Sprint Corp. said it has begun rolling out its CDMA2000 1x EV-DO-based high-speed data network with initial service available this month in major airports and business districts in 34 markets. The carrier said the network would provide average network speeds of between 400 kilobits per second and 700 kbps with peak speeds of up to 2 megabits per second.
Sprint said the network would cover approximately 92 million potential customers in what it termed “14 broadly deployed metropolitan areas” in the third quarter, with another 36 metro areas launched during the fourth quarter and a total of 143 million pops covered by the end of the year. Sprint added that it was still on track to cover at least 200 urban and suburban markets and about 60 metro areas by early 2006.
The service initially will target business customers using a pair of recently launched PC cards from Sierra Wireless and Novatel Wireless. Both cards also are compatible with Sprint’s nationwide 1x data network. Sprint added that it plans to introduce EV-DO handsets and applications for consumers and business customers during the fourth quarter.
Pricing for the service begins at $40 per month for 40 megabytes of data transmission, with a price cap of $90 for per-megabyte customers. Sprint also will offer unlimited access for $80 per month, which is the same price it charges for unlimited access to its 1x data network.
Sprint had originally planned to bypass EV-DO technology in favor of its higher-speed and more spectrally efficient EV-DV evolution, but changed its mind last year following rival Verizon Wireless’ aggressive EV-DO launch and concerns that EV-DV would not be available until at least 2007. Sprint said it planned to spend up to $1 billion on the EV-DO launch.
Following a rash of network expansions, Verizon Wireless currently offers EV-DO services in more than 50 major metro areas covering 119 million pops, with plans to cover more than 150 million pops by the end of the year. Verizon Wireless also offers both its business-centric BroadbandAccess EV-DO service, which is available using a variety of PC cards for $80 per month for unlimited access, as well as its consumer-oriented Vcast EV-DO service, which is currently available with four different handsets for $15 per month.
