Earlier today we learned about Sprint Direct Connect, the carrier's iDEN replacement, and now a rumor has emerged claiming that Sprint has already begun another network upgrade. According to consulting firm Gerson Lehrman Group and the folks at GizmoFusion, Sprint's "Project Leapfrog" is underway, with the carrier agreeing to deals with infrastructure suppliers like Ericsson and Samsung to roll out service over the next two to three years as it phases out its 800MHz iDEN network.
Continuing with the Sprint rumors, GizmoFusion has heard that they'll be launching both the Bold Touch and a full touch BlackBerry later this year (we've heard end of Q2). Additionally, they claim that the WiFi-only BlackBerry PlayBook will be launching between late March and mid-April, with the 4G model supposedly arriving in Q2 or Q3.
There's certainly been no shortage of rumors claiming that Sprint would be moving to LTE at some point in the future, so it wouldn't come as too much of a surprise if they began the initial steps necessary to begin building that network out. Of course, all of this is still a rumor right now, so I wouldn't go saving your pennies up for a Sprint LTE smartphone just yet.
