Sprint partnering with C Spire for LTE Roaming

[lynyrd65]

I bet it was a condition of C Spire's and possibly USCC's negotiations to make Sprint devices band 12 compatible not just for the lower cost of procurement for band 12 LTE devices but availability of an iPhone that they can use on their band 12 networks.

 

Yes, this is a highly plausible rationale. CDMA2000 carriers in the CCA gotta stick together. Good thinking.

 

US Cellular is apparently seeing the light when it comes to offering Apple products to its customers, announcing today in its quarterly earnings that it'll begin selling unnamed Apple products in its stores starting "later this year." Though no specifics are given as to what products will be available, USC president Mary Dillon couched the announcement in iPhone-leaning verbiage.

"We have a number of strategies in progress to increase loyalty and attract more customers, including our announcement today that we will begin offering Apple products later this year. By further strengthening our device portfolio, we'll give consumers another great reason to switch to U.S. Cellular, and enable our existing customers to choose from an even wider variety of iconic smartphones, and enjoy the outstanding U.S. Cellular customer experiences they deserve."

The company previously said (way back in 2011) that it couldn't find agreeable terms with Apple to offer its devices in USC stores, but apparently that situation has been resolved. We're reaching out to US Cellular for more information and will let you know as we hear it.

Update: US Cellular reps told Engadget, "U.S. Cellular will be selling iPhone products later this year. We don't have any additional information at this time." Surprise!

 

Edit: or maybe not

 

The company did not provide a specific launch date for the iPhone, but said that in order to offer the iPhone and other products, it will refarm its 850 MHz spectrum and launch LTE in Band 5 later this year. U.S. Cellular's LTE network currently is deployed on several different spectrum bands, including partner King Street Wireless' spectrum holdings in the Band 12 Lower 700 MHz A and B blocks and U.S. Cellular's own spectrum holdings in the 850 MHz band and Band 12 Lower 700 MHz A, B and C blocks.

 

So Sprint may not be requesting a band 12 iPhone this year after all.

[JeffDTD]

http://www.cspire.com/coverage/

 

 

Cspire now shows Sprint's LTE available in Texas/Georgia/Kansas to Cspire customers

 

If Sprint wants LTE roaming "across 1900 850 and 700", perhaps they are trying to be the regional carrier messiah ..... but perhaps there is a chance for Sprint customers to roam onto 700mhz LTE sooner than later. In any case, its got to be music to Cspire's ears considering the 700 mhz buildout requirements and Cspire's current LTE being 1900 only

[WiWavelength]

If Sprint wants LTE roaming "across 1900 850 and 700", perhaps they are trying to be the regional carrier messiah ..... but perhaps there is a chance for Sprint customers to roam onto 700mhz LTE sooner than later. In any case, its got to be music to Cspire's ears considering the 700 mhz buildout requirements and Cspire's current LTE being 1900 only

 

Rumor has it that C Spire may abandon its Lower 700 MHz band 12 LTE ambitions altogether because of the interoperability and economy of scale problems.

 

AJ

[JeffDTD]

Rumor has it that C Spire may abandon its Lower 700 MHz band 12 LTE ambitions altogether because of the interoperability and economy of scale problems.

 

AJ

 

Think they'd get more or less than the ~$192m they spent on it?

 

I sure hope they look to Sprint for strategic opportunity. Perhaps Verizon's rural alliance offer is still on the table, but I fear buyout altogether

[Paynefanbro]

Sprint should expand their network like Verizon by having other smaller carriers build it out in exchange for spectrum use. (or something pike that.) Similar to Shentel, but on a much larger scale to get the rural buildout going way faster.

[WiWavelength]

Sprint should expand their network like Verizon by having other smaller carriers build it out in exchange for spectrum use. (or something pike that.) Similar to Shentel, but on a much larger scale to get the rural buildout going way faster.

 

That sounds like a good idea, but it presents numerous problems.

