S4GRU

Frank is in duh haus!!! Welcome. And I'm glad you're loving the new site. I am too!!! - Robert

by Andrew J. Shepherd Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Wednesday, February 8, 2012 - 10:01 AM MST Within the wireless industry and among wireless enthusiasts, it is fairly common knowledge that Verizon Wireless (VZW) and AT&T Mobility (AT&T) have landed Boardwalk and Park Place, respectively, in terms of wireless spectrum for LTE deployment. (Pardon the Monopoly…er, duopoly pun.) VZW has huge Upper 700 MHz C block 22 MHz licenses that it holds nationwide. And AT&T has a not quite as consistently strong but still substantial collection of Lower 700 MHz B block 12 MHz and C block 12 MHz licenses that it can span together in many markets for a similarly large bandwidth LTE network. In order to compete with VZW’s and AT&T’s LTE deployments, Sprint has put together a multi-pronged course of action. Sprint is rolling out its Network Vision platform this year, utilizing its “green field” PCS G block 10 MHz nationwide licenses to deploy an initial 5 MHz x 5 MHz LTE channel. Sprint has inked a deal to host LightSquared’s L-band Ancillary Terrestrial Component LTE bandwidth on the Network Vision platform. Sprint plans to “refarm” its rebanded SMR 800 MHz spectrum for LTE as the former Nextel iDEN network is shut down over the next two years. Sprint expects to gain TD-LTE capacity in major markets once Clearwire starts to shift its focus from WiMAX to LTE. However, the LightSquared agreement appears to be living on borrowed time, since LightSquared has failed to solve the ATC interference issues required to satisfy its FCC waiver. And neither SMR 800 MHz spectrum nor Clearwire TD-LTE is likely to be widely available until 2013 or 2014. Sprint LTE Deployment to Earn an A, B, or C? So, Sprint could stand pat with its planned 5 MHz x 5 MHz LTE roll out (while VZW launches 10 MHz x 10 MHz in all of its LTE markets, AT&T in most of its LTE markets). Or, better yet, Sprint could add a fifth prong to its plan of attack: Sprint leverages its existing PCS A-F block spectrum assets for an additional LTE channel in many top markets. At the first FCC PCS 1900 MHz auction that ended almost 17 years ago in early spring 1995, Sprint and its partners came away the big winners, acquiring PCS A block 30 MHz or B block 30 MHz licenses across an overwhelming majority of the 49 MTAs that make up the 50 states. Today, Sprint retains its full 30 MHz allotment in greater than 24 major markets, including seven of the top 10 markets. Furthermore, Sprint has acquired additional spectrum in six other major markets to increase its licensed PCS A-F bandwidth in those as well to 30 MHz. And, finally, Sprint has three other major markets in which it retains or has acquired just under 30 MHz of PCS spectrum. I call these three groups, respectively, “original,” “accumulated,” and “borderline” 30 MHz PCS A-F bandwidth markets. For a rundown of these Sprint markets and their PCS spectrum holdings, view the linked spreadsheet. Or click here to download Excel version. What is the magic amount of spectrum needed? So, you might ask, “Why is 30 MHz the magic number?” Well, actually, 20 MHz is the greater figure of merit, while 30 MHz represents a latently important 10 MHz above and beyond that core 20 MHz bandwidth. If you examine Sprint’s PCS A-F spectrum holdings nationwide, you find that the minimum bandwidth that Sprint holds in almost any major market is 20 MHz, which is sufficient spectrum for six (or, in some cases, seven) CDMA2000 carrier channels plus guard bands. Such 20 MHz bandwidth markets include Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta, etc. With Sprint’s cell site density achieved over the last 15 years, 20 MHz seems to represent a sufficient bandwidth “floor.” For example, on a recent trip to Chicago, I noted that Sprint is operating at or near the maximum carrier channel capacity of its 20 MHz of spectrum. I encountered three CDMA1X and two EV-DO channel assignments out of a possible total of six channels. Moreover, my own empirical observations in 30 MHz markets seem to corroborate the 20 MHz bandwidth “floor.” Kansas City is one such market, a PCS A block 30 MHz “original” market. Of course, it is Sprint’s home market, in which Sprint is a close number two in market share, thus should be a reasonably demanding market for Sprint. Even though Sprint has 30 MHz (up to 11 carrier channels) to play with in Kansas City, I encounter most regularly three CDMA1X and three EV-DO channel assignments. And those six carrier channels plus guard bands occupy 17.5 MHz out of Sprint's 30 MHz license. Just because not all markets can do it, doesn't mean that it shouldn't be done To summarize, Sprint has demonstrated that it can successfully operate many, if not all of its CDMA2000 markets in no greater than 20 MHz of deployed bandwidth. In the 24 aforementioned “original” PCS A-F 30 MHz markets, as well as the six “accumulated” PCS A-F 30 MHz markets, Sprint thus has 10 MHz of spectrum that it could ostensibly put to use for a second 5 MHz x 5 MHz LTE channel. Better yet, in four markets (including high tech hot beds Seattle and Austin), Sprint has “accumulated” the right combination of PCS C block and G block contiguous licenses that Sprint could actually deploy a 10 MHz x 10 MHz LTE channel to match VZW and AT&T. Even in the three “borderline” markets where Sprint holds 25-27.5 MHz of PCS A-F spectrum, Sprint might still be able to operate CDMA1X and EV-DO within 15-17.5 MHz bandwidth, once more freeing up 10 MHz for a second LTE channel. Not to mention, once Sprint launches one LTE channel, the demands on existing EV-DO channels start to ease, thereby reducing the load on the limited CDMA2000 bandwidth. Of course, Sprint does not have enough PCS A-F block spectrum to carve out a second LTE channel in all of its markets. But there is an elegant, collaborative solution to that problem. So, stay tuned for the next article in this three part series to learn how and why a PCS LTE spectrum and network sharing agreement would fit both Sprint and its prospective network partner to a “T”… Click link for next article Link to Excel Spreadsheet for download Sources: FCC, author’s notes

