Sprint (NYSE: S) has a new weapon in its war to prove it has better coverage than its rivals, specifically T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS).
The company has been running ads saying that all networks are basically the same. That’s a comment echoed by T-Mobile, but being nearly as good has not stopped either company from trying to get better.
Along those lines, T-Mobile has stepped up its LTE network and even offers people in fringe areas signal enhancers for their home. Sprint has countered by introducing High Performance User Equipment (HPUE), which it called “a breakthrough innovation designed to optimize its 2.5 GHz network coverage and further unlock the company’s spectrum advantage to give Sprint customers better coverage and faster data speeds in more locations,” in a press release.
How much better?
Sprint claims that the new technology can extend its 2.5 GHz coverage by up to 30% to nearly match its mid-band 1.9 GHz spectrum performance, including indoors, where an estimated 60% to 70% of wireless traffic is generated. Those are meaningful numbers if the company can deliver on them, and CTO John Saw seemed very encouraged in his remarks in the earnings release.
“HPUE is an incredible innovation that will dramatically improve the performance of our high-band spectrum and deliver an even better experience for the millions of customers on the Sprint network whether they’re streaming videos, playing games or using apps, both indoors and out,” he said. “With HPUE, our customers using 2.5 GHz-capable phones can have nearly the same reach as our 1.9 GHz spectrum. This gives them all the coverage advantages of mid-band spectrum while maintaining the tremendous speed and capacity advantages of high-band spectrum.”
What does this mean for business?
Consumers are correctly skeptical when companies make claims about how some new technology will change their experience. In this case, Sprint may have something excellent on its hands, but that will only matter if consumers actually experience a difference.
This may be an important innovation that gives Sprint an edge over T-Mobile, but consumers generally display a “show me, don’t tell me” attitude when it comes to this type of news. Whether this turns into a selling point for the company depends on whether it actually gets used by subscribers, who then report better reception and faster speeds, and spread the word.
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