By Ed Oswald | Tuesday, March 10, 2009 at 10:34 am
GigaOM is reporting that Sprint has reportedly begun testing LTE equipment, a move that may suggest it may not be completely confident that WiMax may be its eventual route for 4G.
Sprint owns 51 percent of Clearwire, a company commited to bringing near-nationwide WiMax access by 2010. However, its competitors have all decided that LTE is the way to go for next-generation data, leaving the company as the odd man out, so to speak.
The company is not denying that it is testing out LTE, explaning it as a method “to monitor and assess the competitive landscape and any potential impacts to Sprint’s plans.” But you have to think, being that its the only provider comitted to WiMax that maybe it may be having some second thoughts.
Add this to the fact that Clear’s WiMax equipment was built to be converted later to LTE, and one has to wonder.
March 10th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Couldn’t they just be investigating WiMax as an upgrade path to LTE? WiMax exists now, and LTE is still being specified.