Sprint’s October Event: More LightSquared Than iPhone

Coming as it does after reports that the iPhone is headed to Sprint, the carrier’s announcement today of an October 7 media event has inspired all manner of iPhone 5-related speculation. But the truth of the matter is, the “Strategy Update,” as Sprint calls it, is far more likely to concern updates to the carrier’s network than updates to Apple’s product line. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said as much earlier this summer.

“We’re going to come out with a great story this fall around 4G, and it’ll all become clear,” Hesse told Engadget.

So while anything’s possible and the iPhone could figure prominently in whatever announcement Sprint plans to make in October, the meat will almost certainly be the company’s 4G roadmap and the evolution of that nationwide LTE network it’s working on with LightSquared. Remember, when it reported earnings in late July, Sprint said explicitly that it would talk more about its 4G plans at an Oct. 7 investor day event.