Sprint Nextel further tightened the noose around the neck of its iDEN network today as the carrier said it has expanded CDMA2000 1x coverage and roaming capabilities that now provide its CDMA-based push-to-talk service with a claimed three-times as much coverage of that provided by the iDEN network.
The CDMA-based PTT service is optimized to provide near-iDEN levels of quality and set-up times when used across the carriers CDMA2000 1x EV-DO network, with the operator stating that customers using the service across its 1x network or when roaming will experience a slightly delayed call set up experience.
Customers using either the Kyocera DuraCore or DuraPlus devices will have the necessary updates sent to their phones beginning this week while customers that purchased the DuraXT after June 10 will have the software already installed on their device. Sprint Nextel added that the update for the Motorola Admiral will be announced “soon.”
Along with the PTT expansion, Sprint Nextel noted the network updates mark the continued consolidation of its network assets under its Network Vision program that will include the eventual launch of LTE services and decommissioning of its iDEN network.
The LTE network is expected to be launched in the coming weeks, with Sprint Nextel sticking with a mid-year launch plan. The carrier has already begun to sell LTE-enabled devices, looking to seed the market.
The carrier announced earlier this year that it would shutter the iDEN network as soon as mid-2013, dependant on the transition of the approximately 6 million current iDEN customers. The carrier has already stopped selling iDEN devices through a number of channels, but did add that it would continue to support businesses transitioning those devices and services.
Sprint Nextel has said it plans to begin using some of the 800 MHz spectrum assets tied to its iDEN network to expand the capacity and coverage of its 1x voice offering, with future plans to possibly expand LTE services into that spectrum band.
The carrier has battled for years over what to do with its iDEN network that was a major part of Sprint’s $35 billion acquisition of Nextel Communications in 2005. The carrier has tried numerous approaches to migrate customers away for the network to a PTT service based on its core CDMA network, but has instead ended up chasing customers away from the PTT offering to either prepaid, non-PTT or to other carriers.
Macquarie Equities Research noted in a report today that Sprint Nextel’s Network Vision program and associated benefits of turning on LTE and turning off iDEN, has helped push the carrier’s stock up in recent weeks. In addition the investment firm noted that recent pricing changes by rivals and Sprint Nextel’s claims to maintaining its “unlimited” data plans for smartphones could put the carrier in a positive customer position moving forward.
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