz band and an iDEN network in the 800 MHz and 900 MHz bands, will over the next few years update all of its cell sites in order to gain operating efficiencies, roll out new technology and decommission about 20,000 sites.
Sprint Nextel CTO Stephen Bye explained that the network upgrades begin at the cell sites where the carrier is installing multimodal base stations capable of supporting various technologies and spectrum bands. The work, being accomplished with partners Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and Samsung, is already underway.
Bye explained that those partners have brought a lot of expertise to the table and that the process is going very well.
For its legacy CDMA service, Sprint Nextel is planning on deploying the technology’s 1x-Advanced specification in the carrier’s 800 MHz spectrum holdings. The technology is expected to provide a significant boost in voice capacity and by using the 800 MHz spectrum a boost in coverage compared to its current 1x service in its 1.9 GHz band.
“Voice is still very important to consumers,” Bye explained, though he did note at a recent conference that carriers need to start constructing wireless networks to handle increasing amounts of data traffic.
That move to the 800 MHz band should allow Sprint Nextel to finally provide in-building and coverage parity with its rivals Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility, which have been able to offer their bread-and-butter voice services across their 850 MHz spectrum holdings.
One snag in Sprint Nextel’s 800 MHz plan is that it’s currently supporting a dwindling iDEN customer base in that band. Following a spectrum re-banding effort designed to reduce interference with public safety communications in the 800 MHz band, Sprint Nextel was left with 14 megahertz of contiguous spectrum in that band. The carrier has said it plans to shutter its iDEN service in the coming years, a process that is being helped by the continued defection of iDEN customers from that network. However, until all of those customers are moved to CDMA-based services, or leave for another carrier, Sprint Nextel will have to reserve a portion of that 800 MHz band for iDEN customers.
The eventual decommissioning of that iDEN network will provide the basis for Sprint Nextel to get rid of approximately 20,000 cell sites, or roughly one-third of the current cell sites populating its network. The carrier picked up those additional sites following Sprint’s acquisition of Nextel Communications, which left the carrier running two separate networks.
As for its more recently announced LTE plans, Bye said the carrier will initially use the 10 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band G-Block it received as part of the 800 MHz spectrum re-banding process. The LTE launch will rely on a 5 x 5 deployment for the technology, which is half the 10 x 10 deployment being used by Verizon Wireless for its LTE deployment in the 700 MHz band, which would result in less capacity and speeds when compared with the 10 x 10 deployment.
Bye noted that while the initial deployment is somewhat limited, the spectrum being used is free and clear of any other users and a nationwide footprint. The 700 MHz spectrum assets picked up by other operators has had to be cleared of television broadcasters, and with some carriers the footprint lacks a nationwide scope.
Bye added that Sprint Nextel will be looking to add capacity to its LTE network from its 1.9 GHz holdings that are currently supporting voice and data traffic as the carrier moves voice traffic to the 800 MHz band and data traffic transitions from CDMA to LTE. Sprint Nextel has between 20 megahertz and 30 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band outside of its G-Block holdings.
Further down the road, Bye said the carrier would be looking to add LTE technology to its 800 MHz holdings as it begins to transition customers to voice services running on the LTE network. That move to spread LTE across spectrum bands is expected to be supported by updates to the technology standard that will allow for spectrum aggregations across bands.
Sprint Nextel’s updated network will also allow the carrier to implement its network hosting plan that was first announced with LightSquared. That deal calls for Sprint Nextel to host LightSquared’s 1.6 GHz spectrum and LTE services across its network once LightSquared receives clearance to begin offering service across that spectrum.
Bye noted that the spectrum hosting ability will allow the industry to free up a lot of underutilized spectrum sitting out in the market. A lot of that spectrum is held by non-traditional wireless players that purchased spectrum in recent auctions, but have yet to deploy services. Those companies include a number of cable players, including Bye’s former employer Cox Communications, which at some point will be looking to either make a commercial move or unload that spectrum.
So, what will Sprint Nextel’s network look like in five years? Well, if everything goes according to plan, Sprint Nextel will have CDMA 1x-Advanced and LTE services running in its 800 MHz band; CDMA2000 1x EV-DO and LTE services running across its 1.9 GHz spectrum holdings; and some form of network hosting services that will allow the carrier to utilize those spectrum assets for its own services.
This all of course leaves out the issue of Sprint Nextel’s subsidiary Clearwire, which is currently the backbone for Sprint Nextel’s WiMAX-based “4G” service. Clearwire has said it was halting all further expansion of its WiMAX network in favor of deploying LTE technology across its vast 2.5 GHz spectrum holdings. However, those efforts are limited as the carrier is in need of more than $600 million in additional funding to support that launch, and recently hinted that it might miss a Dec. 1 interest payment.
Despite a public hands-off approach to Clearwire, Sprint Nextel remains the majority owner in the company and is seen by many as the likely source of additional funding. Clearwire’s spectrum depth, which is up to 150 megahertz in some markets, is a compelling carrot for Sprint Nextel as such depth could provide capacity and capabilities that no other domestic carrier could match.
However, there remains concern about the practicality of using the 2.5 GHz band to provide wide-area cellular coverage, though it would seem ideal for densely-packed urban environments. Taking this into account, adding Clearwire’s LTE plans to Sprint Nextel’s network mix would provide the carrier with potentially a strategic advantage in the market compared to rivals.
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