Remember Sprint’s early estimates of pushing out their 4G LTE network by mid-2012? Well, it appears they won’t have actual hardware to benefit from those blazing-fast data speeds until later in the year. According to Sprint Chief Financial Officer Joseph Euteneuer, the first 4G LTE devices will not arrive on Sprint until the second half of 2012. In fact, he left both third and fourth quarters open as possibilities, which doesn’t sound too promising for eager consumers who are growing tired of Sprint’s lesser 4G WiMax technology.
If Sprint is even later than expected to the LTE party, it could be disastrous as Verizon already has a year of roll-outs under their belt and 16 current LTE-enabled devices in the market, four more coming by year’s end. Similarly, AT&T, who recently just launched their LTE network, is already on their third device, the LG Nitro HD, and they’re expected to rapidly increase their own initiatives next year. On the other hand, Sprint is planning to launch 15 4G LTE devices in 2012. They also plan to accelerate the LTE build-out by covering 120 million customers by the end of 2012 and 250 million by 2013. Whether or not they reach their goals is another story, though.
Source: CNET