by Robert Herron Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Wednesday, February 8, 2012 - 6:08 AM MST Today in a Sprint Q4 2011 Conference Call, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse announced Kansas City and Baltimore as receiving Network Vision overhauls (including LTE deployment) in Mid 2012. Most of the conference call was focused on financial reporting, and more specifically how the iPhone impacted financials. This is something Wall Street has been clamoring for since Sprint announced it was getting the iPhone back in October. Sprint announced highlights of impressive financial performance improvements. Sprint is far from making money, given it lost $1.3 Billion in the quarter. But this could be the quarter where it all started to turn. Sprint added 1.6 Million new subscribers. The most adds for them in one quarter in over six years. But on the negative side, Sprint only added 161,000 post paid subscribers. Well short of the 294,000 expected. And Wall Street will surely punish them for this dark cloud on their sunny horizons. Sprint 4G Rollout Updates announced back on December 12th that Kansas City would be one of the first cities in Network Vision, after it was mentioned by a Senior Sprint Network Manager. So we were not surprised by the KC news today. However, Baltimore has never been mentioned in regards to Network Vision and LTE deployment until today. It's not a shocking move as Baltimore has always seen a lot of Sprint love in the past. It was one of the first cities to get WiMax deployment as well. Sprint Baltimore market. Includes all of Central and Eastern Maryland, except for the suburbs immediately adjacent to Washington, D.C. Click on image to enlarge. Sprint Kansas market. Includes all Sprint's native sites in the State of Kansas, and most of Western Missouri including Kansas City. Click on image to enlarge. After this news, this brings the full list of announced cities from Sprint for Network Vision and LTE deployment to six. Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, San Antonio, Kansas City and Baltimore. Sprint has announced that there will be 10 cities for the first half of 2012. That leaves four more to be announced. It cannot be too much farther in the future. Next month, the first half of 2012 will be half over! And S4GRU announced last week that Chicago's Network Vision and LTE deployment is well under way, also. This deployment is surely going to be the fastest and most thorough deployment in Sprint history. And it needs to be! Other details noted: 1.8 Million iPhone activations, of which 40% are new customers Sprint posts net loss of $1.3 billion, adds 1.6M subscribers in Q4-2011 ARPU improved to $3.69, the best ever improvement in American wireless history Sprint now up to 55 Million total subscribers Best churn rate ever reported 9,600 Nextel iDEN sites offline and decommisioned by the end of 2012 The best Tweet I saw of the Sprint call was from Sascha Segan from PCMag.com, see below: Thanks, Sascha. I needed that after such a boring snoozefest of a call! And thanks to all the S4GRU members who joined us for the live chat during the call on our website. That was fun! Even if the call was boring... Updated at 7:15 AM MST and 8:13 AM MDT. EDITED 3/5/2012: To include market maps. Source: http://newsroom.spri...article_id=2180

