Sprint Not to Shut Down Parts of WiMAX Network

Sprint’s plans to shut down Clearwire’s legacy mobile network on hold after a state judge in Massachusetts delayed the plan. The network will remain closed for 90 days in 75 cities. After the decision, the judge dictated two nonprofits that sued the carrier clarifying that Sprint had earlier violated a contract by forcing them to accept LTE service that may have throttled the customer’s 6GB data speed.

On Thursday, an emergency injunction was granted that ordered Sprint to maintain its WiMAX network in some specific areas for 90 days and allowed Mobile Beacon and Mobile Citizen to negotiate terms with Sprint and further migrate their WiMAX users to Sprint's LTE network. Heated arguments took place in the court on Tuesday regarding Sprint’s plan to shut down the WiMAX network on Friday. 

The major cities having largest markets covered under this plan include Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Honolulu, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, New York City, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Furthermore, the order has stated Sprint is to maintain all Cost Free Educational Accounts with similar capacity and characteristics at the maximum level of premium mass marketing retail services delivered by Sprint or the Clearwire network with no Licensing cost and also without throttling any of the Cost Free Educational Accounts governed by this order. 

Judge Janet Sanders of Suffolk Superior Court in Boston stated in the order that "This Court's intent is to put plaintiffs in that position that they would occupy under their existing agreements with Clearwire. It is not to impose affirmative obligations which cannot be feasibly complied with, or to require that Sprint: a) reactivate any parts of the WiMAX service which have already been shut down or b) provide service which is better than that which Clearwire was contractually obligated to provide."

Stephanie Vinge-Walsh, Sprint’s spokesperson said the company disagreed with the court’s decision. She also added, “We hope that Mobile Beacon and Mobile Citizen will take this time to work cooperatively with Sprint to resolve the contract dispute and our goal is to ensure that our EBS partners and our subscribers can use Sprint's best 4G LTE advanced broadband services as soon as possible. We remain committed to an equitable solution for all parties and are hopeful that Mobile Beacon and Mobile Citizen will work with Sprint in good faith to get their customers transitioned so that they can remain connected."