The new base stations are designed to support multiple air interfaces, allowing Sprint Nextel to reduce the number of base stations (cell sites) it operates from 66,000 to about 46,000, in part by consolidating formerly-separate equipment to support multiple air interfaces, and possibly by boosting signal range as well.
Sprint is said to believe the changes might cost $2.5 billion, but would save money over time through reduced operating expense and lower roaming fees paid to other carriers.
Sprint is said to want a base station platform that can support CDMA, 3G EV-DO, WiMax and possibly Long Term Evolution (LTE) in the future. Note that there is no mention of iDEN. That suggests iDEN is not a part of Sprint Nextel's long-term future.
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