Sprint-Nextel CEO Dan Hesse: "We Couldn't Wait" to Deploy LTE
Asked in an interview at D: Dive Into Mobile why Sprint is deploying WiMax and not LTE as its 4G technology, Sprint-Nextel CEO Dan Hesse said it was the success of the iPhone that demonstrated that the market was ready for 4G services.
“We wanted to be first, and WiMax was available” in 2008, Hesse said. “I can’t deny that LTE will be a bigger ecosystem, but we couldn’t wait. We thought the market was ready.”
Also during his talk, Dan Hesse said that during the last two quarters, Sprint has been the fastest-growing post-paid mobile brand in the U.S. and that the company’s overall subscriber numbers have been offset by losses on its older Nextel network. Hesse also said that Sprint-Nextel will begin to wind down operations of the Nextel iDen network and migrate its customers to Sprint in 2013, though not before push-to-talk features are added to Sprint. “All Gs come to an end,” he said.