Sprint sets 4G plans with LightSquared: WiMax with dash of LTE

Written by Larry Dignan, Contributing Editor

Larry Dignan Contributing Editor

Larry Dignan is the former Editor in Chief of ZDNet.

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Posted in Between the Lines on July 13, 2011 | Topic: Networking

Sprint will reportedly confirm a network deal with LightSquared that will give the company a little Long-Term Evolution (LTE) mojo.

According to CNET News' Maggie Reardon, Sprint will confirm a pact with LightSquared when it releases earnings July 28. LightSquared, which is building out an LTE network, will use Sprint as the backbone to its service.

For Sprint, the LightSquared deal resolves a good bit of the mystery around its Network Vision. Simply put, Sprint's vision is that it will use multiple wireless technologies including both LTE and WiMax. Sprint teamed with Clearwire to offer WiMax in a move to get a jump on the 4G market initially.

The LightSquared deal makes sense since Sprint will have to answer the LTE ramp-up plans of Verizon and AT&T.

One big issue for the LTE-WiMax hybrid network will be the hand off between the two technologies. As noted before, the handoff from WiMax to 3G is jarring. And on LTE the hand-off is just as bad. What happens when you put WiMax, LTE and 3G in the network blender?

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