LAS VEGAS — Sprint Nextel Corp. chief executive Dan Hesse said that in around two years, monthly cellphone bills will focus on the amount of data used and move away from the number of available voice minutes.
Sprint has already driven much of that migration with its own aggressive rate plans, which lump in unlimited data, minutes and text messages at a single, flat-rate price. The company’s move to a 4G network, meanwhile, provides an opportunity to deliver even more data, Hesse said during his keynote address at the CTIA Wireless trade show.
Sprint, along with partner Clearwire Corp., is building out a 4G network using a technology called WiMax. Hesse said Sprint opted to go with WiMax because of its ability to get to the market faster. He didn’t rule out eventually changing the technology but said that the company wanted to move now.
“We couldn’t wait,” he said.
Hesse also acknowledged that the rival technology, called Long Term Evolution, would likely end up bigger than WiMax.
