Sprint's Chief Technology Officer John Saw promised that the fourth largest wireless carrier in the United States will deliver 1Gbps speeds on its network over the course of 2017. In a release published last week, Saw explained how the Overland Park-based company is currently planning to implement new technologies that will allow it to break the 1Gbps threshold by the end of the calendar year. Sprint's CTO asserted that these speeds will be achieved thanks to the company's new 256 QAM and Massive MIMO solutions. Saw believes that these new technologies will not only allow for 1Gbps speeds but also demonstrate the overall potential of Sprint's deep 2.5GHz spectrum position. The company's CTO provided no further details on these efforts, though he promised more information will follow soon.

Saw's announcement was made only a day after T-Mobile's CTO Neville Ray revealed that the third largest wireless carrier in the US is currently extremely close to achieving 1Gbps speeds on its LTE network. Ray asserted that T-Mobile will be the first mobile service provider in the country to break the 1Gbps threshold, but Saw's latest announcement suggests that Sprint is trying to do the same, signaling the start of a new race for commercialization of 1Gbps speeds. Unlike Ray who attacked Sprint for misleading advertising, Saw made no direct mention of T-Mobile in his latest statement, though he did cite several studies according to which Sprint's network is on par with T-Mobile's offerings. In addition to that, Sprint's CTO also mentioned PC Magazine's recent survey that found Sprint offers the best average download speed out of all wireless carriers in the United States.

Saw described Sprint's 2016 network improvements as a part of a massive "comeback story" that he said is proud to be a part of, adding how the Overland Park-based company is currently boasting a network that's performing better than ever. The firm's CTO pointed out that millions of consumers switched to Sprint in 2016, implying how the company's network improvements played a significant part in that achievement. In overall, 2017 is bound to be a busy year for wireless carriers in the US who are all looking to advance their services in an effort to gain more customers and retain their existing users.