Big Easy S4GRU is now mobile...posted via Forum Runner

Just waiting for the dam to burst and all the ICS ROM's hit the streets

Must not include WiMax as part of the deal like the recently announced Simplicity MVNO deal.

I'm waiting for the fluorescent chartreuse model, myself. - Robert

Big Kahuna

I was surprised by all the additional band-aid capex they are spending just months in advance of Network Vision. Especially in markets where NV is already under way. But I guess they figure they have to do something about the network, especially with all these new iPhone users staring at them, asking "WTH???" I was definitely shocked about the thought of forced WiMax offload. If I hadn't seen the Sprint documentation with my own eyes, I never would have believed it.

This is so egregious! I'm sure billionaires would say it would be better for the economy if they had all of our assets, too. AT&T sits on so much unused spectrum all around the country. We don't have a spectrum problem for the big carriers. They can divide their cells up smaller and smaller. But that costs money they don't wanna spend. It's the smaller carriers who need more spectrum, so they can install larger EVDO and LTE carriers for faster data performance. When I think about all of the spectrum AT&T owns and has never deployed on, it makes me really pissed off!!!

When I say additional T1 lines, I'm using the term very loosely. I'm using the term to mean all subscriber based all-copper backhaul solutions. Sprint mostly uses bundled T1 lines for its backhaul to date at cell sites. But they use several different backhaul solutions. This was a good and very scalable solution for sites for years. But when everyone else started switching to enhanced backhaul methods a few years ago, Sprint stayed with bundled T1's just adding a few more lines each time additional backhaul capacity is needed. The enhancements shown on the network.sprint.com website where it denotes "Speed Upgrades" usually means additional subscriber line based backhaul was added to the tower to get additional backhaul capacity. This has resulted in highly variable results from tower to tower. Fortunately, these are all going by the wayside as they move to fiber and microwave-bridge-to-fiber backhaul solutions.

Posted an article about it. Thanks for the lead. I was going to put the call on my "To Do List" last week, but I forgot. I was very busy working with forum migration.

