Sprint expects to launch its first LTE-ready handsets at some point in the second half of 2012, according to the carrier’s CFO, Joseph Euteneuer. Speaking in an interview at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference, Euteneuer indicated that the network’s speeds will be “very competitive to what’s out in the marketplace”  as compared to other wireless providers who have already deployed LTE.  For sake of reference, Verizon and AT&T peg their average download speeds of 5-12 Mbps. The timing of the first LTE devices matches up quite nicely with previous reports that Sprint and Qualcomm would deliver 4G LTE devices alongside the new network in the middle of the year.

Fierce Wireless