Sprint (S), Ericsson To Jointly Launch Massive MIMO Radios

U.S. national wireless carrier, Sprint Corporation (NYSE:S) carried out field tests of 2.5 GHz Massive MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) in alliance with telecom service provider,Ericsson (BS:ERICAs) (NASDAQ:ERIC) . The tests were conducted in Seattle, WA and Plano, TX.

Notably, the Massive MIMO trial used Sprint’s spectrum and Ericsson’s 64T64R (64 transmit, 64 receive) radios. The trial demonstrated capacity surge of about four times compared to an 8T8R antenna.

Going forward, Sprint and Ericsson are planning to launch Massive MIMO radios across the United States by 2018. Massive MIMO radios are capable of raising the network capacity of Sprint by up to 10 times.

Meanwhile, 64T64R Massive MIMO radios use 128 antenna elements, thus the users will see the best performance. With Massive MIMO, users will enjoy data-intensive services, advanced characteristics and applications on Sprint’s LTE Plus network.

Massive MIMO will also influence Gigabit LTE services, thus aiding Sprint’s 5G networks. In fact, we believe 4G LTE Advanced Pro and Gigabit LTE are a major step toward the smooth transition from 4G to the upcoming 5G network standard.

Additionally, wireless network standards are continuously evolving around the globe to offer faster speed. To this end, Sprint started the deployment of Gigabit LTE on a commercial network in New Orleans in March, utilizing three-channel carrier aggregation, 60MHz of Sprint’s 2.5 GHz spectrum, 4X4 MIMO and 256-QAM modulation.

However, Sprint’s share price declined 2.9% compared with the industry’s decline of 4% in the last three months. Currently, the company carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The U.S. telecom industry has lately emerged as an intensely contested space where success thrives largely on technical superiority, quality of services and scalability. Thus, in order to stay ahead of competitors, existing players need to be constantly on their toes to introduce innovative products.

Moreover, as the U.S. boasts a high rate (95%) of wireless penetration, competition in this space is intense with participants like Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) , AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and T-Mobile US Inc. (NYSE:S) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). This, in turn, may pressurize the top and bottom lines of carriers vying for market share.

More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!

It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.

Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.

Click here for the 6 trades >>