by Robert Herron Sprint 4G Rollout Updates- Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - 11:21 AM MST In a conference call yesterday with investors, Sprint Regional Affiliate, Shenandoah Telecommunications (aka Shentel) provided a little more clarity with their Network Vision and LTE plans for the next 24 months, as well as some details of their new agreement with Sprint Nextel. "The amendment creates a win-win situation for both Sprint Nextel and Shentel and allows us to upgrade our network in accordance with Sprint’s Network Vision plans," stated Christopher French, Shentel President and CEO Network Vision in Greater Shenandoah... "Planning and preconstruction work is already underway, and we expect to start our deployment late in the second quarter," continued Mr. French. Shentel also stated that new Network Vision sites will start to come live in their service areas in the 3rd Quarter 2012. This will include LTE on 1900 PCS G-block. 800MHz deployment will begin at some point after iDEN is decommissioned in Shentel service areas, improving in building service and overall coverage. Shentel is planning for additional capacity, as they anticipate growing subscriber growth from iDEN conversions and increased customer demand response from improving network conditions. Alcatel/Lucent is the Network Vision partner for Sprint in the region and will also provide NV services and equipment to Shentel. Shentel will be able to purchase network equipment and services from Alcatel Lucent at the same price they are sold to Sprint. Shentel is upgrading backhaul at every one of their 510 cell sites to microwave or fiber, allowing considerably more backhaul than they need at the moment. This will allow the backhaul to be scalable for future expansion. At some tower sites, where possible, Shentel will even provide their own fiber connection. Estimating possibly as high as 30% of their sites will be connected to their own fiber network. Shentel actually has been slowly upgrading their sites to fiber for the past few years within their past capex schemes. All this work, costs lots of money... Shentel estimates that Network Vision upgrades will cost the Sprint regional affiliate approximately $115 Million through 2013. Mr. French loosely committed, "Shentel will use our best efforts to complete the upgrade by December 31, 2013." Shentel is planning to get over half of their network converted this year. Just under 300 sites are identified for conversion in 2012, with the remaining 200 to be completed in 2013. "Our current contract has limits on the level of capital expenditures that Sprint can require Shentel to make in our network. Those limits remain in effect." I'm sure that Shentel needs to have some sort of limit in place, but this quote caused me pause. What is the limit? It was not disclosed in this call. The new agreement allows Shentel to actively convert existing Sprint Nextel iDEN customers directly over to Shentel CDMA customers. And at a later date this year, Shentel Direct Connect (based on Sprint Direct Connect). Mr. French clarified, "Shentel will benefit from the migration of adding customers in our service area. Sprint will have a migration plan to move the postpaid and prepaid customers currently on the iDEN network, and we anticipate this will begin later this year and be completed by the end of 2013." The new agreement also allows Shentel to host companies like LightSquared. Should Sprint ever make a hosting agreement with another company, or if LightSquared should ever get legs under it, then Shentel will be able to also host and get paid for this hosting as well. The newly implemented affiliate contract extends the Shentel/Sprint agreement through 2024, with provisions in place for two ten year contact extensions. Thanks to S4GRU Member Rawvega for tipping me off to the transcripts of this conference call. Source: http://seekingalpha....ment-transcript

It's going to be very different, depending on the dynamics of each individual cell. Backhaul will be upgraded to microwave bridge or fiber at all NV sites. So this will dramatically improve 3G speeds. For most users, it will result in speeds from 1.4MB to 2.5MB speeds, with a good signal. And good signals are going to be more plentiful with radios being installed up high behind antennas. However, if after an NV system upgrade the cell site is over carrier capacity, Sprint may still need to add additional EVDO carriers to create these types of 3G speeds. Performance could falter if there are not enough EVDO carriers installed at the new NV tower to handle the needs of the users within the cell. But beyond additional carriers, Sprint has many Capacity Constrained Markets. Places where all the licensed spectrum they have is used up. This is the case on many cell sites in Chicago. We did a write up about Sprint's challenges with Network Vision and limited spectrum last Friday. In the cases where CCM's are an issue, there is no quick and easy fix for Sprint to keep 3G speeds up for users within the spectrum maxed out cell. Sprint will need to split the cell and add towers in these instances. And Sprint hasn't said whether they will do the cell splitting with Network Vision, or in some future capex. The people in CCM's within a cell that needs to be split will be the folks who will not get as much relief from Network Vision as everyone else. I do believe that 80% or more of the Sprint 3G network will have speeds above 1.4MB when NV is complete.

I must be a major dork. Reading this got me really excited! Thanks for the post.

sugar free I have been waiting a long time for someone to start this game!!!

I'm going to try to recreate the dashboard at the new site. My first attempt failed. I was going to try and get everything complete before moving you all over, but the new site runs so much better, and the new content and notifications system are so awesome. I just couldn't in good conscience leave you over in the old forums suffering. This new site is 10x better. So I did a mad rush this past weekend to get the forum migration completed. I appreciate all the feedback. I'm going to treat this like a "honey-do" list and try to tackle one issue at a time. My goal is to build the best forums possible with the tools and expertise that I've got. Thanks to you all. Sent from Tapatalk App