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Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) CEO Dan Hesse sounded an optimistic tone on the carrier’s direction, noting that Sprint is considering providing details on its mobile WiMAX subscriber numbers as the company continues to push its 4G strategy.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Kansas City Star, Hesse said he feels confident the company is turning around. The carrier expanded its prepaid offerings recently, and though it continues to struggle with postpaid subscriber losses it has made progress during the past several quarters. “We’re not where we want to be yet, but there’s no question we’re showing progress,” he said. “The strategies we focused on the last couple of years are paying off. We were in fourth place or were way behind. Now we may be third, in some areas first or second.”

One of the key strategic imperatives for Sprint this year is the expansion of its 4G services and devices, which run on Clearwire’s (NASDAQ:CLWR) mobile WiMAX network. Sprint holds a majority stake in Clearwire. Hesse said he expects the the launch of the HTC Evo–Sprint’s first 3G/4G phone–to be a “tailwind to our numbers.” Sprint said the Evo broke its previous one-day sales record when it launched Friday.

Additionally, Hesse said Sprint management is discussing whether to release the carrier’s 4G subscriber numbers. “There’s one real good surrogate,” he said. “Take a look at Clearwire. When they talk about their number of 4G subscribers, the lion’s share of that is Sprint. We may or may not break out 4G, or what we call dual-mode numbers.” During the first quarter Clearwire added 283,000 net new subscribers, including 172,000 retail additions and 111,000 wholesale additions.

Hesse also touched on the struggles of T-Mobile USA, the nations’ No. 4 carrier. T-Mobile CEO Robert Dotson announced his resignation last month, and the company reported a net loss of 77,000 subscribers in the first quarter. “Analysts will tell you that T-Mobile’s performance, their trends lines, are declining while Sprint’s are improving,” Hesse said.

For more:
- see this Kansas City Star article

Related Articles:
Sprint: HTC Evo launch breaks sales record
Sprint launches HTC Evo amid buzz, bugs
Clearwire promises two WiMAX smartphones, hints at LTE adoption
T-Mobile CEO Robert Dotson resigns
T-Mobile slumps in Q1, loses 77,000 subscribers
Sprint launching HTC Evo June 4 for 9

FierceWireless

Did AT&T break a contract clause with Apple regarding all you can consume data?
If so it’s possible that the Verizon iDevice is closer than ever.

The website “Boy Genius Report” which generally gets things right is reporting that Verizon may be testing the iPad on it’s network, which would coincide with next weeks WWDC conference in which Steve Jobs may announce carrier agreements to the already unlocked device which right now runs only on GSM networks in north america.

With the announcement of the end of “all you can eat” data plans for the iPad from AT&T earlier today this is an interesting development.

From BGR website:

“According to a highly placed source of ours, Verizon Wireless is currently testing Apple iPad devices on their network.” The guinea pig model, if you will, is a CDMA-compatible device. “It would appear,” adds BGR, “like the gates of heaven have opened, as we’re probably going to see not only an iPhone but also iPad on Verizon very soon, huh?”

However don’t hold your breath on the iPhone jumping over to Verizon any time soon.
Chances are better than ever though as the possibility that AT&T BROKE an agreement with apple regarding the unlimited data plans for iPad by discontinuing the plan means that Apple could be in the clear to take the iPhone and iPad anywhere they wish.

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