Andre Yoskowitz
11 Dec 2013 13:07
Sprint has announced that their faster "Spark" LTE network is now live in Chicago, just a month after the carrier confirmed it was merging 800 MHz, 1.9 GHz and 2.5 GHz LTE spectrum to be able to offer speeds as high as 50 Mbps.
The carrier says that "as part of Sprint's Network Vision program, the company undertook a massive initiative to "rip and replace" equipment from its 38,000 cell sites across the country" and that Chicago is the first to see the upgrades.
For the time being, the LTE network will only work on tri-band phones, which for Sprint mainly means high-end devices like the Samsung Galaxy Mega, HTC One Max and LG G2.
"Sprint's investment in upgrading our network infrastructure has required a massive team of dedicated engineers and technicians to systematically install new, modern 3G and 4G LTE-capable equipment," said Bob Azzi, Sprint chief network officer. "This process involved equipping Sprint cell towers in the Chicago area with state-of-the-art network technology. It took us more than a year to complete and, although there have been some service interruptions, we expect our customers will find the improved Sprint wireless experience worth it."
Spark is set to be rolled out to over 100 major cities by the end of 2016.