Sprint is launching a new marketing campaign and it is all about speed.
Conspicuously absent, any real references to Nextel, which Sprint paid big bucks to merge with a couple of years ago.
Does this spell the end of Nextel? Well, not entirely.
Sprint says it is going to continue to enhance the Nextel National network.
However Sprint seems to be refocusing its push-to-talk service and says it is now going to be powered by “SprintSpeed”.
Why can I hear Captain Kirk here? “Mr. Sulu, SprintSpeed, please.” hehe.
Sprint makes no actual references to its iDEN network. On top of that, Sprint is already offering a slew of “blended” phones, that contain both CDMA and iDEN radios for combined functionality.
Sprint is hoping historical iDEN subscribers will choose these blended devices and eventually be won over by the CDMA features.
The design behind this strategy is to get all Nextel iDEN subscribers to shift to CDMA phones so Sprint can sunset the iDEN network.
Speaking of CDMA, the press release speaks of Sprint’s new slogan, Sprint Ahead and how it is going to be the network of the future.
There’s certainly no reason to complain about the $7 billion that Sprint is going to invest in upgrading its CDMA EV-DO network to Revision A.
Rev A will enhance business productivity by providing AirCard users with better wireless connecting speeds on both the uplink and downlink.
Strangely, Sprint barely makes mention of its forthcoming WiMAX network. The 4G technology gets a tiny little shout-out at the end of the press release.
Just a few months ago, it seemed Sprint’s future hinged on the WiMax network.
- GSM verses CDMA Cell Phones | January 25, 2007
- Could you be paying $1,000 per MB for SMS? | July 28, 2007
- Broadband Subscriber Numbers Top 380 Million In Europe | September 30, 2008
- Future Of 4G Finally Firming Up | August 21, 2007
- Download Speeds Of 300 Mb Per Second Wirelessly? | July 13, 2007
I knew they were going to do this sooner or later. At the Sprint store here, they pretty much delegated the Nextel phones to the back or low shelves.
I never was a fan of people using the Walkie-Talkie feature in the grocery store or movies, but the Nextel phones were ALWAYS cooler.
I am probably leaving Sprint this year and moving to Cingular/AT&T.