NEW ORLEANS – As the carrier that got the whole “4G” marketing fad started with its WiMAX service in 2008, Sprint Nextel has seen that “lead” reversed as many of its rivals now have “4G” services using LTE technology covering a far greater footprint. Even T-Mobile USA, which continues to tout its HSPA-based 3G service as “4G” has in recent months aggressively moved to rollout LTE services.
Despite the loss of the “4G” lead, Sprint Nextel remains convinced that its ongoing LTE rollout is progressing at a solid pace and more importantly providing customers with a solid experience on their smartphones.
Speaking at this week’s Competitive Carriers Association event in New Orleans, Bob Azzi, Sprint Nextel’s SVP of Networks, reiterated the carriers LTE plans. Azzi stated that the carrier was still on track to cover 200 million potential customers with LTE service by the end of the year, which just happens to match the number being offered up by rival T-Mobile USA for its LTE offering.
One difference, and perhaps feeding into the notion that Sprint Nextel is falling behind in the LTE race is that Sprint Nextel launched its first LTE networks last summer, while T-Mobile USA’s first network did not come online until just last month. Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse helped propel the carrier’s rollout focus, announcing at the CCA event that the carrier expanded official coverage beginning today to 21 new markets, pushing coverage to 88 markets nationwide.
One issue continuing to plague Sprint Nextel is spectrum. The carrier is currently relying on just 10 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band to support its LTE rollout. By comparison, many of its rivals are using up to twice the spectrum and in lower frequency bands for better propagation and in-building coverage. Sprint Nextel is looking to dip into more of its spectrum portfolio to bolster its services as well as attempting to acquire Clearwire in a move that would provide the carrier with control over approximately 150 megahertz of spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band.
Azzi conceded that network speed tests may show that the carrier’s current LTE speeds fail to match those of some of its rivals, but added that consumers will see a very compelling quality of service on their device.
This speed differential was noted in New Orleans, where though the carrier does not officially yet offer service, an LTE signal from the carrier was picked up and provided speed tests of around 3 megabits per second on the downlink and over 1 Mbps on the uplink. It should be noted that the testing was conducted at freeway speeds, which typically produce readings a bit slower than what is seen in stationary tests.
Those numbers were considerably slower than what was posted by Verizon Wireless’ network in the same market and supporting customers and even a bit slower than what has been posted in the past from Sprint Nextel’s WiMAX-based “4G” offering. However, to Azzi’s point, network latency in the LTE tests showed results well below 100 milliseconds, which is a significant factor in perceived network speeds on a device.
Sprint Nextel is confident that once it begins throwing more spectrum at its LTE network, it will see a corresponding increase in tested network speeds.
Azzi noted that the carrier was still on track to turn off its legacy iDEN network on June 30, which will then allow the carrier to begin re-configuring 800 MHz spectrum assets for its LTE network. The carrier is currently rolling out CDMA voice support in the 800 MHz band in an effort to expand voice coverage, with hopes of providing the same sort of broad coverage for its LTE service.
That move to 800 MHz will then be followed by the roll out of TDD-LTE services from network partner Clearwire that will provide Sprint Nextel with denser network coverage in high-traffic markets. Azzi noted that initial testing of Clearwire’s TDD-LTE service using 20 megahertz of spectrum was showing faster download speeds than what the carrier has seen with similar spectrum depth using FDD technology.
The Clearwire plans are also not expected to be impacted by the current soap opera breaking out among Sprint Nextel, Softbank, Dish Networks and Verizon Wireless with Azzi insisting that those issues have not impacted the network operations side of the business.
Mother Nature’s impact
Azzi also noted that a rough winter of weather caused some headaches in rolling out new equipment in some markets, though it was able to divert those resources to areas not as impacted by Mother Nature.
As for the new equipment being rolled out as part of the carrier’s Network Vision program, Azzi said there were still some challenges in getting fiber to some cell sites, adding that while the carrier was using some microwave in select locations, that option was still a second choice behind putting in cables to sites.
Azzi also noted that the carrier’s move to remote radio head antennas as part of Network Vision was returning far better than expected coverage results, with little downside. He did admit that there might be a higher case of failure for the radio equipment being now outside on top of the antenna instead of being tucked away in an enclosure at the bottom of the site, but that the efficiencies gained from the new location made the investment worthwhile.
“It’s too early to tell the exact sort of failures we may see, but we have seen a few,” Azzi said. “But, it has been worth it considering the performance we are seeing.”
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