Sprint has decided not to participate in next year’s incentive auction, insisting that it does not need more spectrum.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plans to auction 600-MHz frequencies, which are currently held by TV broadcasters, for mobile services so that telcos can use them to improve mobile broadband coverage, particularly in rural and remote areas. It aims to begin the sell-off on 29 March 2016.
"Sprint has concluded that its rich spectrum holdings are sufficient to provide its current and future customers great network coverage and be able to provide the consistent reliability, capacity, and speed that its customers demand," the operator said in a statement on Saturday.
Sprint is rolling out LTE FDD in the 800 MHz and 1900 MHz bands, and LTE TDD using its vast hoard of 2.5-GHz spectrum, which it acquired when it bought Clearwire.
However, only one of those bands, 800 MHz, offers long-range performance comparable to 600 MHz. It means that Sprint will have to either rely on its 800-MHz spectrum, of which it owns just 2×5 MHz, or deploy more cell sites running at 1900 MHz or 2.5 GHz in order to provide long-range coverage.
"Sprint’s focus and overarching imperative must be on improving its network and market position in the immediate term so we can remain a powerful force in fostering competition, consumer benefits and innovation in the wireless broadband world," said Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure.
"Sprint has the spectrum it needs to deploy its network architecture of the future," he insisted.
