Sprint is set to complete the shutdown of its WiMAX network today, as service at sites in 10 states is discontinued.
Sprint had originally planned on shutting down its WiMAX network last November, before a court ruled Sprint had to maintain the network for at least another 90 days in support of more than 300,000 customers still using the network to access the Internet. That decision was based on a lawsuit filed by firms Mobile Citizen and Mobile Beacon, which claim to provide affordable broadband service to 300,000 customers, including 429 schools, 61 libraries and 1,820 nonprofit organizations.
Mobile Beacon and Mobile Citizen claim to have migrated approximately 40% of its customers to Sprint’s LTE network. The two nonprofit firms are part of larger education groups leasing the 2.5 GHz spectrum assets to Sprint, which is being used to power the WiMAX network and portions of Sprint’s LTE network.
The phased shutdown hit benchmarks Feb. 2, Feb. 29 and March 31, with the last round having the network going down in parts of Alaska, Florida, Idaho, Massachusetts, Maryland, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Texas, according to Mobile Beacon.
Sprint announced in April 2014, plans to shut down the WiMAX operations by Nov. 6, 2015, and said it has been successful in working with most of the companies tapping into the network in migration plans to its LTE network. Sprint inherited full control over the WiMAX operations when it acquired the entire stake of Clearwire in 2013.
