Sprint's LTE Position
But Sprint has not specified exactly which technology it will evolve to.
To find out more about the operator's next-gen wireless plan, Light Reading Mobile tracked down Mathew Oommen, Sprint's VP of device and technology development, and one of the LTE event's volcanic ash victims whose flight could not make it here to Amsterdam. Oommen was scheduled to keynote this morning's LTE sessions. (See LTE Action in Amsterdam .)
Oommen did not spell out Sprint's next-gen mobile technology choice [ed. note: as in, L-T-E, for example] but said it would be a "multi-technology platform that will maintain the lowest cost per bit."
"We want to future proof our network," he said. "We want to leverage all the assets we have in such a way that offers us the lowest cost per bit... It's important to address the cost per bit in a data explosion market."
He added that it's important to "not be prescriptive to a particular technology."
So, Sprint's priorities in this next-gen wireless selection are getting the best cost structure for its network and the most flexibility for its customers.
As for which technology actually meets those requirements, well, Sprint isn't saying.
— Michelle Donegan, European Editor, Light Reading Mobile
I strongly doubt Sprint will choose 802.16m WiMAX (the other choice for 4G) for migration of their FDD CDMA2000 network. Other major CDMA2000 operators (notably, VZW, KDDI, & all South Korean operators) are migrating to LTE for sure and it would be a huge gamble for Sprint not to follow this trend because of the vast eco-system that LTE will create in mobile terminal & infrastructure markets. Sprint may delay 4G migration & evolve EV-DO network further but eventually, it would have no other choice but to hop on the LTE bandwagon.