Sprint mirrors Clearwire with 4G rollout plans

Sprint Nextel announced the rollout plans for its Sprint 4G mobile WiMAX service, mirroring the launch timetable of Clearwire. Sprint will operate as an MVNO to Clearwire and offer mobile WiMAX products and services. Sprint holds a 51 percent stake in Clearwire.

Sprint said that in 2009 it would launch Sprint 4G service in Atlanta, Chicago, Charlotte, Dallas/Ft.Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Portland and Seattle. Sprint also said it plans to launch service in Boston, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., in 2010. All of these market deployments are in line with what Clearwire projected when it announced its buildout plans earlier this month.

Sprint said it will launch multiple 4G devices in 2009 and 2010, including a 4G data card, embedded laptops, a small-office broadband modem and a tri-mode handset. Sprint has hinted in the past that it may launch a WiMAX capable tri-mode handset in early 2010 running on Google's Android platform but that has not been confirmed.

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