Sprint To Support Launch Of IMA LTE Acceleration Lab For Startups In Israel

Sprint (NYSE:S) announced today its plan to support an LTE acceleration lab in Tel Aviv, Israel, later in 2013. In collaboration with the Israel Mobile & Media Association (IMA), the LTE lab will add significant momentum to the Israeli-based ecosystem of startups and developers. Well-known for its prowess in the high-tech industry, Israel is ranked second behind Silicon Valley among top startup ecosystems.*

During the past several years, Sprint has been actively supporting the IMA’s acceleration lab. Today’s announcement marks a new level of engagement. Sprint’s role in the LTE acceleration lab will be to enable startups and developers to access the platforms they need to ideate and build. Rather than Sprint’s driving what developers and startups do in the lab, Sprint will allow the ecosystem to determine the projects and direction of work in the lab.

“Sprint was open to taking a totally different approach through the structure of this lab, allowing the mobile ecosystem to innovate on Sprint’s LTE network,” said Eyal Reshef, founder and CEO of IMA. “Letting startups run at their natural fast pace and assisting them to scale their products is the best of both worlds, ultimately enhancing Sprint customers’ mobile experience. We look forward to the LTE lab opening later this year.”

“As a complement to our efforts to unlock innovation in the United States, this Sprint-sponsored LTE acceleration lab will allow startups and developers in Israel valuable access to dramatically speed up their time to market,” said Stephen Bye, Sprint chief technology officer, who made the announcement in advance of the Jan. 31 4G Israel Conference in Tel Aviv. “We are committed to an open developer environment, creating opportunities for innovative services, products and technologies to be developed and launched on the Sprint LTE network.”

At the LTE lab, startups will be welcome to work on their ideas, collaborate with other companies, and see what evolves, with minimal carrier direction. Although Sprint will benefit from having an early look at the technology that may result from this collaborative effort, Sprint has an open approach to development and support for the environment.

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