The end of WiMAX, the first 4G technology in America launched by Sprint and Clearwire in 2008, looks to be two years away.
At the "Sprint Network Vision Strategy Update" in New York, Sprint execs announced the aggressive rollout of a 4G LTE network to the end of 2013, the fastest 4G standard available in the U.S. today and offered by both AT&T and Verizon.
Sprint will "continue selling WiMAX devices throughout 2012," said Steve Elfman, president of network operations and wholesale, leaving many to conclude that the WiMAX product roadmap would not go any further.
For an idea of how Sprint's support for LTE will trump WiMAX, Sprint said that by the by end of 2012, it will have 120 million LTE POPs and 120 million WiMAX POPS; by the end of 2013 it will have 250 million LTE POPs versus 120 million on WiMAX.
This begs the question of what Sprint will do with the 100 MHz of Clearwire's 2500 MHz bands currently used by WiMAX. My colleague, lead mobile analyst Sascha Segan, asked Sprint, but officials uncomfortably declined to comment. For more, see the slideshow below.
Sprint, meanwhile, just became the third U.S. carrier to land the Apple iPhone. It is now taking pre-orders for the new iPhone 4S and the older iPhone 4. Sprint will be the only U.S. carrier to offer unlimited data for the Apple smartphone.