Sprint mulling LTE adoption, T-Mobile merger

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Speaking with the Financial Times, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has expressed interest in adopting LTE technology in the near future, which could lead to a merger with T-Mobile USA. The operators reportedly considered combining forces in 2008, but ultimately determined that their technology roadpaths weren't compatible: Sprint was focused on WiMAX while T-Mobile was eyeing LTE.

Apparently, that idea isn't entirely out of the picture, with Hesse telling the FT that he sees "logic" in a merger between the carriers. Adding further that Sprint has the resources to add LTE on top of WiMAX if it so chooses. "The beauty of having a lot of spectrum is, we have a lot of flexibility," he said.

Currently positioned as the third and fourth largest cellular companies in the US, a united Sprint/T-Mobile would give birth to a new telecom giant alongside AT&T and Verizon. Naturally, both Hesse and Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile USA's owner) declined to comment on negotiations, saying only that no multibillion euro deals are planned this year.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/39625-sprint-mulling-lte-adoption-t-mobile-merger.html

 

[cardriverx]

This would be VERY intresting... I like (especially because im a sprint user)

 

[snakeye2669]

Sound good for me too. I just got out of Tmobile to Sprint, because of sprint 4G Wimax and the HTC Evo with Android. So maybe in the near future the HTC EVO can access Wimax and LTE 4G. Sweet combo when it goes live and even more future proof. I made the right choose in phone carrier.

 

[MrAnderson]

This would be cool. We need more things to happen in the market to shake out the stagnation in the services. These telecomes are not developing new services with all the technology and the software... they are not leveraging the phones that they flog with exclusivity. AT&T and the iPhone are the closest to new services like the visual voice mall and the ability to change to an alternate voice mail greeting without erasing the original.

Sprint having WiMax and LTE would give them a great deal of flex and they might be big enough to get chip makers to make dual tech chips so the phones can do both. The future could be brighter if they combine.