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Mobile & Wireless
Sprint Details Aggressive Broadband Wireless Net Expansion
Company Targets Coverage of 190 Million Consumers by Year’s End
by Bob Wallace
Sprint has announced aggressive plans for the expansion and evolution
of the Sprint Power Vision network which now covers over half of the
U.S. population with mobile broadband data services.
By year end 2006 the high-speed wireless network is expected to reach
an estimated 190 million people nationwide and in Puerto Rico, with
Sprint claiming that will make it "the largest mobility network of its kind."
Sprint will concurrently implement second-generation technology
upgrades later this year known as EV-DO Revision A, to bring additional
mobility benefits to users beginning in 1Q 2007. Sprint plans to reach
about 220 million people in the U.S. with the advanced network by the
end of 3Q ’07.
Sprint mobile broadband services, which run on the Sprint Power Vision
network, cover over 150 million people and serve customers in 215
communities with at least 100,000 population, as well as 470 airports
across the country.
The service provider says users currently access various audio, video
and data applications with handheld and connection-card devices at
average download speeds equivalent to DSL (400-700 Kbps and peak
speeds up to 2 Mbps).
With the evolution to EV-DO Revision A, Sprint contends, users will
experience downloads and uploads up to 10 times faster.
"We plan....a complete overlay of our Sprint EV-DO network with
Revision A technology by the end of 3Q 2007, to provide customers an
enriched mobile multimedia experience," said Kathy Walker, Sprint’s chief
network officer.
Next week, Sprint said it will demonstrate EV-DO Revision A connection
card technology at the CTIA Wireless Show in Las Vegas with industry
partners Nortel, Novatel Wireless and Sierra Wireless. Sprint will market
EV-DO Revision A compatible connection cards in the third quarter of
2006, which work on the current Revision O network until next-
generation service is broadly available in the first quarter 2007 to about
214 million people.
"Sprint has an aggressive plan for mobile broadband service leadership,
by broadening their footprint and deploying advanced technology that
drives mobility," commented Gene Signorini, Director, Wireless/Mobile
Enterprise Solutions at Yankee Group. "This announcement keeps Sprint
in the forefront in meeting the demand for mobility services. Given the
importance of high speed data services as a revenue source, this is a
bold and rewarding move.
With Revision A technology, Spritn says, peak download data rates
increase to 3.1 Mbps (from 2.0) and peak upload data rates increase to
1.8 Mbps (from 144 kbps). Average download speeds improve to 450-800
kbps (from 400 -700) and average uplink speeds become 300 - 400 kpbs
(versus 70 - 144 kpbs).
The network operator says faster data rates can enable richer
applications and services such as high-speed video telephony, music on
demand, video messaging, large file uploads and high performance push-
to-talk capability.
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