Sprint may not be in last place when it comes to the 4G LTE arms race, but they’re certainly not in first. Lagging well behind the likes of Verizon and AT&T, Sprint has just recently managed to bring its 4G LTE market total to a pathetic 43 markets. I say pathetic because half of them can hardly be considered “markets.” Since Sprint is simply playing the numbers game here, let’s take a look at the 11 new “markets” recently added to Sprints 4G LTE list.
AT&T had the fastest 3G network in the country, but when it comes to 4G LTE service, they’ve been way behind Verizon. It looks like AT&T is finally ready to play catchup with Verizon though as they announced this morning that they plan to invest $14 billion into their LTE network over the next three years.
AT&T is calling their investment and LTE expansion plans, “Project Velocity IP,” and is hoping that the investment in the network will drive continued increases in revenues from existing products and services.
SoftBank will combine with Sprint to become one of the world’s largest carriers.
SoftBank, Japan’s third-largest carrier, has this morning announced that it will acquire Sprint in a deal worth $20.1 billion. The company will purchase $8 billion in newly-issues shares from Sprint, in addition to $12.1 billion in existing shares — giving it a 70% stake overall.
AT&T has announced that they will be the first to carry the 16MP, Android 4.1 touting, 4G Samsung Galaxy Camera we told you about back in August. AT&T is taking a gamble on this unique product, and I, for one, am curious to see how it turns out. I personally don’t believe there’s a market for it, but you never know (just look at the Galaxy Note).
The Sprint LTE network will see a massive expansion within the next couple months, making Sprint customers happy while paving the way for Sprint to sell more LTE devices. Most new devices these days are LTE enabled, it’s just waiting on LTE coverage that’s a pain (unless you’re a Verizon customer). That will change soon for over 100 Sprint markets, and since that’s too many for us to regurgitate, I’ll just post the official press release for you to look at. Cheers!.
