VZW what? Verizon may be killing it in the next-gen cellular market right now with their damn near complete LTE rollout, but Sprint has a few weapons in their arsenal. First and foremost the company made the smart decision to get away from the dead end that is WiMAX and embrace a more widely supported spec such as LTE. But more importantly the company is already looking to leapfrog to the next latest and greatest technology — LTE Advanced…

Speaking at a keynote at 4G World conference, Sprint’s vice president of network development and engineering, Iyad Tarazi highlighted the carrier’s future path over the next couple of years and their focus on the next-gen LTE-Advanced spec.

Essentially, LTE Advanced is what HSPA+ is to HSPA — a faster adaptation of an already existing technology/spec. And for those keeping track, LTE Advanced was the first true “4G” technology before the powers that be bent over to carrier pressure. However, in its early iteration with Sprint, LTE Advanced won’t come anywhere close to the 100 Mbps+ speeds early spec sheets proclaimed. Sprint’s iteration of LTE-A will top out at 12-15 Mbps in a 10 x 10 configuration (Release 10). While the speeds are disappointingly slow, especially considering VZW (and even AT&T) can hit faster speeds on plain ‘ol LTE, LTE-A’s image can be salvaged thanks to Sprint’s use of their 800 MHz spectrum. For those who aren’t up to snuff on the importance of cellular frequencies — the lower the frequency (generally) the better reach over long distances and power to penetrate buildings/walls/etc.

Also on tap for Sprint’s 2013 plans — Voice over LTE (VoLTE). Eventually all humans won’t use 2G or even 3G for anything other than subject matter in history class. Helping accomplish this feat will be VoLTE which will allow voice calls to be carried over LTE networks. Sprint should have VoLTE testing hitting the launchpad in mid-2013 while rival Verizon Wireless already has small-scale testing ongoing, with a careful (read: slow moving) public launch/trial sometime next year. In fact, the Android powered LG Revolution that launched several months back was supposed to be the first VoLTE supporting device available to the public. Problems obviously surfaced and not much else has been said about VoLTE on VZW aside from 2012/2013 references.

Ultimately Sprint hopes to transition 250 million to 277 million U.S. citizens covered by LTE by the end of 2013. Certainly no small feat given the carriers current luck with WiMAX and unproven track record with LTE.

Source: FierceWireless | Via: Phonescoop