Sprint Exec Discusses Wholesaling of LTE Network

[marioc21]

Here's an interview with a Sprint exec about Sprint's plans for wholesaling LTE. Not very informative sadly, but a few nuggets.

 

FierceWireless: You said in March that Sprint had signed wholesale LTE contracts with at least 10 customers. Can you give me an update on how many customers Sprint has signed to wholesale LTE deals?

 

Carter: Let me be real clear about what that is. Essentially, we have a plethora of customers who are all interested in our 4G offering. We have put into place contract amendments to have the ability to provide them with LTE services when those are available. We have signed double-digits number of customers in terms of being able to offer them an LTE service when it becomes available.

 

...

 

FierceWireless: Clearwire has obviously been doing wholesale for a long time. Sprint is a Clearwire wholesale customer. Clearwire recently signed some new customers, including NetZero and FreedomPop. Do you see yourselves in any way competing with Clearwire for wholesale business?

Carter: Not necessarily. We offer a much broader range of products and services. So, for us, we're not out just selling 4G. We're really selling a wide range of products and services. So, it's the traditional MVNO services that we provide, and the traditional wireline offerings that we provide, and it's just another component with 4G services. I think we compete very differently in terms of what we provide. View us much more as a full-service shop versus Clearwire, which is much more focused around a limited product set.

 

 

 

...

 

FierceWireless: Since Sprint is launching LTE service in a 5X5 MHz nationwide block of spectrum, does the company have enough capacity to launch both its own LTE services for Sprint customers and handle the traffic from wholesale customers?

Carter: That's a very good question.It's obviously something that we have to balance. When you look at our wholesale customers, many of them ... would not need as much capacity to do what they are looking to do, versus us and the data and all of the stuff that people are looking for from our retail side. We think we can accommodate both well. It's certainly something we will keep an eye on to ensure a healthy balance between what we're providing our customers and what we have to do for our retail business.

 

 

 

http://www.fiercewir...work/2012-04-11

[cervonim]

They better not whore out LTE like they did with 3G. I know most of the capacity issues with 3G are due to the iPhone and smartphones in general, but still.

[Sgt. Slaughter]

They better not whore out LTE like they did with 3G. I know most of the capacity issues with 3G are due to the iPhone and smartphones in general, but still.

 

Ehh capacity issues on 3G are mainly due to ancient backhaul being used...once that's changed it won't be an issue...

 

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2

[S4GRU]

I once read it described that 65% of Sprint data issues were backhaul, 30% are capacity issues (need more carriers), and 5% were spectrum constraints.

 

The first two will be fixed by Network Vision. The last one will only be fixed with more spectrum or smaller cell deployment in affected areas.

 

Robert via NOVO7PALADIN Tablet using Forum Runner

[marioc21]

And here you go:

 

http://www.fiercewir...-FierceWireless

 

Mobile virtual network operator Ting, which currently uses the Sprint Nextel (

NYSE:S) 3G CDMA network and Clearwire's (NASDAQ:CLWR) mobile WiMAX network, said it will offer LTE data services using Sprint's LTE network when Sprint launches the network later this year. Sprint has said it will begin launching LTE markets by mid-year.

 

[Pillowsplat]

What constitutes a carrier? Thanks.