At Sprint’s Network Vision announcement, yesterday, the carrier detailed their transistion plans in effort toward 4G LTE. Sprint will begin the transition by shutting down its iDEN network, which is used to fascilitate push-to-talk for their Nextel brand. iDen is currently utilizing the 800MHz spectrum so Sprint is hoping to have those customers moved to its CDMA push-to-talk network by 2013. Before iDEN goes down, however, Sprint will launch LTE on its 1900MHz spectrum. This launch is targeted for mid-2012 with expectations of completion in 2013. In addition to these bands, Sprint has also partnered with LightSquared to use their 1600MHz band. As of yet, LightSquared’s network has yet to have been approved by the FCC. Sprint expects to cover 120 million residents with LTE in 2012, with 250 million covered by the end of 2013.
[via mobileburn]