Sprint announced LTE agreements with 15 additional rural and regional network carriers as part of the Rural Roaming Preferred Provider program it announced with Competitive Carriers Association earlier this year. This brings the program to 27 carriers, extending coverage in 27 states, over 565,000 square miles and a population of more than 38 million people. The 15 carriers joining the program are:
- Bluegrass Cellular, serving Kentucky
- Blue Wireless, serving New York and Pennsylvania
- Pine Belt Wireless, serving Alabama
- Pioneer Cellular, serving Oklahoma and Kansas
- Public Service Wireless, serving Alabama and Georgia
- Syringa Wireless, serving Idaho
- Rural Independent Network Alliance (RINA) members and their partners:
- STRATA Networks, serving Utah, Wyoming and Colorado
- Silver Star Wireless, serving Wyoming and Idaho
- All West Wireless Inc., serving Wyoming and Utah
- NNTC, serving Colorado
- Snake River Personal Communications Service, serving Oregon
- CTC Telecom Inc., serving Idaho
- South Central Communications Inc., serving Utah
- Custer Telephone Wireless, serving Idaho
- Breakaway Wireless, serving Utah
“In just a few short months, Sprint has made significant progress by signing agreements covering 27 regional carriers that serve millions of people across the country,” said Michael C. Schwartz, Sprint senior vice president of Corporate and Business Development. “By working together, we will bring mobile broadband and better wireless devices to underserved communities while expanding 4G LTE coverage for Sprint customers.”
In June, Sprint announced nationwide availability of HD Voice, as well as 28 new 4G LTE markets and three new Sprint Spark markets.
Sprint HD Voice is currently supported on 28 postpaid smartphones and 33 prepaid phones. The company estimates approximately 16 million of its customers are currently using an HD Voice enabled device. In addition to a fuller, more natural-sounding voice, the service uses noise-cancelling technology to minimize background noise from places like busy roads or crowded restaurants.
Sprint’s new activated LTE markets, including Seattle, Cleveland, and San Jose, bring its nationwide 4G LTE footprint to 471 cities covering more than 225 million people. Sprint expects to reach 250 million with 4G LTE coverage by mid-year.
Sprint Spark has been activated in three new markets (St. Louis, Winston-Salem and Greensboro, N.C.). The enhanced LTE network is designed to deliver average wireless speeds of 6-15Mbps and peak wireless speeds of 50-60Mbps today on capable devices, with increasing speed potential over time. Sprint plans to reach 100 million people by year-end with the service. T
Sprint is currently field testing 8T8R radios for improved coverage and signal strength at 2.5 GHz. Commercial deployment of these radios is expected this summer.
Sprint will be adding International WiFi calling in the coming weeks. This will enable customers to make calls and send texts via WiFi in more than 100 countries.
In addition, Sprint will begin offering a 30-day trial period for new customers to test out their service. If customers aren’t completely satisfied with the Sprint experience within the first 30 days, Sprint will refund the cost of their device and waive all service and activation charges.
“We believe customers will be delighted with the Sprint retail experience, our customer service, and the performance of America’s newest network,” said Dan Hesse, Sprint Chief Executive Officer, “so we’re guaranteeing it.”
