With both Verizon and AT&T electing to use LTE for their 4G networks, there has been some speculation that Sprint would make the switch from WiMAX to LTE, especially with Clearwire's recent testing in Phoenix.  Even Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said at one point that there was a possibility that his carrier would change 4G technologies.  Hesse flipped positions in a recent interview, though, stating that Sprint's "4G strategy is WiMAX, full stop.”  Hesse went a step further to quash the LTE whispers, saying that any rumors of a switch should be completely ignored.  But if there are no plans to jump to LTE in the future, why would Clearwire even bother testing the technology?  “We have so much spectrum that we decided to do tests so in case we have multi-modal phones with other air interfaces, we can add LTE on top of WiMAX and run both networks,” explains Hesse, which is great news for any EVO and Epic owners with concerns that their new handsets may some day be made obsolete.

Sticking with WiMAX is probably a good move for Sprint, especially considering that they're still losing quite a bit of money (almost $1 billion in Q3 2010).  LTE may end up being used more by both Verizon and AT&T, but I'm not sure Sprint would want to risk alienating customers and throwing away everything that they've accomplished so far by focusing on WiMAX.  They may not be able to claim that they have the only 4G network in America much longer, but Sprint's definitely got a nice WiMAX foundation in place, and the network is going to grow quite a bit in the next couple of months.  On the other hand, some still think that a move to LTE makes sense for Sprint, especially given the strong results of Clearwire's recent tests.  Do you all think that Sprint is making the right decision in sticking with WiMAX or would you like to see them migrate to LTE?

Via IntoMobile, GigaOM