 

First, a lot of smaller operators have been devoured by the duopoly over the past decade or so. Thus, fewer remain to partner with Sprint.

 

Second, even those that do remain may be off limits or incompatible. The operators in VZW's LTE in Rural America program probably cannot cooperate with Sprint. And other operators are GSM centric, hence not a good fit for Sprint.

 

Third, Sprint could potentially strike a Rural Alliance agreement with USCC and/or C Spire, then contribute PCS G and SMR spectrum to the program. But what would happen a few years from now if the duopoly were to swoop in and buy out USCC and/or C Spire? Sprint would likely face another embarrassing loss of pseudo native coverage, just as it has in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Colorado over the past year.

 

AJ

[iansltx]

That sounds like a good idea, but it presents numerous problems.

 

First, a lot of smaller operators have been devoured by the duopoly over the past decade or so. Thus, fewer remain to partner with Sprint.

 

Second, even those that do remain may be off limits or incompatible. The operators in VZW's LTE in Rural America program probably cannot cooperate with Sprint. And other operators are GSM centric, hence not a good fit for Sprint.

 

Third, Sprint could potentially strike a Rural Alliance agreement with USCC and/or C Spire, then contribute PCS G and SMR spectrum to the program. But what would happen a few years from now if the duopoly were to swoop in and buy out USCC and/or C Spire? Sprint would likely face another embarrassing loss of pseudo native coverage, just as it has in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Colorado over the past year.

 

AJ

 

On the flip side, at least Sprint would have pseudo-native coverage in the first place. And you could say the same thing of Shentel potentially defecting, though that would be a bit harder as Shentel has no spectrum of its own (right?).

[lynyrd65]

Second, even those that do remain may be off limits or incompatible. The operators in VZW's LTE in Rural America program probably cannot cooperate with Sprint. And other operators are GSM centric, hence not a good fit for Sprint.

AJ

 

I found it interesting when the CEO of Blue Grass Cellular (a vzw LTE IRA) spoke so highly of Sprints LTE Roaming platform at the CCA CEO roundtable. He said he loved the idea and that Sprint would provide a great footprint for nationwide LTE services. He spoke of taking back control of their network from VZW with their band 12 700 spectrum in the future.

 

So I'm not entirely certain some of these vzw partners are beyond saving or leaving for a competitive Sprint partnership.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[Paynefanbro]

That would be awesome! If suddenly more carriers began shifting back to Sprint, that would teach Verizon a thing or two.

[WiWavelength]

I found it interesting when the CEO of Blue Grass Cellular (a vzw LTE IRA) spoke so highly of Sprints LTE Roaming platform at the CCA CEO roundtable. He said he loved the idea and that Sprint would provide a great footprint for nationwide LTE services. He spoke of taking back control of their network from VZW with their band 12 700 spectrum in the future.

 

So I'm not entirely certain some of these vzw partners are beyond saving or leaving for a competitive Sprint partnership.

 

That sounds promising, but it also smacks of the kind of token praise tossed about at a trade convention.

 

One, I have not seen LTE in Rural America contract terms, but I would not be surprised if they contain non compete terms regarding other LTE operators.

 

Two, more importantly, LTE in Rural America gets operators to shift their roaming priority over to VZW. So, now, when Bluegrass subs travel to Louisville, Nashville, Cincinnati, etc., they roam on VZW, not on Sprint. That loss of truly reciprocal roaming is like a big kick in gnads to Sprint.

 

AJ

[transitwatch889]

Update on this topichttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cnet/tcoc/~3/ARy0oJhzi8k/story01.htm

[radem]

So if I read this properly, T-Mobile customers may soon be able to roam on Sprint towers if they follow through with this.  That is an interesting alternative to merging the companies.  I wonder if next, T-Mobile and Dish will sell their towers and bandwidth to Sprint in exchange for a roaming agreement and tower build-out plan.  You will have Sprint, T-Mobile and Dish and others using Sprint nationwide towers with all the companies combined bands running on them.

 

Sounds like this could be major game changer.