PTT big part of Sprint Nextel's network upgrades

Despite the continued hemorrhaging of postpaid customers from its iDEN operations, Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) is highlighting the benefit its current Network Vision initiative will have for services that were the cornerstone of the former Nextel Communications Inc. operations.
Speaking at the Raymond James Annual Institutional Investor Conference yesterday, Sprint Nextel SVP of Networks Bob Azzi said the carrier’s network enhancement plans will eventually support push-to-talk services equal to the current iDEN offering with the additional benefit of enhanced mobile broadband coverage.
Azzi noted that the carrier’s QChat service that the carrier launched in 2007 provided only about 40% of the in-building coverage that was offered by the carrier’s older iDEN-based PTT service. The biggest deterrent to greater coverage for the QChat service was the shallower CDMA network coverage due to the use of 1.9 GHz spectrum and the need for a strong EV-DO signal to support the service’s sub-one second call set up ability.
However, moving forward Azzi claims that with the initial enhancements being provided by the Network Vision deployment, the carrier expects coverage using the same 1.9 GHz spectrum to improve to 80% of the current in-building coverage provided by iDEN in the 800 MHz band, and to further increase to 95% with continued evolution to using 800 MHz spectrum for CDMA services.
That need to expand coverage for PTT services is seen as crucial as Sprint Nextel has plans to shutter the iDEN network by the end of 2013.
As part of that network enhancement, Azzi also said the carrier would be moving away from being a “T1 to the cell site” carrier to one more reliant on Ethernet to the tower. Azzi said that the carrier was currently looking at using a combination of microwave and fiber to support the move, with the current leaning being towards using more microwave than fiber, though that could change depending on market conditions.
To demonstrate the point, Azzi showed a slide of the carrier’s Network Vision tower set up that had a microwave antenna at the top of the tower, with a separate antenna and “box” below housing support for either WiMAX or LTE technology using the 2.5 GHz spectrum band and another separate antenna to handle CDMA or LTE technology in the 800 MHz and 1.9 GHz spectrum bands. Sprint Nextel has not yet said if it planned to deploy LTE services on its own network, but company CEO Dan Hesse has said the carrier plans to make that decision later this year.
Azzi did note that the plans to house 2.5 GHz capabilities on its tower plans were related to its current majority ownership stake in Clearwire Corp., which Sprint Nextel donated its vast 2.5 GHz spectrum holdings to, and its current reliance on Clearwire for Sprint Nextel’s WiMAX-based “4G” service.
While the two companies are still in discussions regarding a partnership for the continued build out of Clearwire’s network, Azzi said Sprint Nextel’s Network Vision plans would provide Clearwire with an option in continuing to expand its network.