Small cells and monopoles planned for Miami, potentially giving peek of larger Sprint network densification push
Sprint is looking to up its network and retail game in the Miami area, according to reports on a closed-door meeting between the carrier’s CEO and Miami Mayor Carlos Gimenez.
Speculation about the meeting centered on soccer superstar David Beckham’s initiative to bring a Major League Soccer team to South Florida. Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure is a financial partner with Beckham.
But soccer wasn’t on the agenda for the Monday meeting.
The Miami Herald reports that Claure and Gimenez discussed a potential expansion of Sprint’s Miami-area network. Specifically, the paper reports that Claure wants to speed up the permitting process that would give Sprint access to government-owned buildings for small cell deployments.
The $75 million Sprint plan would add 800 new small cells in Miami-Dade County in the next 18 months along with the addition of 17 new stores in the area. Miami is apparently one of the rollout cities for Sprint’s as-yet vague “Next Generation Network” drive for improving coverage and capacity by way of network densification.
Claure was recently in Japan to get approval for the plan from the leadership of parent company Softbank.
The Miami plan also calls for deployment of 150-foot monopoles used to “improve telephony connectivity in areas where zoning is difficult,” according to a presentation Sprint gave to the Miami Herald.
The network and retail enhancement plan would create 225 jobs, according to Sprint.
A Dade County spokesman said the project is “incredible. In addition to improving their network, it’s also adding jobs in the area because you need the infrastructure and the workers to do that.”
