Sprint Nextel Corp. will launch 4G LTE services in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio in the first half of the year, the company's chief executive, Dan Hesse, said Thursday.
Speaking at a Citigroup conference in San Francisco, Hesse said the wireless operator will also provide improved 3G coverage in those markets.
Sprint soon will join its bigger competitors, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, which have been rolling out high-speed mobile networks based on Long Term Evolution technology. Verizon Wireless is currently in the lead with an LTE network that covered about 200 million Americans in 190 markets as of last month.
In other news involving Sprint, Hesse revealed that the nation's third-largest wireless provider has put its investment in a partnership with LightSquared Inc. on hold as LightSquared seeks an operating license from federal regulators, Bloomberg reported. Sprint recently gave LightSquared an extension until Jan. 31 to obtain approval, the report said.
Increasingly frustrated by the objections of the commercial GPS industry, LightSquared last month asked the Federal Communications Commission to confirm its right to use spectrum the company has licensed from the government. Commercial GPS manufacturers and other critics continue to raise concerns that LightSquared's wireless network, which integrates with satellite coverage, could interfere with the global positioning system devices used by federal government agencies and others.
Over the summer, LightSquared and Sprint announced a 15-year network sharing agreement that is worth billions of dollars. The companies said the deal is expected to lower LightSquared's network capital and operating expenses by more than $13 billion over the next eight years compared to the cost of building a network by itself. But LightSquared's deal with Sprint is contingent on LightSquared getting a license to operate its fourth-generation wireless network.
Earlier this week, LightSquared announced the appointment of telecom veteran Marc Montagner as its chief financial officer. One of Montagner's former jobs was as Sprint's senior vice president, corporate development and mergers and acquisitions where he was responsible for the carrier's M&A activities, including the $70 billion merger between Sprint and Nextel, LightSquared said.
