LIVE FROM CTIA WIRELESS 2012: Bob Azzi, SVP of Network at Sprint, hit back at reported criticisms of its LTE network rollout plans made by Tony Melone, CTO of rival Verizon Wireless, which were based on the amount of spectrum available to the two companies.

Speaking at a roundtable event, Azzi said: “This will be a very good experience for our customers, we are anxious to get this network up and running and this experience in the hands of our customers – and be competing in the marketplace.”

Addressing Melone’s criticisms directly, the Sprint network head said: “I refute his perspective, as you would expect me to do. What we focus on is the customer experience, and the testing that he described is really focused on how the applications behave. It alluded to the fact that with 2 x 10 MHz versus 2 x 5 MHz, yes you will see a difference in speed. Which is great if you are standing under the cell site under ideal conditions with nobody else on the network.”

He continued: “What we focus on is what the customers are really going to get on the network. And that is why we are really very confident that this network will be very competitive, and provide the experience that customers expect from us.”

Azzi said that the company has made investments in ensuring a smooth handoff between its 3G and 4G networks, so that customers will not see an interruption when moving between coverage areas. “We tested these applications and during that handoff process these applications continued to work as they made the transition to 3G and back again,” he said.

As part of its Network Vision network modernisation plan, the company is taking a different approach to its LTE rollout.  “Since this is a 3G and 4G upgrade cycle, this is not an overbuild, it is not an overlay. It’s not the RF engineers deciding, let’s do every third cell site, so we can get a basic network coverage that we can then launch with,” the executive noted.

“We’ll start with incomplete coverage. I’ll be upfront with that. When we launch our markets, we will not have every cell site integrated, which is why we put the investment in the ability to hand-off. But in short order, and as we continue to progress in any given market, we will have eventually touched every single one of our cell sites with a 3G and 4G upgrade,” he continued.

Currently, Sprint is set to rollout LTE using its 1900MHz frequencies, which was described as “our workhorse spectrum,” where it holds the bulk of its allocation. Subject to FCC approval, it also intends using 800MHz spectrum freed-up by the switch-off of its iDEN network for LTE, with the lower frequencies enabling it to provide a broader geographic coverage.

Sprint is also working with affiliate Clearwire, which is deploying a TD-LTE network, for additional capacity in areas of high demand.

According to Azzi, there are more than 6,000 people involved in Network Vision, from Sprint, its network infrastructure partners and other contractors.