Sprint (S) To Provide 6 Gbps Data Speed Over LTE Network

U.S. national wireless carrier, Sprint Corporation (NYSE:S) has decided to offer 6 Gbps gigabit data transmission speed over LTE network in major markets.

Sprint and Samsung (KS:005930) reported that in a recent test conducted in South Korea, they achieved peak speeds of 330 Mbps per channel using a 20 MHz channel. The test represented the real world application of the new technology on 2.5 GHz spectrum.

Wireless network standards are continuously evolving around the globe to offer faster speed. Following significant deployment of 4G LTE networks, LTE-A (Long-Term Evolution Advanced) wireless networks are gradually finding a solid foothold globally. LTE-A is a more powerful version of the legacy LTE network, offering increased speed and network capacity. Carriers around the world are upgrading their 4G LTE networks to 4G LTE Advanced Pro, which is capable of delivering Gigabit-class LTE speeds.

Sprint started the deployment of Gigabit LTE on a commercial network in New Orleans in March, this year, utilizing three-channel carrier aggregation, 60MHz of Sprint’s 2.5 GHz spectrum, 4X4 MIMO and 256-QAM modulation. Qualcomm Inc’s (NASDAQ:QCOM) Snapdragon 835 is currently the only smartphone processor with this capability and is found in devices like Samsung’s newly announced Galaxy S8 and S8+ as well as the unannounced upcoming Motorola (NYSE:MSI) device.

4G LTE Advanced Pro and Gigabit LTE are a major step toward the smooth transition from 4G to the upcoming 5G network standard. Wireless giant, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) , which was the first company to deploy the 4G LTE (Long-Term Evolution) network nationwide, is initially testing equipment at 15GHz, 28GHz, 39GHz and 64GHz frequency bands for 5G network deployment.

The U.S. telecom industry has lately emerged as an intensely contested space where success thrives largely on technical superiority, quality of services and scalability. Thus, in order to stay ahead of competitors, existing players need to be constantly on their toes to introduce innovative products. As the U.S. boasts a high rate (95%) of wireless penetration, competition in this space is intense with participants like Verizon Communications, AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) , T-Mobile US Inc. (NYSE:T) . This, in turn, may pressurize the top and bottom lines of carriers vying for market share.

Price performance of Sprint:

Over the past three months, shares of Sprint have gone down 1.69 % compared with the Zacks categorized U.S. Wireless National industry's decline of 6.31%. Sprint currently carries Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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